TOPIC 6 - Customer Care Flashcards
key features of good customer service
- communicating with customers effectively
- training staff so that they are knowledgeable about products and services
- providing a good after-sales service
- dealing with complaints effectively
mission statement
most organisation will have a mission statement that out lines the organisations main aims and goals. It explains how an organisation will achieve its aims. Some organisations will keep their mission statement short and to the point and it will be a cross between a slogan and a summary of the organisation’s aims.
Organisations can also use their mission statement to clearly state how they will treat their customers and other values they wish to associate with. It is hoped that by doing this it will attract customers to the business as they know and understand how they will be treated.
customer service policies/strategies
these are written statements of broad principles relating to organisational customer service. From this will be developed formal standards and policies applying to both systems and staff.
- written customer care statement/strategy
this is a statement about the standards that a customer should expect from an organisation in terms of how the organisation will deal with them, deadlines and quality of service. This statement should be shared with both employees and customers so that everyone is aware of the standard expected. this will allow for customer loyalty and a good reputation.
- service level customer agreement
this is an agreement between the organisation and the customer that describes the organisation promise to do and what the customer can expect. This is usually used when big contracts are drawn up between an organisation and a business customer.
A service level agreement will allow an organisation to see what their standards and if they do not meet them the reasons why they failed. this agreement may be used for both internal and external customers.
aspects in a service level customer agreement
- how the organisation will deliver on the promises
- what will happen if the organisation fails to deliver on its promises
- the responsibilities of both the organisation and the customer
- any hidden or extra costs
- expected delivery times
- what happens if a promise isn’t met
- complaints procedure
this is a procedure put in place to show staff and customers the process for dealing with complaints.
In reality things do go wrong sometimes and when they do it is important that a procedure is in place to deal with customer complaints.
It is important that both staff and customers know what this procedure is. Even though a customer has a reason to complain, as long as the complaint is handled effectively the organisation may not lose the customer. If , however, the customer has a negative experience when making a complaint the chances are they will tell others of this experience.
aspects in a complaints procedure
- all complaints should be taken seriously, logged and given a reference number.
- staff who deal with complaints should be trained appropriately
- all complaints should be acknowledged in some way and some indication of the next steps should be outlined.
- clear timelines should be given to customers and an indication of how long they should expect to wait for a response
- the result of the complaint should be communicated to the customer as soon as possible
benefits of good customer care
- high staff morale and motivation, which can increase productivity
- low staff turnover as staff will want to stay in an organisation where there are not many customer complaints - it will also be easier to recruit staff to your organisation
- increase in sales/profit/revenue for the organisation
- satisfied customers who will remain loyal to the organisation
- satisfied customers will also recommend the organisation to others
- good reputation
- competitive edge in the market place
- increased market share
consequences of poor customer care
- demotivated staff and low staff morale, which will result in poor working relationships, and ultimately high staff turnover
- dissatisfied customers who will not return and will not recommend to others, therefore the business will fail to attract new customers.
- loss of the competitive edge and decrease in market share
- very difficult to build reputation back up
- downfall of the organisation due to bad publicity
- there will be an increase in the number of complaints that the organisation has to deal with
field/primary research
information is collected from customers first hand through surveys, interviews etc.
desk/secondary research
an organisation uses information that already exists for the benefit of the company, e.g. financial reports, government statistics etc.
mystery shopper
this is when someone is employed to act as a customer and report back on the service they receive.
- includes the quality of service received eg communication and speed of service
- may also investigate if the staff are following company policies and procedures or complying with legal requirements
- praise may also be given to staff if they mystery shopper has a good experience.
questionnaires and surveys
this is a way of collecting information from customers and listening to what they are saying about the service they receive. One of the most common methods of doing this is by giving customers a questionnaire to fill out that allows them to rate the service. However, sometimes it is difficult to get these back from the customers and it can be a costly process to send them out and analyse the results.
telephone survey
this can be used to quickly gain feedback from customers as the response is immediate. However, many people find this an intrusion of their privacy and may not answer the questions.
personal interviews
sometimes organisations interview customers in the street or in a store on a one-to-one basis. again this will give the organisation immediate feedback but it can be very time-consuming and many people are unwilling to stop and give their opinions.
online survey
an increasingly popular method of surveying customer is to use online surveys. this involves emailing customers and asking for feedback on a recent purchase. this method is fairly inexpensive and customers can quickly answer the set questions. they can also survey over a large geographical area.
Many companies now use customer ratings on their websites, allowing customers to see other people’s opinions of products and services.
digital surveys which an be completed by the customer at home. results can be automatically collated and analysed. not all customers will be able to access these at home which may alter results. Also, questions need to be fairly straightforward.
loyalty cards
loyalty cards are used to reward customers for their loyalty to an organisation by giving them points that can be exchanged for rewards. The main loyalty cards are Boots, Tesco Clubcard and Nectar.
- this is a good way of retaining customer loyalty
- organisations can also use the information from loyalty cards to gain information about their customers and their spending habits
- they can use this information to target customer by gearing special offers on the products they buy towards them
customer focus group
a focus group is a face-to-face meeting with a group of customers to allow them to provide feedback to an organisation on goods and services.
- a focus group allows the organisation to gain immediate feedback from the customer.
- being part of a focus group makes the customer feel valued and think that the organisation will take their opinion into consideration.
- they organisation may also gain a more detailed response from the customer as they are able to probe points further
- however, a focus group can be very expensive to arrange as the participants may have to be paid a nominal fee and the cost of travel and meeting venue would have to be covered.
- also, customers may only tell the organisation what they want to hear and not give any negative feedback
suggestion shemes
a suggestion scheme may be available to encourage customers to leave feedback on the service or product they have received and make any suggestions on how it can be improved.
there may be a small financial reward/prize for this eg some businesses will leave a number or website on their receipt for a customer to use and they may be put in a prize draw for £25 for example.
other businesses will ask if they can call the customer back to survey them on their shopping experience
advantages of suggestion schemes
- they are good for internal use, particularly if there is a reward attached, for example a voucher for each suggestion adopted
- they work well with regular customers for example in hospitality/hotels to ensure the organisation is providing what is requried
social media
use of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to gather customer feedback.
instant responses can be given but conversations are not private.
disadvantages of suggestion schemes
- many customers ignore the opportunity to complete feedback slips and as a result feedback may focus only on very good or very poor customer service
