The Key Elements to Improving Your Customer Service

Most customer centric organizations try to differentiate themselves from their competitors by offering great customer service. It’s a smart tactic, because good support leads to increased customer satisfaction and, consequently, improved retention rates.

But sometimes improving your CS offerings is easier said than done. There are key elements you need to focus on if you want to present your customers with great service.

Efficiency

More than 70 percent of customers believe that companies should avoid making them repeat information to different representatives. In fact, 33% say that this is their biggest frustration with customer support.

Efficiency in customer service involves fulfilling your customer service goals with minimal effort from both the customer and the representative. Efficient customer service can be achieved in the following ways:

• Taking steps to direct customers with minor issues to self service and leaving customer service representatives to handle bigger issues.
• Putting a good system in place to share information when needing to transfer a customer from one advisor to another.

Speed

The speed at which you provide support to your customers is crucial. People want quick resolutions. Set realistic yet customer-focused SLAs for your business — from speed of first response through to speed of resolution. Then be sure to set clear expectations with your customers as to when they should expect a response.

Knowledge

Knowledgeable employees are important because they can provide your customers with the essential information they need to make informed choices. Customers benefit from interactions with staff who can resolve their issues quickly and consistently.

You can also help customers educate themselves by means of a robust knowledge base on your site, which often comes in the form of an FAQ or help desk section. Offering this service lets you address some of your customers’ needs without the use of a live representative.

Friendliness

73% of customers are more likely to stick with a brand if they encounter friendly support agents who create a memorable experience. But while friendliness is important, it’s not an easy thing to teach employees. In fact, a recent report shows that agents ask for a customer’s name only 21% of the time.

Asking for the customer’s name is an easy and valuable way to get the conversation going on the right track. It establishes a friendly rapport. Customers make purchasing decisions based on their feelings, so customer service needs to be inviting and easy to talk to. Friendly customer service is empathetic to the customer in all situations.

Proactivity

68% of customers say that their perception of a brand improves when they send them proactive customer service notifications. Proactive customer service involves businesses making the first move to help their customers and prevent them from contacting their CS teams.

With proactive customer service, you inform customers of the situation before it comes to light. A good example would be letting people know of a scheduled update that will affect the availability of your services. With proactive customer service, you send customers relevant information within their preferred channel and allow them to respond easily on that same channel.

Consistency

Consistency in customer service involves having strong practices and applying them to all support interactions, be they on social media, in person, over the phone, or on any other channel. When customers discover that they get the same high quality service regardless of the avenue the service is offered, they start to perceive your brand as a reliable choice they can count on. Customers will never have to second guess whether they’ll face an issue. This makes them confident in their decision to choose your company over competitors.

Customer relationships tend to be fragile, especially if you’re in a competitive industry. So should your customers be let down during a support experience, you might lose their business. Ensure that all customers have positive experiences with your company, every time.

Transparency

Many businesses are afraid of admitting their mistakes to customers, fearing that they’ll drive them away. But this lack of transparency will do just that. Withholding specific answers from customers after an unfortunate incident does the company no good. On the contrary, customers can often see through the charade, and they end up getting more upset than they initially were.

Openness in customer service is a great way to apply human quality to your organization — it makes your company appear trustworthy. As a business, it should be a priority to win the trust and loyalty of your customers. And what better way to do that than by being up front in all of your customer dealings?

Put It All Together

Exceptional customer service is characterized by efficiency, speed, knowledge, friendliness, proactivity, consistency, and transparency. Customers notice these key support elements. Follow this roadmap to CS excellence and stand out from the crowd.

Want further insights on how to provide exceptional customer service? Contact us today.