What is customer service?

Customer service involves providing a service to customers before, during and after a purchase of goods or services. Customer services could be thought of as a series of activities which are designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction - i.e. the feeling that a product or service has met the customer's expectations.

The importance of customer service varies depending on the product, industry and customer. As an example, an expert customer might require less pre-purchase advice than a customer who is not knowledgeable in the field. It has been argued that the level of customer service provided by a business is more important if that company is selling a 'service' as opposed to a 'product'. However, this theory is quite a controversial viewpoint.

Customer service can be provided in a range of different ways. It might be via a salesperson or by automated means i.e. a self-service point. The internet is a good example of customer self-service.

Customer service is given a high priority my many businesses for the pure fact that it may give the company a competitive advantage over another and a particular service proposition can be harder to copy for competitors.

Role of technology in good customer service:

Technology has made a wide range of customer service tools much more available to consumers. This could be a support website which offers the customer the opportunity to have 'live chats' with technical staff. Alternatively, it may be a database which tracks individual customers' preferences, pattern of buying, payment methods etc and then tailors products and service responses based on this data.

Many companies have started to use new channels to ensure valuable customer feedback. With a record number of people now communicating through mobile phone and sending texts it is widely agreed that the next wave of customer feedback will primarily be captured through channels familiar to most consumers, such as mobile email and text messages. This will enable companies to track the opinions of their customers much more easily and gain valuable insight into how to improve service quality and enhance the customer experience.