Often in today's economy companies shopping around for a merchant provider are typically most focused on shopping rates. While this is a crucial reason for choosing a processor it shouldn't be the sole reason for going with any particular merchant provider. There are many more factors that can effect the overall cost besides rates. In this post, we will discuss the importance of customer service and how, if done poorly, it can lead to both loss in time and profit as well as peace of mind.
The Invisible ROI of Sound Customer Support
The old adage 'time is money' has never been more true than in today's fast paced world of instant communication and immediate access. Wasting time waiting on hold for a customer service representative to answer a question or troubleshoot a problem is a common experience most of us can share nowadays. Getting the runaround when calling your cable or telephone provider is a great example of this. In the processing industry this experience is very serious because your call usually has something to do with your money (ie: chargeback disputes) and the quicker you can resolve the issue, the faster you can get your money back or get back to doing business. Many of the large processors and banks have tried to minimize this time wasted by automating the process with voice prompts and categorical replies. Of course this can help with certain issues but the majority of issues that cause for a phone call in the first place usually require a person to fix. Other companies, like PayPal for example, actually charge for their live customer support; limiting most of their customers to email support only. Not only do such policies cause for major loss of time and heartache but also can lead to delayed profits or even profit loss.
Here are a number of examples on how bad customer support can lead to profit loss:
- Lack of communication about a chargeback that could have been resolved leads to loss of customer and a charge back fee
- Inability to reach a tech support rep after hours about a gateway error leads to a weekend of lost sales
- Getting the runaround about shopping cart integration causes the merchant to buy an expensive shopping cart they could have avoided.
- Inability to quickly update DBA name on merchant account leads to a barrage of chargebacks resulting in account being shut down and the merchant being put on a TMF list preventing any other banks from setting them up with a future merchant account (nightmare!)
- Waiting on hold forever because of a terminal code for a customer's card causing them to become frustrated and resulting in cancellation of purchase
- Rude or incompetent customer service causes for a change in merchant provider resulting in an early contract termination fee
- Time lost on waiting for a service rep could have been used in making sales or creating new business
Those are just a few examples of how poor customer service can lead to profit loss.
HOW TO PREVENT THIS?
First Do Your Own Research Before Signing With A New Processor.
The best advice we can give anyone looking to sign with a new merchant provider is to do a little background check on the company in question. First Google their name with words like 'problem' or 'issues'. Also, check for references and contact a few to see how their current experience is with the company. This industry changes a lot and just because someone referred a processor 5 years ago doesn't mean that that same company is still up to par. Also call their support to test them out.
Good so far? Now Ask The Provider These Important Questions:
- Do you have live customer support via phone?
- Is your support 24 hours?
- What is the average wait time for support?
- Is there online support? Chat?
- Is support included in the cost or is it extra?
- What does the support cover? Merchant account, gateway, etc...
- Is your support in-house or outsourced?
These are very important questions and should help with the decision making process. Ideally you should want a company that provides in-house live 24/7 customer support via phone, online chat and email for free. You can test them by calling their support line to see what the experience is. Just tell the rep that you are considering this company for your processing needs and that you wanted to see how efficient the support is. They will understand and if they are good at what they do assure you that you are getting set up with a company that takes their customers' satisfaction very seriously.
If the company passes all of these tests then they are probably pretty good because a mark of a good company is typically in their customer support. Even if their fees are a little higher it is usually worth it! Contact us today to go over how we give the best support to all of our clients!
