5 Eye-Roll Worthy Customer Service Myths Debunked

The customer service industry is bogged down with lies. From the patently false to the outrageous, it’s easy for a business owner to get lost in a sea of misinformation on providing good customer service. It’s also easy to trust those old customer service myths as gospel.

The good news is that no one has chiseled these customer service myths into stone tablets. They could have been, but it’s a good thing for businesses everywhere that they weren’t. Let’s dive in as we debunk 5 of the most eye-roll worthy customer service myths.

1: Most customers will complain if they run into an issue.

There are plenty of folks out there who like to make their voice heard when they run into issues with a company. What about the silent majority? Do business owners just assume that a quiet phone or inbox is a happy one? Research shows the opposite: 96% of displeased customers don’t complain, and 91% of those will leave and never come back. So, the people who are calling to complain are in the minority.

It’s dangerous to assume your customers are happy with your company or your product. Taking proactive measures to ensure their happiness – customer surveys and monitoring your NPS – can give you a customer service advantage and help to provide a better overall experience for your customers.

2: You can satisfy all of your customers all of the time.

There is someone on the planet who thinks this is true, which is just sad and scary. One can only imagine how much sleep they are losing at night from the crushing amount of pressure they are placing on themselves. Yikes. It would be a marvelous utopia of goodness if everyone was happy with everything all the time. But we don’t live in a utopia and your customers aren’t always going to be happy with your business or product.

It is up to you to implement a process for getting customer feedback and, based on their responses, make changes that will potentially get them back on your good side. Customers love knowing their feedback is valuable. It bodes well for a business that takes the time to hear its customers and uses their comments in an actionable way. One effective way to gather feedback from your customers is to consider a solution like PATLive for handling your phone calls or web chats. PATLive not only handles your calls and interactions professionally but also provides a seamless way to provide 24/7 service while gathering insights from your customers.

3: Customers only care about an affordable product, not good customer service.

Sure, people love a good deal. Some will even take the time to do some heavy research to find a better price on a comparable product. However, research shows that most people are willing to pay more for a product if it’s paired with stellar customer service. According to Help Scout, “almost 9 out of 10 U.S. consumers say they would pay more to ensure a superior customer experience.”

Your customers remember the way you make them feel versus the price of your product. Exceptional customer service trumps Diamond Dave’s Discount Dirt Bin any day.

4: Customer service is unimportant; people will buy from whom they like.

A business owner could say this until she was blue in the face, but the sad truth is that she could be losing business to her competitors because they place a priority on their customer service. When a customer calls or emails your business, do they encounter apathy? Sorry, Charlie: you’re gonna lose a heap of customers.

Here’s the deal: 70 percent of buying experiences are based on how a customer felt they were treated. It’s easy to overlook something if it seems too difficult to change. While it takes time to implement, delivering good customer service will ultimately increase customer retention and drive new customer growth.

5: Fewer customer complaints mean we’re giving great customer service.

Maybe, just maybe your customers are in the minority of those who never complain and never have any issues. Maybe you’re a kingpin in your industry and everyone is afraid to voice their issues for fear of being hunted by a hitman.

We’re going to take a gamble and bet that neither of those descriptions fit you, so it’s preposterous to think your customers are happy simply because they aren’t complaining. Did you know that many unhappy customers stay silent about their issues? That’s right. For every one customer who complains, 26 customers don’t make a peep. Another little fact: a lack of calls could indicate lower revenue and profits for your business.

The solution: create a system that allows you to gather customer feedback on a regular basis and then use that feedback to correct issues. Without that valuable customer feedback, you are unknowledgeable about how your customer perceives your business.

We know you may have heard some of these cringe inducing customer service myths from some well-respected business professionals, and their intentions were good if misguided. Myths have their place – mostly in storytelling around a campfire. With s’mores. Please don’t forget the s’mores!

Myths don’t have a place in creating excellent customer service.