As a business owner, your customers are always your first priority. Your direct line to your loyal customers is your support team, which is on hand to answer any questions and resolve any issues that might arise. As you probably know already, good customer service is essential for success in any industry.

In the US, a full 90% of all customers will base their purchasing decisions on the customer service that the company offers, while turning down businesses that offer sub-par customer service, according to Help Scout. There are many dimensions to good customer service, chief among them is accessibility.

While we live in a world where 24/7 customer service is increasingly the norm, this might not always be the right approach for your business. If these factors apply to your company, you should consider all-hours customer service.

If your product or service is 24/7

If you offer a product or service that people use at all hours of the day, then your customer service team should be ready to respond at all hours. This often only applies to a select few industries. For example, there is the multi-billion-dollar a year online casino industry. A major player in this industry is Mr Green casino, which offers slots and live casino table games to customers around the globe at all hours of the day. As such, Mr Green offers 24/7 customer service to users in all markets, so that they are ready to respond to a query whenever it will arise. If your business is 24/7, your customer service should be too. 

If your customers are worldwide

If your business is strictly local, you might not need 24/7 customer service. However, if you serve customers in multiple countries and regions, it might be better to expand your support hours. After all, customers in different time zones could be shopping with you or using your product at all hours of the day. In order to capture all of these time zones, the simplest approach is often to expand your support hours so that no one is left behind, regardless of where they live. 

If you have the resources

Even if you offer 24/7 services and are based in multiple countries, you should only read offer 24/7 customer service if you can afford to. It’s no secret that customer service can be a very expensive investment. After all, you will need to pay enough people to man the phones, email accounts, and social media at all hours of the day. You may need to ensure that you hire people who speak multiple languages, which will grow your payroll bill even further. You should conduct a customer service cost-benefit analysis to determine that the cost of the investment is worth the payoff, as covered by FutureLearn. In many cases, it will be, but not always. 

If these three crucial factors apply to your company, it’s time to look into expanding your customer service so that it truly is 24/7. This way, your customers can reach you when they need you the most.