Customer Service: Why It Matters!

Reading time: 4 minutes

Customer service is crucial. Businesses need to provide the best possible experience for those who interact with them and it’s a pillar in shaping your brand. I’ll share four experiences with different companies and how they handled situations when things didn’t go as expected and what we can learn from those who are giants in their industry.

Let’s get into it.

Incident 1:
I ordered a toy from Hamleys for my nephew, but it was out of stock, and my refund was stuck due to my card having expired. We didn’t know this and it meant the refund was in a limbo for a few weeks and we couldn’t figure out why?! Of course, it became a little frustrating but once we eventually identified the problem, Hamleys quickly processed the refund to my new card and offered a £20 voucher as goodwill gesture for the delay.

Technically they didn’t need to, but they turned this frustrating situation into a positive one and left me with no reason to think bad of them as a first-time customer. Happy days.

I didn’t use the voucher though.

Incident 2:
After a recurring fault with my Nintendo Switch Joycon (despite a prior repair, that wretched Joycon drift!), I contacted Nintendo UK, told them about the fault occurring AGAIN less than a year since I got it repaired. They listened, understood the problem, apologised for the inconvenience and credited my account for an online store purchase to make up for it while my device was out for repair. Their proactive response to solve the problem and offer something on top retained my loyalty as a lifelong customer. Not ideal, but smiles all around! 💯 

Quick Takeaways: Both companies resolved issues swiftly and went above and beyond to retain me as a customer, or at the very least, didn’t want to harm their reputation which could lead to the loss of a customer. I’ve got other incidents from other brands that I’ve ordered from and when things didn’t go the way they should, they quickly worked to correct the situation by listening and acting promptly. 👊🏽

Now on the flip side…

Incident 3:
I hired a creative company and received the product. However, when I had follow-up queries regarding my order they ignored my messages and provided vague responses. Eventually, after reaching out to them on multiple platforms simply because they seemed slightly unbothered about responding, they admitted they couldn’t assist further, leaving me with a half-functioning product which took me weeks of having to chase up. It all felt like a waste of my time and I didn’t see any reason why it took so long for them to notify me.

I decided not to use this company again, nor recommend their services to anybody else despite the quality of the product. 👎🏽

Incident 4:
I placed an order with a UK-based company to minimize shipping costs compared to an American company (funnily enough, the American one had a more streamlined process and better communication despite being across the pond lol). Despite their initial professionalism and promise to deliver, they soon became unresponsive, failing to provide promised documentation and had me sending them multiple messages to get a response… Eventually I got it, but it took me weeks to get what I should’ve gotten at the start. This sort of poor service and not providing things that are required during buying and selling meant I'd need a really good reason to go back to them for future orders.

Sadly I couldn’t think of a good enough reason yet. 👎🏽

Incident 3 and 4 were Muslim companies. And to be honest, I can list a dozen or so more incidents from other companies that I’ve ordered from who displayed poor customer service and one even began showing me attitude for making a complaint about a faulty product!

Reflection:
The first two companies displayed outstanding customer service, exceeding expectations even when they didn’t have to. On the other hand, the last two companies, both Muslim-owned, failed to deliver basic professionalism which is expected from any company and showed an unwillingness to resolve issues. This lead to a damaged reputation and frankly have lost a customer and if anyone were to ask me about their services, I would respectfully tell them to avoid it.

⚠️ DISCLAIMER ⚠️ I’m not saying all Muslim businesses have bad service, because I’ve had bad experiences from other well-known companies too, but the sad thing is that I’m noticing a trend as more and more Muslim businesses appear on the scene, and it’s something that’s super important to address because we can’t support your business if you’re not willing to listen to your customers if and when something goes wrong. I also understand that sometimes things go wrong in our personal lives which also affects our business, but communication can help resolve that!

So, How Can We Improve Customer Service:

1. Resolve issues promptly and take ownership when things go wrong. And if it can’t be solved then do whatever you can to ensure it doesn’t happen again and consider some sort of compensation to your customer - a discount code or a voucher for example. Remember, sometimes it’s easier to retain a customer than getting a new one.

2. Clear communication and avoid ambiguity. No-one wants to be left scratching their head because you’ve left out important pieces of information that every customer should know. Also, no response should be more than 3-5 working days. Anything beyond this is unacceptable.

3. Show them a level of human empathy IF something goes wrong. This is the most important thing, and this is what helps to grow your brand because humans need to be treated like humans rather than being made to feel like you’re just here to drain their wallet and then disappear.

It seems like many businesses in our community are focusing only on selling, selling and more selling but those who prioritise delivering a great product and also providing a smooth customer experience ultimately stand out the most and are able to build a solid brand which people will come back to, over and over again.

That’s ihsaan. 💫

That’s what’ll keep you growing and that’s what makes people trust your brand.

The Bigger Picture 📸

Remember, if you offer a good customer experience, people will say positive things about you to others, which leads to the growth of your brand reputation and potential new customers.

But if you give poor customer experience, then they’ll only have bad reviews and potentially deter people away from your business. It’s that simple.

“A happy customer tells a friend; an unhappy customer tells the world.”🗣️

And for as long as this continues, many of us will continue to buy from brands that treat us like customers that matter over anywhere else.

Lastly, keep in mind that good service takes just a little more effort than bad service, but the outcome can either build you or break your brand.

Until next time, ✌🏽+ 💙

P.S. I’m launching a couple of new products on the Bambu Design Co. Store in the coming days (and weeks) and will be announcing it through the newsletter, so keep an eye out!