Identify relevant measures Customer Service

To determine how a company is performing in terms of customer service, customer service measures are regularly used. These measures aim to assess how customers are satisfied with the services provided by a company.

The customer service is commonly defined as a series of activities that are organized to increase levels of customer satisfaction so that a product or service will exceed customer expectations. The customer service can be extended in an automated manner through self-service via Internet sites such as support, or people like sales and customer service representatives. Usually, the main basis of customer service is customer or demographic data collection. Today, a wide range of customer service tools are now available. In addition to supporting web sites, databases that determine individual customer preferences and buying patterns and specialist software are now used. Also, companies have devised new ways to capture feedback from customers. Some of these new feedback channels include mobile e-mail and text messages. Knowing the perceptions and opinions of customers, companies are able to find ways to improve the quality of services provided, and improve the experience of their customers.

Several companies have integrated Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technologies to their operations. CRM is a multifaceted process that enables companies to gain a better understanding of the needs, wants and buying patterns of their customers. Making this information available to customers, companies are better able to anticipate the needs of current and potential customers. However, CRM initiatives should be aligned with the customer-based strategies, as this technology will be useless if its implementation ends with its installation. CRM supports various business processes in general, including sales, marketing and customer service. This technology allows a company to compile the history of contact with a customer and enable customer service representatives to retrieve these data when needed. Keeping tabs history of contact with a customer, the customer would not need to disclose the subject of his previous interactions with a customer service representative of the company.

Setting standards of customer service is a crucial step in assessing the quality of service offered to customers. When setting these standards, managers and other mid-level managers should make sure they are realistic. These standards should not be too low for these would only encourage complacency and idleness. At the same time, they should not be too high that are impossible to achieve. In addition, the company must determine the standards they need to measure and the most efficient way to measure them. In determining the measurements, it is recommended that managers determine why key customers protect their product or service instead of the competition. In addition, barriers to internal customers of the company, or employees, by providing quality customer service must be identified. Processes that are critical for delivery of products and services should be regularly evaluated so that bottlenecks are eliminated early. Finally, there should be balance between cost of production, product and service quality, cycle time. When fully and effectively used, measures of customer support will be critical for companies to achieve higher profit margins .......