Customer service is essential to a business because it helps them recoup customer acquisition costs and cultivate a loyal client base that will recommend the brand to friends and colleagues. When you think at the things that represent your brand, you probably dont include customer service on the list. But you definitely consider your customers one of the key factors that influence your reputation. So, the question is how do clients make assumptions about your brand? They make them according to your external marketing, social media presence, content, advertising, and customer service. Your customer service department creates your connection with your clients.
Your customer services quality can degrade or enhance your clients loyalty. With the business market in full expansion, people have more alternatives than ever, and if they find that a brand is not responsive to their needs they will replace it with another one.
Here are some great ways to deliver better customer services.
Use technology to boost efficiency
The latest technology can be used in certain areas to help rise your clients loyalty by improving your customer service. There is a program to support every one of the stages of your customer experience; you should only look for solutions. Here are three examples of customer service solutions that can benefit your company.
1. Social media management tools
There are tools that can schedule your posts in advance, manage your social networks, manage your brands online reputation, and operate email marketing for you. One amazing tool alerts you when people are talking about your products or business, so you can check the content and respond quickly.
2. Customer service software
You already have a customer base so you only need a program to support them. You should start using a program that includes live chat options, voice, and email solutions for answering to your clients when they make product inquiry calls and desk tickets. Choose a program that runs on the cloud to allow your employees to work from anywhere. Many customer service programs connect with CRMs to maintain support and sales on the same page.
3. Customer Relationship Management software
Customer service starts the moment you engage the first client. But its difficult to manage numerous prospective clients because they move at different paces through different sale stages. CRM will automate this operation. You can use a program to keep track of your prospect details, create engaging plans for customers, follow-up with them throughout the sales process, and customise their experience.
Extra tip: On-hold music can make the difference. You should use background music on hold to guarantee your clients that you care about them and they are connected, while their wait is made more entertaining with on hold music. When you choose on hold music make sure that its a tune that warmly greets your clients. You can opt for a song specific to your brand or something soft and happy, the options are endless.
Offer your clients access to different support solutions
Customers want their questions to receive answers fast, especially if you address to Millennials who are tech savvy. You should make sure that you offer t customer support channels they find easy to use, like social media, voice and chat.
Also, people want to help themselves, they dont want to wait for one of your experts to answer their call, they want to find the answer to their questions on your website or social media pages. You should include a FAQ page on your website, or you should post videos on YouTube, and in the blog section to discuss common problems. Videos are great for creating how-to guides, anddisplaying features in product demos. Use them to explain complex topics. FAQ and videos are effective tools to proactively address some questions your clients may have.
Some companies decided to choose alternative means. For example, a company asks its clients to send emails with their questions to help the support team understand what issues they have, and to prioritise them when creating the FAQ section.
Design a use-friendly website
You probably have a website, all businesses have one in 2019, but have you checked if its easy to use on a smartphone, tablet or laptop? Some companies still have outdated websites. Some of them are hard to navigate on mobile devices, others load slowly, and some of them dont have the info clients are looking for.
Website improvement should be a priority, make it easy to navigate so people can find information quickly. Google states that if a website doesnt load on a smartphone within 3 seconds, the user will leave it and click on the second option. If customers think that your website is not easy to use, they are five times more likely to leave it.
When you enhance the users experience, you should pay attention to some details:
- Include one touch calling features on phone numbers
- Design larger buttons
- Limit the copy
- The ordering process should be identic with the one on other devices
Seek satisfaction feedback
Do you want to know if your clients are satisfied with the products and services youre offering? Its simple to find out their opinion, you only have to ask them. Use customer satisfaction interviews to gather feedback from your customers, and target both long-time and new clients to cover a wider audience. Satisfaction feedback will offer you details about their experience with your products, services, and your customer service department. They will offer insight about the things you are doing well, and on the ones, you have to improve.
When you design the satisfaction interview questionnaire, you should make sure its easy to fill out because people dont want to spend more than 5 minutes in completing it.
Constantly improve your customer service even if you have good reviews. You should always check the standard of the market, and set new goals for your customer support department. Even if you are running the best business in the market, you can set the bar higher and you can boost your clients satisfaction levels. a