Customer Service is Customer Retention

I don’t believe many companies start up their customer service departments thinking, “this will be a great way for us to listen and talk 1:1 with our customers, and give them a really positive experience with our brand.”

To be honest, I don’t really know how most companies determine when they need a customer service department—I assume it’s when their receptionist can no longer keep up with the number of calls or customer service type tasks on his or her list. Or, maybe if the founders of a company are extremely sure of themselves, a customer service “department” is set up from the beginning of the company, since they will be “going big” any day.

I started thinking about customer service this morning because I am a loyal T-Mobile customer, and I was not happy when I heard about the acquisition by AT&T. I’m already researching how to get out from under this behemoth, and how to avoid being another victim of AT&T’s notoriously high prices and bad customer service. I haven’t even experienced it yet and I’m already running away.

When I call T-Mobile, or walk in to their local store, I don’t feel like another sales opportunity—I feel like a challenge they are excited to solve, and have seen employees go to great lengths to do so. I’ve been delighted with the solutions I’ve been offered to challenges I’ve faced with my plan, service and phone.  

It seems like T-Mobile started their customer service department with the idea I gave in the first sentence of this post—how can we make our customer’s experience great, from all angles?

Have you ever remained loyal, or run away from a company PURELY based on your experience with their customer service department?
I would argue, to some degree, that providing customers with a great experience when they need help, is maybe the ultimate act of retention.