Good Customer Service Equates to Repeat Customers

If your business has bad customer service it doesn't matter how good your product is. Put yourself in the customer's shoes, if you buy something online and are dissatisfied with the service, would you be a repeat customer? Furthermore, would you promote the store to your friends and become a brand ambassador? Unlikely. 

Good customer service is absolutely essential in creating and maintaining a successful business. If you walk into a brick-and-mortar store and the sales clerk is rude, or they refuse to refund your money for a product you don't like, chances are you're not coming back. Same goes for online shopping. Here's a short case study that tells an interesting story about a situation that could have went two ways, but the Shopify merchant made customer service a priority and is glad she did. Last year, Vanessa Dempsey created an online printing and custom design studio called Dempsey Press just before the 2010 Christmas shopping season began: 

As the Christmas shipping deadline approached she received an email from a customer who had not received her order yet:

"We checked our records and the item was shipped the day we received the order. It wasn't our fault we thought, we don't control the postal system. We sent a friendly email asking Jane to be patient, it was in the mail and it would be there soon."

"After a few more days, we thought about it more and more. Jane (fake name) had ordered our product specifically to give as a gift to her niece, if the product didn't arrive in time, there would be at least 2 disappointed people. We sent another email to Jane saying that if she didn't get anything by the end of the week to let us know and we would send a replacement package at no cost. Jane hadn't received the package, and was very appreciative of our offer. We sent out another package which cost us $2 in shipping plus about $2 in material costs."

"Jane emailed us when she received the new package about how much she loved the product. Since then, Jane has been our top customer, ordering from us 5 times since last Christmas and recommending us to her friends. These orders have more than made up for the $4 we ate sending out the extra package."