QUALITY IN CUSTOMER SERVICE: IMPORTANCE, SOURCES AND PRINCIPLES - DUDAS - 2025

The quality service to the customer can be defined as the perception of the customer on how well the service of a company meets your expectations. Both the services offered, and the expectations they help create, are important aspects of quality.

Companies don't exist without customers. Attention to customer needs is key to retaining them. To provide excellent customer service, a culture of customer service must be permeated throughout the organization.

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When all employees understand that satisfied customers are connected to the success of the business, they will take the initiative to create a superior customer experience.

Quality in customer service is the key differentiator between good, bad and indifferent companies. Good quality customer service keeps customers coming back, while poor service turns customers away from a competitor, taking their friends, family and co-workers with them.

Importance

The perception of having received quality in customer service is important in the decision-making process. Consumers want to have a memorable shopping experience, with the most important aspect of this shopping experience being their perception of the service.

If an organization does not provide quality customer service, the probability that that customer will continue as the organization's sponsor is very low. A customer buys in places where he feels comfortable and where the service provided is of the highest quality.

When customers spend money, they are likely to return to a business they know and have a positive association with. Therefore, quality customer service is directly linked to customer retention.

Competitive advantage

Small businesses have fewer opportunities to deliver value to customers compared to large-scale organizations, which may offer lower prices based on volume and a larger selection of products.

High-quality service can be a competitive advantage for a small business when customers are looking for an ongoing relationship with a retailer or a creative shopping experience.

Customers say what they want

Developing a positive relationship with customers through high-quality service benefits the company, because it gives you access to the best kind of market research: customers will say directly what they want.

Listening to customers provides the opportunity to improve the product or service to satisfy them, before they leave the company in favor of a competitor.

Happy customers share their experiences with friends and colleagues, which will increase business over time.

Information sources

Customer expectations

With service, unlike manufacturing, there is no tangible product. So there are many ways to approach quality in this context.

Customer expectations should be the basis for defining quality standards in customer service.

Mission, vision and values

Each organization has a unique personality. This must be reflected in the quality standards.

The financial services company Northwestern Mutual has developed a brand of security and stability. The effective professionalism that matches this image is an integral part of their services.

On the other hand, Moo.com, a print-on-demand company, encourages its team to be passionate, charming, and ambitious.

Their motto is: "We are not happy until you are satisfied." Its quality standards lead to services that, like its name, are more jovial than those of other companies.

In both examples, the quality standards create effective services that are suitable for the brands of these organizations.

Concerned parties

Employees, shareholders, suppliers, government, associations and the community are stakeholders of a company. These sources of information shape many of the quality standards that will need to be established.

For example, evaluation sources in the tourism sector generally rate hotels up to 5 stars. The Forbes guide uses more than 800 standards as part of its assessment.

To earn a five-star rating, arriving guests must be greeted and assisted within 60 seconds, phone calls must not be put on hold for more than 30 seconds, and many more.

Since the rating significantly influences the marketing of a hotel, its quality standards should reflect the alignment of these requirements with an appropriate level of service.

Principles of quality in service

Attracting new customers costs more than retaining existing ones

A satisfied customer stays with a company longer, spends more, and can deepen the relationship.

For example, a customer satisfied with the credit card can join other financial services of the company.

This is an easy sell, compared to television advertising campaigns and other sophisticated and expensive methods of attracting new customers.

Satisfy customer needs

To understand customer needs, you just have to listen to their voice and act accordingly.

Listening to the customer can be done in many ways, such as with suggestion forms and satisfaction surveys.

Customer service must be consistent

Suppose a customer visits an expensive hair salon and receives a warm welcome, a drink, and a great haircut.

Later, being out of town, he visits the same chain of hairdressers, but does not receive a friendly welcome, nor a drink, nor a great haircut.

That customer is probably not satisfied and will not use that chain again, as they did not receive the same customer service, which is more than a good haircut.

Employees are customers too

Improving relationships with internal customers and suppliers helps provide better service to external customers, with reduced delivery times, higher quality and better communication.

Open all communication channels

The customer wants to communicate with the company in many ways: face-to-face, by phone, fax, and email. The customer expects all these communication channels to be always open.

This represents a challenge, as it requires an integrated solution that provides the employee with the information necessary to offer effective customer service.

People always expect good customer service

On a typical day, the train is expected to arrive on time, the coffee to be hot and delivered quickly, and the coworkers to work as a team.

People get frustrated when their expectations are not met, increasingly demanding a higher quality of service in more areas of their lives.

References

1. Brad Cleveland (2017). Defining Quality in Customer Service. Icmi. Taken from: icmi.com.
2. Catherine Lovering (2018). The Importance of Quality Customer Service in the Workplace. Work - Chron. Taken from: work.chron.com.
3. Management for the Rest of Us (2018). 9 Principles of Quality Customer Service. Taken from: mftrou.com.
4. Steven MacDonald (2018). Five Ways to Deliver Excellent Customer Service. Superoffice. Taken from: superoffice.com.
5. Randall Bullard (2018). Why Is Quality in Customer Service Important? Bizfluent. Taken from: bizfluent.com.