Providing a customer service support line isn't an automatic way to win more business. In fact, one statistic says it can actually increase the likelihood of customers abandoning your business four times over. But you can make some changes to your customer support team to improve your customer service team overnight.
This will help you to increase customer retention and can even act as a selling point for your company. You're going to learn about four easy ways you can implement to upgrade your customer service team.
Create an Omni-Channel Experience
You shouldn't just be available via one means. Not everyone wants to give you a call. In fact, a lot of people resent the idea of having to speak to a company over the phone. They might want to send a message about a non-urgent enquiry over email. Alternatively, they could want to take advantage of a live chat system.
The problem is so many companies will settle on one or two channels for connecting with customers. A great customer support department will be available in a variety of ways. For example, they could be contacted via a mobile app or through a Facebook profile.
Start your journey to omni-channel domination today. The great thing about this is that it's easier than you think to get started with this. You can easily make other channels available in a matter of days. Your customers will thank you for it.
Focus on the Humans Administering It
Talking to potential customers and talking to current customers in the right way will determine whether they ever buy from you again. Not enough bosses concentrate on what their employees are doing and saying when they're interacting with customers.
It's easy to assume a grumpy customer is just a hater, but look deeper into the interaction. You might find that the person is just an irritant, but you might also find that the employee hasn't spoken in the right way. They might be the source of the problem.
Give regular training sessions and regular pieces of advice to your customer support team. Don't allow them to do what they like without supervision. This is how mistakes happen.
Make Your Most Loyal Customers Feel Special
Look at any industry and you'll see most of the big players offering some form of reward for being loyal. A VIP club and different service levels can even apply to your customer support department. Provide a few extra options to your most loyal customers. Don't just reserve the rewards for new customers.
Bucking the trend and skewing your rewards towards your most loyal customers can help with your marketing. Turn them into brand ambassadors by treating them right.
It doesn't have to cost anything to do this. You just have to tier the various support options you have. This can be done in a matter of hours.
Be Available
This is the number one way you can make sure that your customers are always going to be impressed by what you're offering them. Staying available is the number one demand customers have. They want to be able to get someone to help them at all hours, wherever they happen to be in the world.
There's nothing more annoying than having to wait until the next day because the customer support line closed five minutes ago. You don't necessarily have to make everyone stay late in a cloud contact center, or hire more employees, but there should still be support options open to them.
For example, you could direct them towards a comprehensive FAQ section. Making yourself available can ensure that you never lose customers because they've been driven to distraction.
Last Word - Have You Ever Surveyed Your Customers?
Sometimes you need to survey your customers to find out what they actually want. These four tips are general ways in which you can improve your customer service team, but every customer is different and every audience is different. The only way you're going to find out what your customers think is through surveying your customers.
Ask them directly what they think about your services and how you can improve. Most customers will be happy that you asked them in the first place. There's nothing worse than a company that doesn't listen. You can reverse that trend by showing that you're putting customers first.
Their feedback can be invaluable for giving them what they want. What is the best piece of customer feedback you've ever received?