Proactive vs. Reactive Customer Service: What’s the Difference?

Being customer-centric and keeping customers at the forefront of your mind when making decisions plays a huge part in providing inherently good customer service, but how can you ensure that you’re offering optimal service every time? The first step you need to take to guarantee that you can provide great customer service is to learn about the differences between proactive vs. reactive customer service. If you’re asking yourself “what is proactive customer service?” then you’ve come to the right place. To learn about proactive and reactive customer service, keep on reading.

What Is Proactive Customer Service?

Proactive customer service refers to preventative strategies taken by companies in an attempt to avoid customer service issues. It’s internally driven, and involves pre-planning that outlines how a company should respond to an issue. An example of proactive customer service would be to conduct a customer survey to find out what customers think of your service versus what they expect of it. You can use this information to identify gaps and areas for improvement, and bring your team together to collaborate and figure out how you can continue to build your customer service experience.

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What Is Reactive Customer Service?

Reactive customer service is when your customer service agents react when a customer reaches out to them. Instead of taking preventative measures like with proactive customer service, a reactive approach requires the customer to reach out first. An example of reactive customer service would be a consumer sending an e-mail or making a phone call to the customer care line, and being told that an agent will “look into the problem” and/or “contact him within X amount of days.”

Proactive vs. Reactive Customer Service

As you can see, the difference between proactive and reactive customer service is clear. Proactive entails customer service reps taking precautions and preparing for certain issues they anticipate, so as to relieve the frustration of customers. On the other hand, reactive customer service lacks any preventative measures, and simply requires customer care representatives to take action once customers voice their concern.
A proactive approach to customer service is critical for those looking to be customer-centric. It’ll relieve the frustrations of customers and agents alike, and allow for a better flow of communication, and easier problem resolution. The main challenge for company leaders is changing their organization’s orientation to put the customer first; but once they’re able to do this, being proactive in terms of customer service will come easy.

To make the most out of your customer services choose 3C Contact Services to handle all of your customer care needs. Whether you’re a start-up looking for an outsourced customer care service that can grow with you as your business expands, or an established company looking to increase your support services, we have the solution for you. 3C Contact Services offers e-mail management, customer retention, help desk solutions, and even live chat services to better serve your customers. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help create an effective customer support service for your business.