Customer Service as a Competitive Advantage

Customers are to business what water is to fish. Just like fishes can’t survive without water, it is difficult for a business to survive without customers. Customers determine how well the business would grow and how far it would go in the competitive market. 

Although having a competitive advantage is often related to offering quality at a not too expensive price or having a good reputation and brand, customer service is a great tool for creating a competitive advantage. This can be achieved through superb customer service. To start with, what is customer service? 

Customer service is simply the way the customers’ needs, questions, and desires are met. Customer service encompasses the way a company addresses and attends to its customers. Great customer service is bait in attracting more customers. This is because when you treat your existing customers well, they would not only remain with your customers but also tell their friends and family about your company, thereby increasing your customer base. Customer services, if handled well, can make a company stand out in the pool of others in the market. 

In addition to this, research revealed that 86% of customers said they would pay more for a company that treats them right. In the same vein, when customers are badly attended to, you lose them to your nearest competitor who knows how to treat them right. There are three aspects of customer service that must be addressed if you want your company to stand out. These include:

1. Behavioral loyalty (customers’ loyalty out of convenience, perhaps based on price or proximity).
2. Rational loyalty (customers’ loyalty based on the value the company provides, this could be discount price or quality product).
3. Emotional loyalty (customer’s loyalty out of attachment to the brand or preference for the company).

No doubt, among these three kinds of loyalty, emotional loyalty is the most important. More than 70% of customers who patronize a product do this based on emotional attachment. In fact, research reveals that customers patronize a brand based on emotional need or necessity. According to Robert Plutchik’s wheel of emotion, there are eight different positive/negative emotions that businesses can appeal to, they include anger and fear, sadness and joy, disgust and trust, and anticipation and sadness. Emotion is an important factor in business. A business that aims at growing is one that is ready to constantly appeal to its customers’ emotions. However, the most effective emotions are the positive ones. 

Therefore as a business owner, beyond creating quality products and building brand visibility, your customer service should be top-notch. 

Having said that, if you are a business owner yet to get started on Bixex, you can’t fathom how much you are losing out. Join the moving train by downloading the Bixex app on Google or Apple Play Store or visit www.bixex.com

Bixex is simple, safe, and secure.

ALSO READ: 3 Benefits of Competitive Advantage