Customer service is extremely important to ensure the survival of a business, because it allows companies to retain customers over time and retaining customers is a lot cheaper than acquiring new ones.
In this piece, my friend Cemal Ekin, an accomplished photographer and retired marketing professor, shows us, via three discrete examples why it matters and what is the real cost of not taking good care of your customers is.
I'm always very attuned to little details that make a customer experience worse. You'll notice that it's always the bad experiences that we remember, rarely the good ones, unless they are truly exceptional. A moderately frustrating experience may not ruin the day, but it will affect your perception of the business negatively and over time, may drive you away.
Messing up is human and good customer service is not about avoiding mistakes at all costs, but making customers whole when they happen and striving to avoid them as much as possible.
Humans can forgive a lot, but aren't prone to forgive deliberate negligence.