Don't Discount the Importance of Good Customer Service

It’s late in the evening and you’ve been working non-stop all day. You have one last sample to test so you can email the final report to your customer, but your screen is frozen. You know the drill. First, you try to refresh, but that only makes the screen turn black. Everyone else has gone home, so you can’t confirm if this is a problem with the software or just your computer.

You do a complete power down and try to log back in, but now you can’t get past the username and password entry. You spend another 20 minutes trying to locate the helpline number because someone removed the orange sticky note from the bulletin board. Finally, you dial the ten digits and hear a pleasing voice on the other line.

“Thank you for calling Acme Software. Your call is very important to us and will be answered in the order in which it was received.”

The delightful melodies of Kenny G. fill your ears. Who knew the alto saxophone could have such a soothing effect on your frazzled nerves? Then: “Thank you for holding. You are the second caller. Your current wait time is 1 hour and 10 minutes. We appreciate your patience.”

What???!!!

The decline in customer satisfaction

According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ASCI)¹, customer satisfaction continues to fall below the levels seen during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The last four years have seen the largest descent in customer satisfaction in the 28-year history of the ACSI. Arguably, declining quality among producers and service providers has led the way in this dramatic decline, falling nearly five percent since 2018. This drop in quality has been “amplified by a lack of product availability, supply issues, and labor shortages” according to ASCI founder Claes Fornell.²

Impact of poor customer service

The 2022 State of the Service Market report³ by TechSee showed that 67 percent of US customers are not satisfied with the service they receive. Their 2022 State of Customer Loyalty and Churn report⁴ revealed that 43 percent of customers switched products or canceled a contract due to poor customer service.

A recent Qualtrics XM Institute⁵ study found that 53 percent of US consumers have cut spending after having a bad customer service experience with a company, and 60 percent said they would spend more with a company if they had a better customer relationship. Per the same study, businesses across the globe stand to lose nearly $4.7 trillion in revenue due to poor customer engagement.

Pete Jacques, a principal analyst at Forrester Research, who co-authored a recent customer experience survey, explained in a June 2022 Wall Street Journal article that “we’ve all been suffering through this through the past few years (referring to the pandemic); we’re now tired of having to wait a longer time to get a call answered or a problem resolved.” He went on to say that companies are “reaching the point where they’re just having a hard time keeping up with these customers’ changing expectations or are just distracted by all the other things that they need to be focusing on.”⁶

Probable causes of poor customer service

Most will blame the pandemic and the labor shortages for the lack of resources needed to provide valuable customer service. While the pandemic did see approximately 47 million people leave their jobs in 2021, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce⁷, the business and professional services industry has had lower unemployment rates and maintained above-average hiring rates, with more than 1.2M people hired every month between July 2021 and July 2022.

However, some businesses have decided to outsource customer service. While this option often saves money, it leaves the customer relationship to a person who may have linguistic or cultural barriers and a lack of company knowledge. Outsourcing can also mean less quality control and a breakdown of communication between departments within the business.

LabLynx prides itself on maintaining a high level of customer service

At the heart of the LabLynx Five Pillars of Foundation are its people, the most valuable asset. The LabLynx staff are not only committed to implementing the best LIMS software solutions but also to providing the highest level of customer service, offering US-based 24/7/365 availability to support clients across the globe and lab teams that never turn off the lights.

The LabLynx staff includes chemists, biologists, lab project managers, clinical diagnostics managers, laboratory QA/QC officers, commercial laboratory managers, information technology experts, and biomedical and process engineers. LabLynx’s application engineers are trained to assist with all customers’ needs, from understanding laboratory workflows to answering IT questions.

LabLynx isn’t just a LIMS software provider but also a business partner, understanding the vital role that a LIMS plays in laboratory operations. Being in the software as a service (SaaS) business for over 20 years, LabLynx has tackled nearly every imaginable issue and knows what the financial consequences of having a vital software system going down.

Customers can reach LabLynx through its general support line (866-LABLYNX) or contact their project manager directly by dialing their extension or sending them an email. All LabLynx staff have a goal to service all incoming support calls during operating hours within the same business day. Support calls or emails outside normal business hours are addressed the next business day.

Clients can also access the LabLynx help desk at www.mylablynx.com. The goal is to service all incoming support tickets within the same business day. Outside normal business hours, expect a response within the next business day.

What should LabLynx customers do in the case of an emergency? Clients can send an email to [email protected] or simply visit www.lablynx.com/emergency-support to complete a quick and easy form. All company staff is notified when an emergency request is issued. Even If the technical issue is a result of a problem with a customer’s network or computer hardware, the LabLynx technical team will work with the client’s IT staff to resolve the issue.

LabLynx is always a phone call, email, or chat message away, ready with experienced developers and engineers to assist. Don’t settle for an automated chatbot, after-hours answering service, or sitting on hold for an hour listening to Kenny G. Great customer service shouldn’t just be expected, it should be demanded.