Customer Service Versus Customer Experience

In concept, they are very similar. Customer service is a term which many people often hear. Most small businesses focus on providing quality customer service. This means they provide assistance and advice about their products or services so that their customers can feel confident in making an educated decision before any purchase. Customer service requires that your in-house team provides clients with patience, product knowledge, and core competencies which will help customers at the point of sale. Customer service is all about the human element of your business.

But then, what is the customer experience?

The customer experience includes but is much broader than customer service. The customer experience is every interaction customers have with your business. It is every moment combined, from when they see your ad, look at your website, walk in your door, buy your goods and services, and pay their bills. The entire customer experience is what creates loyal clients who praise your business, or disgruntled clients who give bad reviews online.

When you put forth the effort to create a positive customer experience, it is important to think about all the interactions customers will have with your business, even those that occur after they have bought your product or paid for your service. How many of us have bought a product only to regret it later when dealing with payment issues? The transactions your customers have with your business, even after they are home with your product or after they have received your service, affect their overall experience.

This is why so many businesses are turning to a printing and mailing service. They recognize the need for timely and professional communication with their customers. By hiring a professional printing and mailing service, you are appropriately considering your customer’s entire experience.

Professional Communication Increases Customer Experience

What do you think of when you hear the term “professional communication?” Most likely, you think of how someone speaks to you in the workplace, or the language used in a resume. But, does your concept of professional communication include billing statements, invoices, reminders, postcards, pamphlets, or thank you notes? It should. All communication that represents your business, in and beyond the workplace, should be in a professional context.

Studies show that customer experience can be greatly improved by professional communication which is on-time and accurate. For example, billing statements communicate vitally important information for both your business and your customers. What do you expect from the bills you receive? Most people expect that the information conveyed is accurate and up-to-date, it was sent in a timely manner, and it clearly defines the payment terms of the agreement. This is a lot of information required for each and every bill provided. And, consequently, a lot of room for error. Bills can be sent out late. Dates can be confused. Names can be misspelled, and billing information can be incorrect. These errors can have a drastic effect on business. A printing and mailing service guarantees, that correspondences are printed and mailed at an appropriate, timely and consistent manner.

This is why a printing and mailing service, not only comes in handy but has become the industry standard. Customer information is uploaded by the business and then the rest is automated. Do you send your bills out bimonthly, monthly, or annually? Do you also send out reminders and notices? All of these settings can be automated by a printing and mailing service so there is minimal responsibility for your in-house team!

A printing and mailing service ensures that all mail sent out to your customers is processed and mailed in a timely fashion. So, you are providing a positive customer experience which will lead to customer loyalty.

Don’t Get Turned Around

With a small business, there is a real danger in miscommunication. Have you ever had your name misspelled on an invoice? Have you ever been overcharged for something? Or even worse, have you ever been charged for one product multiple times? How many businesses have you sworn off because their billing practices were disorganized or unprofessional?

These involvements really hurt customer experiences and are damaging to our customer relationships. They can run the risk of convincing customers to never buy from a business again! Even if the product met all expectations, if customers have such a negative experience with billing, they most likely will never return. While a printing mailing will not review for accuracy, it will ensure that your mass-produced content is accurate. All you have to do is make sure it as free of errors and miscommunications the first time and you or your team will not have to be bogged down trying to duplicate the content. We’ll do the rest!

Don’t let your business suffer from poor customer experiences. Hire a printing and mailing service to make sure that all corresponding information is sent in a timely professional manner and the information included is accurate and up-to-date.

Much of the human error that comes from large demands on an in-house team can be eliminated by hiring a professional printing and mailing service.

Don’t Be So Negative

Billing statements can sometimes feel negative because they are reminders that a customer owes a debt. Let’s face it, no one really likes to receive bills. Bills are depressing! When we open our mailboxes, we don’t get excited to see a stack of bills. Monthly statements can feel like a nagging negative reminder of what is due. When your business just sends bills, your company can appear unfortunately punitive.

A great method for you to improve your customer relationship is to not only provide monthly statements, but also send regular thank you notes, special offers, postcards, and sales reminders through a professional printing and mailing service.

Positive correspondence has been tested and proven to have a great result! For instance, as blood donation bank conducted a study and sent regular thank you cards to donors. The study revealed that those who received a thank you card were 40% more likely to return to donate again than those who did not receive a thank you card.  If your business would like to increase its positive interactions with customers, you could send regular thank you letters to clients through a printing and mailing service.  Focusing on the entire customer experience by including positive follow-up interactions pays off! If you would like to encourage repeat customers, you can inspire them to continue to come back by sending a thank you letter through a printing and mailing service. A thank you letter, especially if it is personalized with the customers first and last name, reminds people of their time spent with your business and makes them feel valued.

When there are a lot of positive opportunities for your customers to engage with your business through the mail, they have a positive association with your business’s name.  By hiring a printing and mailing service, you can rest assure these follow-up correspondences do not burden your in-house team. Who has time to print, stamp, and mail so many items out on a regular basis? Printing and mailing services does, that’s who! When customers hear positive information from you regularly, they feel less weighed down when they see your business name on a bill. Their overall experience is improved and you are more likely to attract loyal customers.

Save Time And Money

Many small businesses get bogged down with corresponding with customers. A small office is quickly overrun when tens, hundreds, thousands of items need to be printed, stuffed into envelopes, addressed, stamped, and mailed! Sheesh, this is an exhausting process which not only takes up far too much time, it is unnecessarily expensive!

Think about how much demand your office printer has on it from daily tasks. The costs of ink, paper, and mechanical upkeep spiral out of control quickly! Those costs are expensive enough without taking into consideration the manpower involved to stay on top of your customer correspondences! Your team undoubtedly would spend large chunks of time each week dealing with mailing tasks. Take the burden off of them and your company’s pocketbook by hiring a reliable printing and mailing service.

With a professional printing and mailing service, the work is automated. This means that information is uploaded once, schedules are set, and everything is computerized. By cutting out the manpower involved with printing and mailing, you greatly reduce the cost of your customer correspondences.

Towne Mailer

For many successful businesses, the first rule of business is to keep the customer happy. The truth is that the best way to keep customers happy is to communicate professionally and positively. By providing consistent professional communication and by sending follow-up correspondence, you are eradicating the likelihood of upset disgruntled customers and negative internet reviews.  It is hard to come back from a negative review! It is much easier to keep a customer happy than to win them back after they feel jaded by your business. Clear, concise communication enhances the effectiveness of your operational process.

When you outsource your printing and mailing operations to a professional printing and mailing service, you are given the unique opportunity to view your business correspondence from the perspective of a customer. You can see what comes in the mail from your business! This will allow you to closely inspect your image and make adjustments as you see fit. A printing and mailing service should become the foundation of your communication process.

Does your business send out weekly sales advertisements or thank you letters after each large purchase? Or, does your business depend on statements, invoices, notices, and bills? No matter your communication requirements, Towne Mailer is the printing and mailing service that can accommodate your needs.

Towne Mailer prides itself in supporting local, national, and international businesses communicate effectively with their customers and clients. We have over two decades of experience processing statements in a broad variety of industries.

It is easy to get started! Our process is clear and upfront. We focus on providing you with entirely positive customer experience, so you feel well cared for from start to finish.

There is no obligation involved to find out how we can assist you in printing and mailing services. Reach out today and let’s get started!

Contact Towne Mailer Today!