How can a business improve its customer service to benefit the customer?
Abdinasir Ismail , matthew boulton college, group one
- Questionnaires: they are usually in leaflets and they comprise of different question from the nationality of the customer to his preferences and dislikes. The information is obtained through asking the customer to fill them and them and then submitting them to Marks and Spencer. This method has the advantage of being precise as it is on a yes or no basis and it can also be documented. This particular method has a disadvantage of the fact that it consumes time because it takes time until we get all the questionnaires that are filled; furthermore, some customers might not feel the questionnaires.
- Mystery shoppers: this is also another way of monitoring customer where a company like Marks and Spencer pays someone to buy in their shop and see how the customer assistant helps the customer, this is usually carried out in March and November of every year in Marks and Spencer. This method has the advantage of getting a more first in hand information and therefore being more reliable and also it can be a source of making swift changes when they have been seen. The disadvantage of mystery shoppers could be that to some cases there could be wrong information that is been put through this could be that the mystery shopper could have been totally annoyed by their action and in that case make up stories.
- Advantage card: Marks and Spencer has use this method in conjunction with the Marks and Spencer credit card whereby every time you buy a product they get to know which you like to buy every time and thereby a very good method of knowing the customer preferences. The advantages of using this particular method is the fact that information can be computerised and therefore can be used as a source of research, and also customer get chances of getting vouchers thus an advantage to them. The disadvantage of this is that it is a very expensive way of monitoring customer service especially in countries, which are still developing.
- Surveys: these are usually carried out in as a fieldwork across different stores, this then is put as a graphical representation such as graphs or even pie charts. The advantages of using this method is that it can be documented and used at a later time for comparison purposes and it can be used as simple means of knowing what is happening as it is in graphical form. This form of monitoring customer service is expensive because it needs the employment of skilled people to do such this and can be also hard to implement especially if it is in large numbers.
- Internet popup: internet pop ups can be seen as a method of monitoring customer services this was years ago used by Marks and Spencer to ask questions on management and other issues after which a person could enter into a draw for winning a prize. The advantage of such a method is that it is very good and gives the customer the information at a glance because of the use of minimal words. The disadvantage could be said that customers may ignore it and not fill it; the customer’s computer may run to be at risk because Internet popup have tended to be ways of sending viruses.
