Customer Care Flashcards
Customer care
Customer care means looking after customers and ensuring their satisfaction with an organisation’s goods or services
Quality Management Systems
Using quality management systems an organisation creates a culture where quality is the responsibility of all staff. The customer is at the heart of the organisation and customer service is the responsibility of everyone - not just those who deal directly with the customer.
Mission Statements
The nature or purpose of the business.
The aims or goals of the organisation (it may contain the values of the organisation).
How the organisation will achieve its goals.
What customers should expect from the business.
Customer service policy
Customer-service statement or promise
Statement of service standards
Service level agreement
Procedure for handling complaints
Customer-service Statement or Promise
A customer-service statement outlines the type of experience that customers will have and how the organisation will deliver it every time
Customer Service Standards
the number of times a telephone may ring before it must be answered
how the customer should be greeted – in person or on the phone
how a customer should be addressed – eg, sir, madam, or by first name
maximum times for dealing with customer queries or complaints
call back guarantees
keeping the customer informed – for example if there is a delay in delivery or a problem with an order
Service Level Agreement
This is an agreement between the organisation and the customer which describes what the organisation promises to do and what the customer can expect.
Complaints Procedure
Complaints should be acknowledged immediately.
Complaints should be taken seriously by staff and dealt with professionally.
The steps to be followed by the customer in making a complaint should be clear.
All staff should follow the same procedures for acknowledging and logging a complaint.
The same staff member should deal with the complaint from start to finish.
Loyalty schemes
A loyalty program is a marketing strategy designed to encourage customers to continue to shop at or use the services of a business.
Loyalty cards such as Boots, Tesco and Nectar offer rewards to customers for showing loyalty to the company’s service or product. The points earned on loyalty cards can be exchanged for cash or other rewards.
Loyalty cards, frequent travel air miles, and discounted petrol are common loyalty reward schemes. They are all aimed at retaining customers by showing that organisation values and cares for them.
Organisations can also use the data from loyalty cards to gain information about their customers and their spending habits.
Market research
to use customer feedback as a way to improve a product or service
to gather information about customer needs and wants
to identify market trends and opportunities for new products
Field (Primary) Research
Surveys – by post or online
Interviews – face-to-face, telephone or video call
Questionnaires
Focus groups
Direct observation
Advantages
Only the organisation that collects data has access to it
Information is targeted and very specific.
Disadvantages
Expensive and time consuming to gather.
Desk (Secondary) Research
Financial reports
Government statistics
Trade journals or magazines
Industry sales figures
Advantages
Saves time
Usually less expensive than field research
Data is widely available
Disadvantages
Data is not specifically gathered for the business so may be less applicable
Information may be out of date
Information may contain bias
Satisfaction Surveys
Satisfaction surveys are used to find out what customers think about the organisation’s products or service. They help to determine customer views about, for example:
the quality or price of a product or service
the attitude or responsiveness of staff
how a complaint or problem was dealt with
Personal Interviews
Face to Face interviews conducted personally by an interviewer to individual, or multiple, respondents.
A questionnaire is used to structure the interview and gather specific data.
Interviews allow the organisation to directly gain the views of customers.
Provides first-hand information about opinions, feelings and attitudes.
Questions can be asked to aid or clarify understanding.
Can be time consuming to carry out the interview.
Telephone Survey
Interviews conducted personally by an interviewer over the telephone.
A questionnaire is used to structure the interview and gather specific data.
Telephone interviews allow the organisation to directly gain the views of customers.
Provides first-hand information about opinions, feelings and attitudes.
Since the call is uninvited, there may be a hostile response from the person being called.
Can be time consuming to carry out the interview.
Postal Survey
Market research is conducted using questionnaires sent in the mail.
The survey can be sent to many customers (wide geographical area).
The organisation can target customers in selected areas.
Questions must be simple and easy to answer.
Customers can compete the survey at a time that suits them.
Low response rate as surveys are often viewed as ‘junk mail’.
Social Networking Websites
Researchers request users of social media to take part in online surveys.
Can gather large amounts of information quickly.
Can only gather information from those who use social media.
Comments are ‘public’ so anyone can read reviews including competitors.
Internet/Online
A questionnaire is conducted via the Internet.
Customers can be surveyed across a wide geographical area.
Identifies customer trends and influences.
Covers a large sample size.
Buyers can be classified within market segments and demographics.
Software enables easy analysis of the results.
Customer focus groups
A focus group is a face-to-face meeting with a group of customers to provide feedback to an organisation about its goods and services
Benefits of focus groups
Focus group meetings provide immediate feedback.
Participants are more likely to give better feedback than surveys as they have agreed to take part.
Being part of a focus group makes the customer feel valued and this can increase customer loyalty.
Customer responses are more detailed as researchers are able to probe points further.
Focus groups are one of the best ways to gather qualitative data (ie, information about customers opinions and feelings)
Drawbacks of focus groups
Focus groups can be time consuming and costly to set up and run.
The sample size tends to be small which can limit the value of the research.
Respondents may be too positive as they feel obliged to give favourable opinion.
Mystery shopper
A mystery shopper is someone employed to act as a customer and report back to the organisation on the service they receive. This information can be fed back to staff either to praise and reinforce good standards of service, or to highlight the need for improvement.
Suggestions schemes
Similar to a survey, a suggestion box is used by the organisation to collect information directly from customers on how they feel about the service provided and how it could be improved.
A suggestion box may, for example, be located near the checkout of a supermarket, or in the waiting room of a hospital. Customers simply write their comments on a card and put it into the box.
It is an inexpensive and easy way to gather customer feedback.
Customers remain anonymous so their comments are more likely to be honest.
One drawback of a suggestion box is that critical or negative comments may lower the morale of employees. However, customers may also come up with helpful ideas for improving service standards.
The organisation might operate a similar suggestion box scheme for employees. Members of staff might be more inclined to report problems or issues with a service if they know that they are doing so anonymously.
Social feedback
Social feedback refers to ability of customers to convey their opinions about the quality or relevance of a product or service.
Social proof
Social proof is evidence that other people have purchased and found value in a product or service offered by a business.
Benefits of online research
Customers are surveyed across a wide geographical area.
Identifies up-to-date customer trends and influences.
Online surveys cover a larger sample size that other forms of market research.
Buyers can be classified within market segments and demographics.
Software enables easy analysis of the results.
However, some people regard online surveys as interference.
Benefits of Good Customer Care
Increased customer loyalty and repeat custom.
Positive recommendations attract new customers.
Fewer complaints and reduced likelihood of legal action against the organisation.
Higher staff morale and motivation (which can increase productivity).
Low staff turnover and absenteeism (since employees are more satisfied).
Reduced costs – since less time is spent dealing with complaints.
Social media research
An organisation’s social media website (eg, Facebook/Meta) can also be used to gather information about its products or services, although there are drawbacks as well as benefits.
It’s inexpensive and quick to set up.
It can gather large amounts of information quickly.
It only gathers information from those who use social media.
Comments are ‘public’ so anyone can read reviews including competitors.
Consequences of Poor Customer Care
Reduced customer loyalty and a fall in repeat custom.
Dissatisfied customers leading to poor reputation and loss of business.
A high level of complaints leads to more time spent resolving complaints (higher costs and lower productivity).
