Customer service and customer care are terms that might seem to be the same at first glance, but they are not. Their functions vary and they should not be considered equals. Even when sometimes their paths cross, preparing and strategizing for each should be taken into consideration separately.
These types of customer assistance are equally important to business growth, as they are key to maintaining customers and engaging with new ones. This is why we need to clearly understand the role they play for the company, and the functions and differences between them.
When you achieve an excellent level of customer service and care, you will exceed your customer expectations and guarantee their satisfaction.
Customer Service
This type of service is used normally when customers are not satisfied, when they need assistance or have queries about a product or service they have already purchased. This means it is a reactive response.
Customer Service Agents interact with the clientele as the face of the brand, so they usually follow certain procedures to help meet the customers technical or administrative requirements.
Very often the customer’s experience can be influenced by the level of service provided by a professional Agent. Their role is to provide support and guarantee they will stay loyal to the brand.
Customer Care
One of the main differences between Customer Service and Customer Care is that the latter has a long term approach. It is all about building an emotional connection with the customer by a string of interactions. It goes beyond the basic attention to inquiries, and instead provides high-quality assistance before, during, and after the sales process to ensure the customer’s requirements are fully met.
Customer Care is all about listening and getting to know your customers, giving them real solutions and keeping them updated about what is going on with the brand. It is all about showing actual care for recent or potential buyers.
Therefore, Customer Care is more supportive and management-oriented. All the established procedures are essential to encouraging a positive response from the existing client base, no matter the issue. It is a very relevant and important detail businesses often forget about: performing adequately for your customers will increase brand loyalty and value; and eventually, revenue through reputation.
Customer Support
Customer Support was developed to help customers use products or services correctly, efficiently, and effectively, which is why it is usually defined as service provided by IT companies (Tech Support).
Customer Support is a business-oriented relationship. Agents provide assistance to solve customer issues with emphasis on solving conflict situations, providing answers to queries related to the better understanding of the benefits of a product or service.
How to measure Customer Service and Customer Care?
Both of these customer interactions can affect the sales funnel. This is why it is important to create a strategy to keep customers satisfied from start to finish, as it may be the difference between a happy transaction versus an uncomfortable liability, or whether they will stay with our brand or look for other options. It is a good idea to remember the old saying “The customer is always right”.
One of the elements that could make a big difference in our customer’s satisfaction is that the customer receives the response they are looking for, fast! The time it takes to solve a query, deliver information, give assistance, or provide support makes an important impact on the way our customer perceives our brand
To have a clear idea about our level of customer care, we can measure the response times and the level of customer satisfaction by using a customer satisfaction score (CSAT). This will measure how satisfied a customer is with their experience or attention provided.
Upgrade to Live Assistance
Customers always prefer when support is given immediately, not just “as fast as possible” or through a mechanical or digital response. Today’s technology provides a wide variety of tools to give the customers what they want.
Live assistance will enhance their level of satisfaction, by providing solutions and information in real time, and with an actual thinking agent to make them feel more comfortable and make the exchange more pleasant and effective.
Advanced software can also provide some interesting tools to engage and have better communication with customers, though it is recommended these be closely monitored and optimized.
It goes without saying that without high-quality customer service, support and care there will be no growth in the business, you will lose customers and experience a decrease in sales or leave opportunities on the table. So implement creative strategies to provide the best customer experience there is, because if you don’t take care of your customers, someone else will. Be there for them at all times.
