5 Ways To Make Customer Service Easier

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Customer service employees juggle an onslaught of delicate tasks on a daily basis. From discouraged customers to faulty products, customer service has a reputation for being problematic. However, there are ways to make this department run smoother, and increase the effectiveness – and morale – of your team.

Here are six ways to you can make customer service easier for your company:

Set Up An Intranet

Most corporations these days operate on their own intranet, which is essentially an exclusive internet accessible only to workers within a company. This means that your customer service representatives will be able to access all information quickly, as they need it, through comprehensive search and organizational tools – which means less customers will be left on hold. By providing customer service representatives with comprehensive access to customer profiles, product information, and other representatives, companies can streamline the interactions between customer and employee.

Provide Customers With A Feedback Tool

Expecting to provide every customer with a mutually beneficial resolution can be an impractical goal for any business. No matter the lengths you go to, not everyone will be pleased with every solution you offer. Granting customers a means to provide feedback about their product and customer service experience will show customers you’re invested in their opinions, and will make them feel heard, even when there is no resolution.

By setting up a phone or email survey or including a “Contact Us” page on your website you can dissuade disgruntled customers from posting complaints on larger review sites like Yelp or other review sites. These efforts can snuff out any harm that a typical complaint can cause while also ensuring customers that their opinions are of value. What’s more, they will help customers to see that your brand is invested in improvement and providing a proactive customer service experience.

Take In Customer Feedback And Act On It

Once you collect customer feedback, don’t just allow it to fall to the wayside. Use feedback as a tool to inspect various areas of your business that could be in need of improvement. Too many companies fail to overlook the goldmine that such information and insight can provide to their brand. In fact, a 2014 survey revealed that only 10 percent of companies providing customer satisfaction surveys actually utilize that data to improve service. Instead of tossing this information into a filing bin, use customer feedback as a tool to improve your product, services, and team.

Ensure Quality Customer Interaction

Customer service can be a nightmare for everyone. Frustrated customers can take a toll on a representative that’s been there done that with five other frustrated customers within the previous hour. Besides taking precautions to ensure agents maintain a healthy mindset, it is also necessary for customer service leaders to remind reps that each customer (as similar as their problems may seem) is an individual person. Encourage reps to relate to customers by identifying common grounds, providing empathy, admitting mistakes and following up after solutions have been made. Restoring confidence and building trust between a customer and customer service agent can go a long way in creating a smooth and productive conversation and interaction.

Get On Board With Social Media

Social media is completely uprooting the way consumers reach out to brands and seek customer service. Social channels are providing users with a soapbox to air grievances and leave reviews. Important fact: churn rate increases by nearly 15 percent when a company fails to respond to a matter on social media. The statistics prove it’s becoming all the more imperative for companies, no matter how big or small, to pay attention. Companies should ensure that part of a brand’s social media effort is rooted in its customer service department.

Streamline and combine the social media and customer service processes by investing in tools that will help you to respond to customers, analyze social reach and run reports. Easy to operate aggregate networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube offer scheduling and sentiment trackers to help automate the process. The more in touch with social media, your customer service team can be the better.

AJ Agrawal
I am a regular writer for Forbes, Inc., Huffington Post, Entrepreneur Media (among others), as well as CEO and Chairman of Alumnify Inc. Proud alum from 500 Startups and The University of San Diego. Follow me on Twitter @ajalumnify

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