Learning Objectives
LO 5-1: Explain the value of customer relationships and customer service.
Customer relationships and customer service work hand in hand to provide significant value to the company. By building and managing customer relationships, a company improves the customer experience, increases customer loyalty; thus, enhancing its long-term success by selling more goods and services. Customer service helps build good customer relationships through the care of customers’ needs before, during, and after the sale.
LO 5-2: Review the design and improvement of a customer relationship program.
The design of a typical customer relationship program involves using one or more customer-oriented initiatives to build the relationship. Customer loyalty programs reward repeat customers. Product customization allows customers to create a uniqueness to the product. Customer communities facilitate communication or an exchange of ideas between customers and the company. Finally, engaging customers using social media helps build, maintain, and strengthen relationships. However, a company cannot just put the aforementioned initiatives in place and expect everything to go well. The company must tweak their customer relationship program to stay competitive. Therefore, a company must monitor program performance to ensure its objectives are met and revise the program as necessary to meet its objectives.
LO 5-3: Explain how customer service audits are conducted and how customer service quality is measured and improved.
There are two types of customer service audits: internal and external. Internal customer service audits review the firm’s current customer service measures, policies, and practices. The purpose is to determine any disconnects between the firm’s customer service and the expectations of its customers. The external customer service audit identifies any changes in customer requirements and also compares the firm’s customer service performance to its competitors. Customer service quality measures are aligned to three main categories: pre-transaction, transaction, and post-transaction measures. Examples of specific measures are time to answer customer query (pre-transaction), time to fill a customer order (transaction), and number of product complaints (post-transaction). Each measure should have a performance standard and the results should be monitored frequently and compared to the standards. If standards are not met, actions should be taken to improve the results.
Chapter Outline
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