Delivering great customer service is something every company can do but, in reality, many businesses fall short of the mark. In fact, the number of businesses that overlook the importance of customer care is surprising, particularly when customers place so much value on it.
If you want to acquire new customers and retain your existing customer base, it’s vital to deliver outstanding customer service. By making it one of your unique selling propositions (USPs) and embedding customer care into your company’s ethos, you can enhance your customers’ experience (CX) and even optimise your company’s financial performance.
To get started, take a look at these four customer services turn offs and find out how to avoid them:
1. Limited Contact Options
Today’s customers expect to be able to contact companies in a way that’s convenient for them, rather than you. If you only offer one method of communication, for example, it doesn’t make it easy for customers to engage with you, which devalues their experience.
By embracing omnichannel customer care, however, you can ensure that customers can engage with your brand in a way that suits them. From social media and chatbots to phone lines and a postal address, delivering top quality customer service across a range of channels will stand you in good stead.
2. Poor Connectivity
If customers are routinely cut off while they’re being transferred to another member of staff via the phone or if your website crashes during their chat with an online agent, don’t be surprised if you receive poor reviews and negative feedback.
Having multiple channels of communication is only effective if they’re well-maintained and deliver excellent connectivity. By overhauling your system, you can increase the quality of your customer care and make poor connectivity a thing of the past. With a Panasonic business phone, for example, you can implement a telephony system that works for your business, implement an IP communications system and integrate additional features, like email and instant messaging. When you choose a system that’s ideally suited to the size and scope of your business, you’ll naturally enhance the level of customer service you provide.
For instance, automated message features on social media tools like WhatsApp business can help customers feel confident about dealing with your brand. While getting the verified green tick can be useful, taking forever to respond to clients’ enquiries can affect your brand. The last thing you want is for your customers to feel they have been left on read. Take steps to ensure quicker response across all channels. You could read more about one tick on WhatsApp and how it can affect your business to help you ensure clients can easily reach you and prevent them from experiencing any issues when they reach out.
3. Long Response Times
Unsurprisingly, long response times are a major bugbear for customers who require help, information or support. If a customer is kept waiting on the phone, doesn’t get a reply to their email for days or is ignored on social media, it detracts from their brand experience and could dissuade them from engaging with your company again. As a result, you’ll potentially lose a sale and their future custom.
No matter what channels you choose to incorporate into your customer service, make sure you can serve your customers effectively. If you don’t have enough staff to deliver timely responses, for example, consider hiring additional employees or outsourcing your needs to an external customer service provider.
Furthermore, telling customers when they’re likely to receive a response can help to manage their expectations and ensures transparency. An automated message telling them how long they’re likely to wait on hold or an email to say they will receive a reply within 24 hours, for example, goes a long way to keeping a customer satisfied.
4. Lack of Knowledge
If your customer service staff aren’t well-briefed about your products, services and in-house processes, they will be unable to deliver effective customer care. Of course, this lack of knowledge is going to be frustrating for customers and will reflect badly on your business. Due to this, it’s vital that staff are armed with the knowledge they need before they’re able to interact with your customer base.
To achieve this, provide regular training to both new and existing staff. Keep them up to date with product or service developments and ensure they have in-depth knowledge of your product and service range. Furthermore, ensure they’re familiar with FAQs and common customer pain points so that they’re able to provide valuable support to prospects, leads and customers.
In addition to this, make sure staff have adequate knowledge about the customer’s journey by integrating your customer service software with your CRM (customer relationship management) systems. This ensures that every interaction is tracked and can be referred to at a future date.
Make Customer Service a Top Priority
Implementing an effective customer service strategy doesn’t have to be complicated or costly, but it can be a highly successful way of growing your business and increasing your profitability. If you want to outperform your competitors and impress your customers, delivering top-quality support should always be a top priority.