Many at times, customer service and marketing exist as two departments in an organization that usually have little if at all anything to do with one another. Once the marketing system has identified and approached a new customer, they usually hand them off to the customer care department for further queries regarding the product. Now, whatever happens to the client in the customer care department is none of their concern, as they usually begin to focus on their next lead. This eventually leads to a series of disappointments by the customer.
For instance, if the marketing team of a certain company approached a potential client and promoted the idea that the company offered services a, b, c, only to be handed over to the support team, which reiterates that it only offers services a and b, the customer will surely feel let down and disappointed. This brings about the risk of falling out with customers for the same reason. It does not only cause frustration for both ends, but also wastes a lot of time. Also, because of nonalignment between the two teams, there is usually inability to identify the optimum prospects, as well as clients with the potential of becoming brand ambassadors of the company. For that reason, it is essential that the customer service team be able to communicate with their counterparts in marketing regarding their clients and future prospective.
Why to implement Customer Service into the Marketing Strategy
Whenever a business focuses on good customer service as a marketing strategy, several benefits come out of it. One, it gives a company a competitive edge in that a consumer will taste the product and will keep coming back because of the services they were offered before. Others will go ahead and refer others to the service or product. This acts as a marketing tool. The majority of customer reviews are based on how well or bad the customers are treated by the customer service team. As such, good reviews help the company establish trust and builds confidence of the customers.
Another advantage is that, when the customer service and marketing teams work together, there is better internal communication, which translates to universal messaging throughout the company. This solves the problem highlighted above of a customer being promised product a, b, c by the marketing company only to be told that product a and b is what is offered by the customer service team. Besides, whenever there is a new advertisement by the marketing team, the customer service department will be aware and promote the content either through calls or social media platforms.
Today’s consumers not only use social media to engage with friend s and families, but also use it to make inquiries regarding a particular product or share their experiences whether good or bad on the same. That explains why the marketing department needs the customer service representatives to handle sensitive customer service problems through social media tools like Hootsuite.
Another benefit of the interaction between customer service team and the customers is that, they are able to understand the needs of the customers. With that knowledge passed on to the marketing department, content can then be generated. The content will be appropriate and will address the answers to most questions that customers ask, solve their problems and furthermore, know which platform to reach out to your customers. For marketers, creating valuable content is crucial to their marketing strategy, so once these lines of communication are opened between customer service department and marketing, then alas, problem solved!
Bottom Line
Your marketing strategy brought customers on board, but did your service retain them?
Customer service is the uttermost solution to this equation. To think of it, it does not cost a lot of money, just some basic interpersonal skills. Be attentive Be kind Be honest Ensure timely communication Put relevant posts on your social media pages depending on what is actually happening
In summary, marketing identifies and brings a customer in, whereas, customer service keeps them coming back. To achieve a synergistic effect, it is essential that the two departments work in tandem for customer satisfaction and growth of the brand.
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