Process: Customer service

Question 1

What does customer service include?

Answer 1

Customer service can include the following:
handling customer returns promptly
answering questions and providing information
frequent and meaningful communication
anticipating customer needs
updates and advice on new products
following up customer enquiries and complaints
using technology to offer a 24-hour service: email, Facebook, Twitter.

Customer service today is seen as an attitude that should be adopted by all departments and employees within the business. Good customer service is an aspect of relationship marketing and can enable a business to charge higher prices and lessen the need to reduce costs elsewhere in the business.

Question 2

What is customer service?

Answer 2

Inputs, transformations processes and outputs are all aimed at meeting or exceeding customer expectations- this is a part of customer service.
If a customer expresses dissatisfaction with a product on account of it being defective, not meeting quality expectations, finds wait times/lead times too long or returns the product or makes a warranty claim, then the operations processes need review. Research suggests 1 dissatisfied customer tells 11 others, who in turn, tell another 5.
Recent market research has shown that businesses that provide superior customer service can:
charge an average of 10 per cent more for the same goods and services
grow twice as fast as their competitors
increase their market share and profits

Question 3

What is IKEA customer philosophy?

Answer 3

ADVANTAGES
- Reduce cost to operate store from small of staff
- People who need appointments can book them 
and not waste time
- No customers will complain about the staff 
continually annoying them
- Develop relationship which influences great 
return
- the customer can figure out how to figure out the 
problem (wide target market)

DISADVANTAGES
- Difficult for customers to find help 
causing them to be stressed
- On busy days staff will be on short 
supply
- Consultations take long time potentially 
alienates customers

Question 4

Ikea case study

Answer 4

Meeting the needs of the consumer
Because IKEA is fundamentally concerned with serving the requirements of the many people, the design process begins with finding out what the consumer wants. IKEA therefore engages in a continual cycle of market research to find out about consumer lifestyles, what benefits consumers are seeking from a range of household furnishings, what consumer perceptions are of existing products and many other things. IKEA has always been conscious of the importance of a detailed analysis of customer needs. For example, because IKEA’s primary market is the many people rather than the privileged few, a prime concern of furniture design will be to provide solutions for people who may live in small, compact homes. The form and function of furniture designed by IKEA is thus very much driven by the needs and requirements of consumers.