{"id":19951,"date":"2021-07-12T11:43:06","date_gmt":"2021-07-12T10:43:06","guid":{"rendered":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/?p=19951"},"modified":"2023-01-16T14:21:02","modified_gmt":"2023-01-16T14:21:02","slug":"customer-care-ultimate-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/customer-care-ultimate-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Customer Care? The Ultimate Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Customer care is taking care of your customer. End of the article, right? If only it were so simple. While every eCommerce business realises the importance of providing the best service and experience to their customers, it can be overwhelming to think of how to do so in every aspect of their business – and as we all know, one terrible customer experience<\/a>, and the following bad review, can be devastating.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, first, we will cover what customer care is and how it differs from the customer experience and customer service. After that, we will break down how to provide excellent customer care through the customer journey lens. Finally, you will go forth and dazzle your customers with your incredible level of care.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What is Customer Care?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Talking about customer care can be confusing because not everyone operates from the same definition. Sometimes, customer care, customer experience, and customer service are all used interchangeably. Right now, if you google \u201cguide to customer care,\u201d all of the top results are about customer service, when in fact, customer care and customer service are different things. So let\u2019s break them down.<\/span><\/p>\n

Customer Experience<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Customer experience<\/span><\/a> is the best term to start with, as it refers to all interactions a customer has with your brand, from research to purchase to delivery to review. Ideally, this is cyclical, and as the customer has a good experience with your brand, they come back time and time again as a loyal customer.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, customer experience can be broken down into two types of interactions that a customer has with your brand: customer service and customer care.<\/span><\/p>\n

Customer Service<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The <\/span>customer service<\/span><\/a> that you provide is just that: a service. It typically happens when the customer reaches out and needs help with something – a question about their order, about a product you sell or requiring support somehow. The customer service mindset is all about how to take care of your customer when they need you.<\/span><\/p>\n

This can also be more passive, and providing great customer service can involve anticipating their needs. You can set up a chatbot that runs on your website 24\/7, ready to answer common questions at all times – and ready to forward them to a customer service associate if it\u2019s a little more involved. Even an FAQ page can accomplish this type of service. Another example is to create thorough video tutorials that explain how to use a product so that a customer can seek that out on their own time.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, overall, customer service is generally an active experience, in that the customer is actively seeking out help from you. Whether or not they speak to one of your associates or find the answer on your website on their own, you provide them assistance with a problem.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

Customer Care<\/strong><\/h3>\n

With customer service out of the way, that leaves <\/span>customer care<\/span><\/a>, which is a little harder to nail down. However, a helpful way to think about it is that while customer service covers the interactions where you provide help when your customers seek it out, customer care is all the other interactions. Customer care interactions can happen at any point in the customer journey before, during, or after purchase. The most important component, though, is that it is emotion-focused.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you are not providing a specific service in an interaction, what are you providing? Hopefully, a positive experience. And those positive experiences will help your customers form an emotional connection to your company. However, it\u2019s likely already clear to you that this is difficult to measure and define how customer service is much easier.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For added complexity, customer service and customer care can also become intertwined – for example, when a customer leaves a review stating that they were extremely pleased with the customer service provided when they reached out with a question about their order. Is that customer care or customer service?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A helpful way to tell them apart is the idea of \u201cgoing above and beyond.\u201d If their order is marked as delivered, but they don\u2019t have it in hand and have reached out to your customer service team, customer service tells them to contact their local post office.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Customer care is looking up the phone number of their local post office to give to them, explaining the delivery process and that when orders are delivered, they are tracked by GPS so if their order got delivered somewhere else, the post office would be able to figure out where, and giving the customer the agent\u2019s phone number to call back if the post office is not helpful. That is going above and beyond, and that is customer care.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Salesperson<\/p>\n

Why Is Customer Care Important?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Every business owner knows that providing a good customer experience and customer service is important. Still, customer care often gets overlooked partially because it\u2019s a little harder to pin down and partially because it\u2019s a little harder to measure than, say, your average rating left by customer reviews.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, it\u2019s a crucial aspect of developing a great relationship with your customers and can provide your business with a lot of benefits. Here are some of the more measurable benefits to providing great customer service care:<\/span><\/p>\n