15 Reasons Why Startups Should Focus on Customer Care and Support

Startup businesses should focus on customer care for the benefit of the business wellness, as well as consumer relationships. Customer care and support should be authentic rather than a business front. When customer care is authentic, consumers help in positively building your brand and business. Here are 15 reasons why startup businesses should also focus on customer care and support.

Positive Branding

The brand of your startup is anchored in many factors including how well you interact with your consumers. A startup that is available for consumer queries and feedbacks, efficiently responds and resolves issues, and is reliable is one that is on its way to positive branding. As a startup, you must look into ways that your communication is always open for consumers. One way of doing so is investing in gadgets that make for efficient communication as shown on Call Cowboy.

Form Relationships

As a startup, you are still in the stages of building a strong clientele base. Customer care and support is one of the ways that you can build rapport with potential consumers. If you provide a pleasant experience for the consumers, they are likely to use your services repetitively in the future. However, if potential clients feel as if there is neglect and a nonchalant attitude towards them, they may be forced to take their interests to your competitor who might provide better service than you may have.

Maintain Relationships

Once you have formed a rapport with consumers and clients, you must maintain these by
continuing with the quality care that you had provided in the beginning. This means that you have to be available and ready to help when a consumer requires this. As a startup,
separating your business from your personal life may prove challenging to begin with, but
technology such as auto dialer , are there to help you. In some cases, it isn’t that you don’t
care for your consumers, it's the juggling of priorities that you may find difficult to balance.

Business Referrals

Consumers that are satisfied with customer care and support will market your business for
you. They will spread the word to other potential clients, and before you know it, people will be eager to try out your service product simply because of the positive interaction you had with other clients. Negative interactions with consumers will equally market your business however, in a negative manner. Customer care has a ripple effect, which can both be negative and positive, which is why it is important to focus on this and provide quality care.

Care Builds Trust

Current and potential consumers need to be assured that you will deliver on what you
promised. Sounding polite when interacting with consumers but immediately forgetting what you said you would deliver counts as negative customer care. Customer care goes beyond what you say or how you say it, and translates into delivering on your word. If consumers get the sense that their needs aren’t met by your startup, they might revert to the service product they engaged before trying yours. Make sure to build and strengthen trust with your consumers by sticking to your word.

Employee Satisfaction

Satisfied consumers translate to satisfied employees. Employees who are constantly hearing grumbles and complaints from consumers, quickly become demotivated. A demotivated team can slow down production and productivity, leading to low business profits. The more positive reviews your startup receives regarding customer care and support, the more motivated your staff is to continue to deliver on all business levels.

Less Crisis Reputation Management

The digital era has put all service providers in the limelight regarding operations. One
negative customer care approach can result in your startup negatively trending on social
media. Social media has the power to destroy brands, and has done so before. If your startup becomes entangled in negative social media, you will have to spend time and money
engaging crisis reputation management. This not only steers you away from productivity
time, but can also cost your company financially.

Business Longevity

Your startup may deliver the best service product among competitors – however, poor
quality customer care may bring your business to a halt. You must make sure that quality
customer care is embedded into your company culture for longevity. If only one employee is revered for the high-quality customer support provided, if they are to leave the company,
clients may also leave with them. However, if your whole company agrees that customer care must be second nature regardless of the position held, you company stands a chance of longevity.

Increased Revenues

The point of your startup is to provide quality service products while making profits.
Satisfied customers make repeat purchases, which in turn increase business revenues. Once-off purchases that resulted in poor quality customer care are the ones that can bring your startup to a plateau of breaking even, or incurring losses.

Customers Reward Good Customer Support

Your startup needs the support of the community. If consumers appreciate the customer care that is provided, they help you grow your network. For example, if your startup is one that provides food and beverages, a consumer who works in the corporate space may nominate your business to provide services at the company’s year-end party – all because of the positive customer support your business provided the corporate official. Your brand grows through such networking and nomination opportunities.

More Expensive to Get New Consumers

Its more expensive to get new customers than it is to retain the loyal customers. If your start- up begins to slack on customer care towards the loyal customers, you will have to start the process of attracting new consumers all over again. This means having to go back to the drawing board and building a network, revisiting marketing strategies, crisis management from losing customers, and mapping a way forward of how to retain the new consumers acquired. It's relatively easy to begin taking for granted the loyal consumers who you may mistakenly assume won't leave in search for better customer support. You must always revisit customer feedback and support strategies regarding your loyal consumers to make sure that you don’t risk losing them.

Service Product Improvement

Quality customer care and support open channels of communication between you and your
consumers. Open channels of communication mean you may receive information regarding
your service product from your consumers. The insight that you may receive can help you
determine factors such as competitor strategies, product fault and consumer satisfaction. Such information makes it possible for you to improve on your service product. Failing to do so can result in a drop in sales which could have been avoided by opening up channels of communication.

Consumers are Willing to Pay More

Satisfied consumers may be willing to pay more for your service product if they feel as if
they have been handled with quality care. Many are understanding about the processes
involved in a startup, and are willing to go the extra mile to support your business. This is
only possible if consumers feel appreciated by the way that you interact with them. You may just find consumers who insist that you keep the change, or pay for more than the state price if you treat consumers with quality care. Keep in mind that customer service should be authentic at all times without sinister intentions.

Quality Customer Service is a Competitive Advantage

The difference between your business’s success and your competitor’s could be in the quality of customer support. Consumers can opt to engage in service products that are rated lower than a competitor, simply because of the purchasing experience that is provided. You may be wondering how to out-do a competitor who has been standing for decades, consider providing excellent customer care and support as one of your competitive brand signatures.

Accolades and Awards

Genuine customer care can land your start up with accolades and awards that help your
positive brand image. When consumers consider to engage in your service products, they
may do a review sweep about your company. If you have accolades and awards, it instills
confidence in forming a rapport with your business.

Conclusion

To conclude, investing in customer care equipment and processes is just as important as
investing in your capital startup. Quality customer care results in positive branding, forming of consumer relationships, maintaining existing relationships, encourages business referrals, builds consumer trust, and instills consumer satisfaction.
Your startup also spends less on firefighting poor-quality service and doesn’t have to invest in crisis reputation management. Quality customer care also means you increase your business longevity, increase revenue, encourage customer support, improves service product, consumers are willing to pay more, you get a competitive advantage, and you can win accolades and awards.

Keep in mind that quality customer care is authentic and doesn’t harbour intentions such as
merely increasing profits. Consumers can tell whether your startup is genuine or not.