Customer service has become a powerful tool for public relations outreach. Today, a call center serves as a channel for brand strategies to improve their reputation. As companies strive to earn their customersβ trust and favorable feedback, itβs important to understand that those merits can be achieved only through good customer service. Thatβs why itβs crucial for any business to have a professional support team that knows how to nurture relations with customers.
How exactly do customer service and PR integrate? Through the following points:
Evangelism
Positive customer experience is more likely to grow into free advertising for a brand. According to Hubspot, 43 percent of customers encourage friends and family to buy from a brand that provided good customer service. This tells us two things: first – that the word of mouth is and always will be a powerful marketing tool; and second- interaction with a companyβs support team impacts customerβs overall impression of the brand.Β
Retention
A widely common misconception among businesses is that if they have a great product or service, customers will keep coming back. However, while that might be true for some companies, it is usually not the case for most organizations. Statistics show that nearly 80 percent of consumers stop doing business with a brand because of poor customer service. Another report says that 52 percent of users purchased more from a brand after having a positive customer service experience. Those numbers speak for themselves – the brandβs interaction with customers affects their purchasing decisions.
Expectations
A marketing or PR campaign usually sets high customer expectations from a brand. But companies donβt always live up to those expectations. To maintain your reputation you have to stay on top of your promises to customers. Since a contact center represents your brand, its communication style has to fall in with your values and vision. In every interaction with customers, your agents basically have to lobby for your company and try to eliminate anything that averts customer satisfaction.Β
A primary function of a call center is to assist customers with whatever they need. But its ultimate purpose is to foster customer loyalty and positive feedback through communication. This is exactly why a call center is a great channel for PR outreach. Customer representatives are there for you to smooth out any tension or misunderstanding between your brand and your customers.Β
A company should understand that an expensive and professional PR campaign is worth nothing if its customer service is bad. Today, business reputation is built on customer feedback. Any of your clients – happy or unhappy – can contribute to creating your reputation by simply leaving a review about your company on any platform. Such reviews are more believable and powerful than an advertising or PR campaign. So when thinking about how to enhance a companyβs reputation, a PR team should focus on improving communication and first touchpoints with customers.Β
A contact center plays an important role in keeping a companyβs reputation intact. Being the first people that talk to your customers, your frontline employees are typically the first ones to spot any potential or ongoing problems with your reputation. Besides that, agents are the first ones to see the progress and hear customer success stories which they can pass on to the PR team. Such material is great for marketing and sales because it shows prospective clients what a positive experience the brand provides.
WOW24-7 provides call center solutions to businesses all around the globe. We understand the latest tendencies in the customer service world and try to optimize our communication strategies accordingly. Our skillful agents utilize loyalty, empathy and a positive attitude in their interaction with customers, this way developing relationships with them and building a good reputation for our clients.
