Customer success and support are crucial elements of the overall user experience of any product. Rob Armstrong discusses how product and customer teams can collaborate to form a successful product strategy. As a Customer Success and Support leader, I firmly believe that integrating customer support into the core value of a product is essential. This is because customer interactions through support channels greatly influence brand perception and can forge strong relationships, setting a product apart in the market. For product managers, maintaining a good relationship with product support is vital.
I recently looked for a real-world example to illustrate this point and thought of my pets. Owning dogs involves more than just buying food; they need beds, toys, treats, leashes, collars, and shampoo. For these needs, besides local pet stores, we rely heavily on Chewy. Why Chewy above others like Bark, Amazon, Wayfair, and Petco? Firstly, many dog owners recommend them, and they promise to be a trusted and convenient destination for pet parents, prioritizing customer satisfaction. We became loyal customers because their customer service truly stands out. For instance, when I accidentally ordered too many puppy gates, they refunded the cost and asked me to donate the extras to a local shelter. This thoughtful gesture reinforced their brand promise.
Such exceptional customer service has earned Chewy a spot on Forbes’s Customer Experience All-Stars list, highlighting brands that consumers view most favorably regarding products, services, and customer care. This illustrates the point that customer support can significantly amplify a brand’s value proposition and influence customer retention or churn in substantial ways.
In a 1983 Harvard Business Review article, Milind Lele and Uday Karmarkar emphasized the marketability of product support. Fast forward to today, where technology and SaaS products are rapidly commoditized, customer service and support can greatly impact product differentiation.
For product managers, incorporating customer support into their strategy can foster positive relationships and trust with customers, which is crucial for loyalty and retention. Customers today choose brands based not just on products but on the overall reputation and the consistency of the brand’s promises. When brands deliver on these promises, they build loyalty; when they don’t, they risk losing customers. In the SaaS and eCommerce sectors, maintaining trust is critical to managing churn.
Customer support presents a valuable opportunity to uphold promises and strengthen customer relationships. Consider Chewy again—they didn’t need to refund my extra puppy gates, but doing so emphasized their commitment to customer satisfaction. Similarly, at athenahealth Customer Care, we strove to make our support more proactive and frictionless, aligning with our goal of providing innovative healthcare technology and services.
Support interactions are often the most frequent touchpoints customers have with a product post-purchase. Therefore, each interaction represents a chance to reinforce or undermine the product’s value proposition and customer experience. Whether a company handles 100 or 100,000 support interactions monthly, each one is critical.
Modern data capabilities are revolutionizing how we measure and understand customer interactions. AI and data connectivity enable the integration and analysis of vast amounts of data, turning every customer interaction into valuable, actionable insights.
Effective customer support as a differentiating feature requires dedicated investment. It must be integrated into the product strategy and supported by robust operational capabilities and leadership. Building a customer support system that enhances the customer experience involves recruiting and empowering teams, investing in customer-facing tools and technologies, and aligning them with the business strategy.
Chewy’s success with its seamless customer support strategy demonstrates the importance of intentional investment and execution. They invested in the tools, processes, and capabilities necessary to deliver consistent, high-quality support, making it a core part of their business strategy.
Is your customer support aligned with your product strategy and brand promise? If not, you might be missing valuable opportunities to enhance customer relationships and boost retention.