Customer Service quality is what divides businesses up into those that have loyal, grateful customers and those that have customers whispering rumours of their bad service. Those in the first group are, of course, the ones making a larger profit as 45% of customers will pay more solely to guarantee impressive service levels. Bringing the social aspect, the aspect most easily related to, into focus will gain a business the attention it needs. Investing in updating social interactions to fit customer requests can save your business from being the second outcome in this equation.
Taking Responsibility Off the Customer’s Hands
It should be impossible to ignore that the most important part of customer service is taking responsibility off the customer’s hands. The more burdens you carry for them the better, and an effective way to increase this factor is through effective data management and accessibility.
Customers are easily frustrated with having to repeat their story and hop between channels. This can be effectively managed using Cloud-based Customer Resource Management (CRM) systems to store all input from customers in one place accessible from anywhere at any time.
It is important to make sure automations are efficient when used, as automations such as IVR systems often cause frustration through unclear instructions and never-ending sequences. Comfortably weaving technology with the human touch provides a pleasant balance between efficient technology and empathetic human service.
Using Social Media as a Customer Service Platform
Twitter becoming a big platform for customer service now, with customer service interactions on Twitter increasing by 250% over the past two years. Customers are switching to social media for quick responses and it’s up to businesses to meet them there.
Twitter is a platform built for short and sweet messages, so it only makes sense to search for simplified responses there. Not only can customers have their own questions responded to directly, but they can see the responses other customers have received, saving everybody time.
Customer-owned platforms like Twitter and Facebook’s rapid gain in popularity can be attributed to their convenience and the amount of power and freedom given to the customer as opposed to options offered on company websites. Hilton Hotels, like many companies, has an account specifically for customer service to confidently allow customers to expect dedication to customer service.
Social media also puts companies under close scrutiny, but smart businesses will take advantage of this. According to Convince and Conver, answering social media complaints increases customer advocacy by up to 25%.
Ignoring the problem only speeds up the spread of bad reputation, while responding quickly builds trust with customers. Brands such as Zappos have mastered responding to complaints by taking responsibility for issues and apologising. Immediately following is an eagerness to fix the problem and a solution or starting point to assure customers that help is on the way.
Never Forget to Thank your Customers
A business should never forget to thank their customers, for they are basically the reasons business functions. According to Forrester Research, 77% of people say that valuing their time is the most important thing a company can do to provide good service.
Customers are tired of feeling inferior to companies that just don’t give the time of day to help them. Being quick but also efficient shows you are customer service oriented and customers will want to be able to knock out several problems at once through multitasking. Valuing a customer’s time becomes ever more important on social media nowadays as instancy is a growing trend.
A slow response will strip you of any chance that the customer will spend more that usual for good service as they feel unimportant to your company. 32% of customers expect a response on social media within half an hour. 57% expect the same during busy times like nights and weekends.
These analytics deserve closer inspection to ensure more staff are available in busy periods to keep the rate of response the same. Knowing that someone is on the other side waiting to help makes customers feel valued and immediately more attached to your business.
Offering Different Channels to Reach You
As some mediums gain popularity, others become redundant or less preferred. One of the biggest customer service channels, phone calls, has been named the most frustrating customer service channel by Aspect Research. One way to improve this situation is to give the customer options by making a variety of channels available.
Twitter has become an excellent example of customer-owned service channels. But as phone calls still remain one of the top three most used channels, it would be wise to invest in eliminating frustrating aspects of phone customer service. Sufficient staffing in busy times should be a priority as 13% of customers say that no wait time at all is acceptable.
Study Your Audience
Lastly, if you aren’t watching your audience carefully, you’ll never pinpoint what goes wrong. As it turns out, the generation that has the most issues with customer service is actually the millennials.
54% of millennials say they’ve stopped doing business with a company because of poor customer service. 50% of Gen Xers and 52% of baby boomers felt the same way. Differences in expectations for technology and work values make it very important to target specific audiences so that they know they will receive the service that suits them best.
To make things work, businesses should advertise things like impressive technology to millennials and empathetic service to baby boomers in order to tailor to their expectations.
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