Unit 14 – Customer service
Why is it important to provide excellent customer service?
Introduction
Customer service is the way a business takes care of their customers and how they manage
to meet their expectations. Good customer service would be exceeding customer
expectations.
For the past few years and especially after the Covid pandemic, which forced individuals and
organisations to turn their businesses online, customer service has become the most
important factor when choosing products or services. Other factors like product quality have
become less important.
Customer service matters so much to the business as it will increase customer loyalty
therefore, there will also be profit increase.
Business A: Amazon
Amazon is an online business that started in July 1994, and it became a public limited
company in 1997. Amazon is currently employing approximately 1.6 million people across
the world. The reason the company has become so successful is because they pay so much
attention to customer service and 89% of Amazon customers agree that they are more likely
to choose Amazon than other ecommerce retailers. The company has faced such a big
success that from an online business, it has managed to open 589 physical stores.
Business B: Asda
Asda is a British supermarket chain that started in February 1949. They currently have 633
stores across England. Asda employees 145,000 people and their market share was 14.3% in
2021. Company’s sales performance has been boosted from non-food products and that
contributes to their success.
A.P1 Describe the different approaches to customer service delivery in contrasting
businesses.
Business A: Amazon
1. Phone call
Amazon provides 24/7 phone call customer service to their customers. This service is used
for customers unable to find what they need online. It is a very beneficial method for the
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,customer however, there might be complaints when a customer has to communicate with
more than one agent in order to solve their problem.
2. Website
As Amazon is a large business, the website has been well-developed in a way where the
customer might not need to contact the company at all in order to solve a problem. Amazon
has collected all the common questions customers ask and they have answered them on
their website. This helps to avoid traffic on customer service.
3. Reviews
On company’s website underneath every product there is a review section available to all
customers to see before buying a product. Customers that have already had an experience
with a product can write their opinion. These reviews can answer questions that someone
that is considering buying has. Therefore, this again leads to less traffic on customer service.
Amazon also manages to answer a lot of the questions underneath products which is
another way they communicate.
4. Amazon app
The Amazon app is very similar to company’s website. However, the app is more convenient
as the customer can directly access their account without having to log in every time, they
need something. Through the app the customer can access different types of customer
service except the live chat which they will have to log in from the website.
5. Live chat
Amazon’s live chat is the fastest more convenient way to access their customer service.
Agents are 24/7 available online to answer questions and solve problems. This is the best
type of customer service as it is accessible at any time and personalised to each customer.
Amazon is an international business and that makes them responsible for taking care of
millions of customers in different countries. One of their aims is to provide the best
customer service. That’s the reason they focus so much on the methods they communicate
and especially on 24/7 support through phone or live chat. The multiple methods provide
high customer satisfaction, repeat customers and higher profits. The feedback is also used
for improvement and more effective personalised marketing.
Amazon doesn’t have as many customers with special needs as it is mostly online. However,
they do offer features like screen reader to visually impaired customers in order to make
their experience easier. Also, their website is translated to different languages for foreign
customers. Additionally, they have developed their own product called ‘Alexa’ for extra
support to customers with this type of needs.
The organisation mostly follows formal rules and procedures as most things are online for
example, receipts and orders. Some informal procedures will be communicating with
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, customers through social media where communication will be more casual or replying on
product comments.
With Amazon customer expectations have changed. A few years ago, the expectation would
be receiving a product bought online within a few days. Today, customers expect not only
from Amazon but from other businesses to deliver goods faster within a couple of days. For
that reason, Amazon has created a feature called ‘Prime Amazon’ where an extra fee is
charged but the product promises to be delivered the next day after the order is placed.
Business B: Asda
1. Face to face
The most common way of Asda providing customer service is in store face to face. Any
member of staff should be able to provide a basic standard of customer service to the
customers shopping there. This might usually be more convenient for the customers as
most people use supermarkets often. Going in store might be easier than researching other
options on their website.
2. Email
Asda also, provides email as an option of customers communicating with the business for
any queries. On the website the customers can research their location in order to find the
nearest store and then they are provided with an email address to contact them.
3. Phone call
Phone calls work the same way as emails the customer will have to go online and research
the nearest store that can assist them and contact them.
4. Social Media
Asda use Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram to communicate with
customers and share news as well as receive feedback from them. The company mostly uses
them to share pictures and videos of new products therefore, as a method of marketing.
5. Feedback form
The company provides a feedback form through their website. Unhappy customers that are
unable to visit a store and complain about the service their received can fill the form on
Asda’s website and the feedback will be directly sent to the store.
The main approach of customer service that Asda uses is face to face. As it is a supermarket
this is the easiest way for the staff to deal with different customer personalities like
indecisive, demanding, arrogant.
After the Covid pandemic the restrictions increased Asda released 100-day guarantee policy
on all their clothes and homeware. As the law states a company is required to provide 30
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