You can’t fake customers. When they ask for support, they quickly realize whether the customer service they’re dealing with is rock solid or shaky. The difference is entirely relevant, since a rising number of people switch to a competitor after just one negative experience. So, in this article, you will learn about the three customer service pillars that every brand needs to have to retain and attract customers.
1. Technology
Whether you’re delivering customer support using few or many different channels, you need a unique tool to effectively manage them. Therefore, investing in a digital, omnichannel platform allows you to:
- Handle customer queries with a unique dashboard, regardless of the channel
- Provide great customer experiences
- Enhance customer assistants productivity reducing either First Response Time (FRT) or Average Response Time (ART)
- Track threaded conversation history to prevent friction with customers (such as repeated questions and/or misunderstandings)
- Market the most successful conversations that you’ve just had with your customers
Related: how to build your customer infomation hub.
2. People
Your staff – especially customer service assistants – play a very important role because they represent your brand whenever they speak or text with your customers. In order to deliver great customer experiences across social and digital channels, they need to be properly hired and trained. According to an old Chinese saying, “people who don’t smile should not open a shop.” That means that when you build a Digital Customer Service team, you need to choose people with a natural disposition towards empathy and emotional intelligence.
Amongst customer service pillars, the human factor has become paramount. We can aim to deliver great customer experiences based on the quality of every single conversation, or we can hide behind tools without investing in agents skills. In that regard, a few days ago I came across a thought-provoking article that I’m sure you will love reading.↓
3. Processes
How do you run your customer service when everything runs smooth? Are you organized to deal with sudden, difficult situations?
Just to give you an example: last week I got a call from a brand which is currently struggling with a huge ticket backlog. In a nutshell, after launching a marketing campaign, they received a customer-query Tsunami (hundreds of tickets in a couple of days). Consequently, they were not able to respond to all customers, even after two weeks!
As you can imagine, this situation generated huge customer’s dissatisfaction and complaints. That’s why you need to implement your customer service workflows and processes and test the waters before going live.
If you start from scratch you may use these actionable tips.
Over to you
Technology, people and processes are customer service pillars, and each of them is essential. Combine all these of ingredients to develop an unbeatable support machine that stands out from your competitors.
Have great conversations.
You may also want to read: Don’t Let Constraints Kill Customer Service
5 Customer Service Trends You Shouldn’t Miss
Why Great Customer Service is Invaluable In Marketing
How To Manage Customer Service Triggers
Featured image: Copyright: ‘https://www.123rf.com/profile_andreypopov‘ / 123RF Stock Photo
Paolo Fabrizio
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