According to the American Express Global Customer Service Barometer, customers are twice as likely to share bad customer service experiences than positive ones.
Unfortunately a bad review can take hard work to reverse. Parature’s infographic shows it takes 12 positive customer service experience to make up for one negative one.
Businesses can stay ahead of the competition by proactively addressing their customer service goals instead of retroactively dealing with a problem. The goal is to find out what your customers need and design your customer service around it.
Find out what your customers want
Do you really know what your customers want? Handing out customer satisfaction surveys may tell you that your customers like your services, but not what they actually like about you. Poll your current customers on what they want from your business from your products to customer service.
You may discover what they really want is a live chat feature, speaking directly with a technician to address a product problem or getting a follow-up call or email to check-in on the problem.
Getting involved and supporting your community can also make a big impact on your customer service perception. Apple Rubber manufacturing co-sponsors its local Lancaster, Pennsylvania Independence Days to build a positive company culture while helping their community. In exchange, they receive plenty of free advertising as a co-sponsor for the event and raise visibility for their brand.
Spy on the competition
Get a leg up on your competition by doing a thorough online search. Check Yelp to scour customer reviews and find out what the main complaints are and what they’re doing right. Sites like Amazon and Barnes and Noble can also shed some insight through customer reviews and best selling items. And don’t forget about social media.
Plug in your competitors’ names to see how they handle service and what customers are saying. Once you have a thorough profile of what your competition is up to, replicate the process and check out what customers are saying about you. The more information you have, the better equipped you are to set new goals and meet your customers’ needs by picking up the slack of your competition.
Defy the norm
Zappos is legendary for its customer service. Every employee, no matter their position, gets seven weeks of training on how to make customers happy and will do anything to please its customers. In one instance, a customer wanted a pair of shoes that Zappos didn’t have. An employee found the shoes in a competitor’s store, bought them, and shipped them out. They also offer free two-way overnight shipping and take returns for up to 365-days.
Your customer service doesn’t have to replicate Zappos to be outstanding. Eliminate the need for a middle man to listen to their story and pass on their comments to the next representative. Instead, empower your staff to make customers happy without the need for a maze of approval and wait time.
Consider letting your staff issue free coupons, take back products, send out replacement parts or anything else that seems like a reasonable request to the situation. Emphasize the need for patience and sympathizing with customers instead of relying on a script. Send a handwritten thank you to customers or follow-up with a phone call to ask if they enjoyed their product.
The more you go out of your way to show customers you care, the more they’ll value your business.
