Ever wonder how much bad customer service really affects your company?

In his book Zombie Loyalists, Peter Shankman asserts:

• ¾ of the customers in the US experience a rude customer service rep
• Each poor service interaction costs the company $700 in lost sales
• About 700 people on social media networks hear about the negative incident

Wow! It’s impossible to translate all that into a total dollar value, but imagine the consequences. That’s at least 700 people who won’t buy from you. And consider the total amount of money they don’t spend with you for their entire lifetime because they heard negative things about your service.
The total cost to your company is much more than $700!
That’s an amazing insight that puts concrete perspective on bad customer service. Here are some others you may not know:

1. Customers Informed They are 20% of the Way to Their Goal are 78% More Likely to Convert
This statistic comes from a SlideShare presentation done by Desk.com. If you don’t know Desk, they connect freelancers from all over the world with businesses of all sizes. They’re the largest, and best, at what they do.

To give your customer a “head start,” as they call it, they recommend:
• Getting the customer going by starting their product or service setup
• Asking the customer what they’d like to do next (and then set that up too)
• Finally, give them the control to start acting on your product or service

2. Turn Every Negative Into a Positive
Brian Meissner, owner of El Diablo Tranquilo Hostel & Bar, says they focus on “owning up and correcting the issue.” They always look at the complaint and work with the customer to an agreed-upon solution. They never, under any circumstances, let anyone walk out the door with a negative impression of the company.

3. Do the Unexpected to Deliver Customer Service that Spreads Your Reputation
It’s a law of life that the unexpected always gets attention from customers. You know what the routine is at your company, and how your competitors address the same complaints.
So address customer complaints in a totally surprising way. Give a customer here or there double their money back. Ship to them the same day for free.

It’s up to you what to do, but you probably already have some ideas of what would completely surprise your customers.
Follow those insights, and watch your customers do your marketing for you!