Post-sale services aim to create and reinforce positive brand image in the minds of customers. They are an essential component of the strategy to retain existing customers. Depending on the industry and customer demography, acquiring new customers can be 6-10 times costlier than keeping existing ones. A significant factor influencing the customer’s decision-making process is the ease of access to post-sale services and how promptly the current company has honored the warranties of the purchased product or service.
Unreasonably long service time, or prolonged disruptions to the customer business or daily life due to faulty products, leaves a negative impact on the customer. As manufacturers consider post-sale services, the warranty is often viewed as a cost center, resulting in below par post-sale service offerings.
Warranty Systems to the Rescue
Warranty claims processing systems act as an essential enabler in achieving the post-sale service objective by providing the following benefits.
1. Self Service: By leveraging customer warranty portals, the end customer can clearly determine the current warranty status of the product and the extent of coverage, thereby enabling the customer to approach the correct post-sale service provider for resolution, saving both time and money.
2. Hassle-Free Warranty Claims: Simplicity in submitting and processing a claim, maximum automation in claims processing by using a business rules engine, and auto-detection of coverage and claims eligibility vastly reduce claim processing time, enabling service providers to provide post-sale services to the end customer efficiently and within a set time frame.
3. No Ambiguity in Claims Processing: As the claim processing is driven by an automated set of business rules, clear and non-ambiguous reasons are provided when a claim is rejected, thereby reducing the chances to create a negative brand image in the mind of the consumer.
4. Recall Campaigns: Warranty systems enable efficient handling and implementation of product recall campaigns. This allows customers to get defective products fixed free of cost, before experiencing a failure, which reduces the risk of the customer having a bad experience with the product, resulting in a positive brand image in the mind of the customer.
5. Maintenance/Service Contracts: Service contracts enforce periodic maintenance and overhaul of the products, thereby extending the product life and performance parameters over an extended period.
6. 360-Degree Visibility: Warranty systems provide complete visibility of the service life-cycle to the customer, enabling the customers to know and predict the exact time frame in which the products will be serviced, allowing them to assess the corresponding business impact accurately.
A Happy Customer Is a Repeat Customer
Seamless post-sale services, along with minimum disruption in the daily life or business of a customer, add to the positive product experience. An integrated warranty claims management system plays an integral part in re-enforcing a positive brand image in the minds of customers. Considering warranty cost as a necessary expense to retain existing customers will bring a change in manufacturers’ mindset, encouraging them to build a robust post-sale services offering.
Tavant at Automotive Warranty Management Conference 2018
Tavant is excited to sponsor the Automotive Warranty Management Conference and showcase our enterprise warranty solution, Tavant Warranty On-Demand, offered on the Salesforce Cloud. To experience precision and quality in aftermarket warranty, connect with our warranty experts today and schedule your PERSONALISED DEMO!
