Customer service excellence always benefits a business and is a subject that comes with a number of short-term and long-term benefits. By providing outstanding customer service you will not only boost your business but will also boost your retention as well. Do you believe you’re achieving excellence with your customer service? Does it tick all the boxes?

Why? Why not?

When it comes to your business, the following is more likely true than not: Gaining new customers can prove to be incredibly difficult, even with the best of plans in place. On the flip side of that thought, losing them is considerably easier.

How to boost customer retention

Customer service excellence is a cornerstone of customer retention. You can have some of the greatest products or services in the world. However, if the path to those products is not filled with elements that make customers feel respected and valued, you’re going to lose more than you keep.

Here are ten tips for customer service excellence that will boost customer retention:

1. Do some surveys: Things like Net Promoter Score Surveys can help you get a sense of customer service satisfaction.
2. Be proactive: Don’t wait for customers to complain. Connect to them, and make it clear that you are available for any questions or concerns they might have.
3. Surprise them: Customer service can be a service that surprises. Thank-you notes or even small gifts can go a long way.
4. Accentuate your value: Look for ways within the customer service process that can highlight the value that you bring to the table. Obviously, you want to look for things that won’t be too obvious.
5. Reduce customer effort: An essential to customer service excellence involves making it as easy as possible for customers to get in touch with you, and making it as easy as possible for customers to find the solution they are looking for.
6. Reduce problem areas: The more guidance you offer with your services as a standard, the smaller your field of potential complaints will become.
7. Give them options: A vital component to customer service involves offering several different avenues for contact and communication.
8. Offer advice and education in a larger sense: Don’t just address specific problems. Create a situation in which you can become an advisor and educator to your customers.
9. Leave them with the feeling of a relationship: Your customers should feel as though they can come to you anytime.
10. Accept mistakes: Don’t make excuses. If you make a mistake, embrace it, and then deal with it. Chances are, your customers will respect you for that. Make your customers feel as though you’re actually listening.