Why customer support is a brand issue

Your company's brand is the sum of many parts, but your business's customer support model and efficacy is often overlooked as a key piece: according to Zendesk, 50% of customers will switch to a competitor after one poor customer service experience, and 80% will after more than one. On the flip side, 75% of customers are willing to pay a premium towards brands that provide a good customer experience.

It's clear that providing excellent customer support and service over time — and developing a reputation for that — increases customer loyalty. Like any effective brand campaign, the quality of your customer support can go viral, in either direction: bitter customers whining on social media where lurkers far and wide can see the complaints, or enthusiastic customers vouching for the experience your company provides to friends and family, and even influencing positive reviews for the many eyeballs of your target audience.

At the end of the day, the customer experience is a direct reflection of your brand experience. Here's why.

The brand experience and customer experience are often thought of separately, but both have significant influence over one another.

Your brand is a reflection of every experience your customers have with you – and those experiences then help customers decide what they'll expect from you in the future. These expectations then carry over to the interactions your customers have with your support team, which is why you need to think about the customer experience and your support experience as part of your overall brand experience.

You might be thinking, "my customers are happy with their overall experience, so I'm in good shape." But that's where you're wrong.

91% of unhappy customers will leave your business without warning you. With$62 billion lost each year due to bad customer experiences, you need to not only look at your customer service function as part of your brand, but also look at it as a growth driver.

Every interaction you — or your team — has with a customer is an opportunity to build a relationship. That interaction doesn't start when a customer reaches your support team; it starts when they first come into contact with your brand whether at your storefront, website, or your help center. Throughout this journey, they expect to find whatever they are looking for in a quick, easy, and efficient manner. If they don't find it, they'll look elsewhere— like a competitor.

The first step to a solution? Breaking down information silos across digital ecosystems to create the personalized experiences your customers crave — wherever they are — and to make sure your agents serve as extensions of your brand.

Doing so will let you expand, retain, and deepen the relationship between customers and your brand.

Let the customer experience drive your brand experience, and you'll be sure to meet (and exceed) their expectations.

Click here to learn more in our latest infographic, Demonstrating the Value of a CX Investment.