Customer service is important. It helps you to ensure customer satisfaction and acknowledge lasting relationships.
Customer service is one of the top priorities for businesses worldwide. They strive to deliver the best customer service by ensuring that the customers are happy with their purchases.
However, not all do it the right way. Some businesses struggle to address the concerns brought to their notice which leads to a poor customer service experience.
This generally happens when businesses have just gotten started or tapped into newer market segments.
If you’ve been facing the same problem, here’s a list of dos and don’ts that covers the basics of customer service.
So, without further ado.
Let’s get started.
Dos of Customer Service
Satisfied customers help you capture more leads. Since 88% of customers rely on the recommendations of others, it’s best that you offer amazing customer service to ensure positive word of mouth. Here are a few dos for great customer service.
Know Your Customer
Knowing your customer is the prerequisite for top-tier customer service. Customers have diverse preferences and personalities. So, you might need to consider different tactics to ensure better customer service experiences.
For 50% of customers, brands become more relevant when they offer inclusive experiences. This is only made possible if you have access to in-depth customer data.
This is why businesses around the globe spend millions to gather useful customer information and use it to devise data-driven customer success strategies.
Embrace Humility
Customer service can often lead to heated arguments between customers and your representatives. The best thing to do here is to train your team to keep their cool no matter what. Even if customers are overreacting, it’s your team’s responsibility to calm them down.
You should always make your customers feel valued and embrace humility while interacting with them. This creates a wholesome customer service experience that facilitates high customer retention.
Keep Your Promises
Trust is one of the important factors for acknowledging lasting customer relationships. And one of the best ways to keep it intact is by keeping your promises. So, it’s best that you communicate clearly with your customers and never make promises that you can’t keep.
It is common for companies to overpromise in their customer service policy. But not every concern is the same. Some issues take longer than usual to be resolved.
So, don’t set expectations you can’t keep up with. Overpromises not just lead to poor customer service experiences but also create a stressful work environment for your representatives.
Encourage Customer Feedback
To ensure a better customer service experience, you need to welcome customer feedback. Customer feedback is important as it paves the way for you to improve your products or services and ensure customer satisfaction in the long run.
However, not all businesses are open to receiving feedback from their customers. This can be one of the reasons why only 6% of customers actually review products or services they use.
So, be open about the feedback shared with you by your customers. Take it as constructive criticism and use the information provided to improve your products or services for a better customer experience.
Don’ts of Customer Service
There are many things that negatively affect the customer service experience. These are the things that you should definitely avoid when interacting with your customers. Here are a few don’ts of customer service that you should know.
Don’t Make it Difficult for Customers to Reach You
Did you know that 63% of customers prefer to revisit websites that have a live chat feature for support?
Customers prefer convenience, especially when it comes to seeking support pertaining to their preferred products or services. So, make it easier for them to reach out to you when in need.
This is why most successful businesses offer multiple support options to their customers like phone, email, live chat, and more. By giving more options, they’re making it easier for their customers to get in touch with them and get their concerns resolved with ease.
Don’t Delay
One of the most important things is timeliness when it comes to resolving the issues of your customers. Some concerns can be a bit complex and require technical expertise. So, they may take longer than usual to be resolved.
However, you have to ensure that there are no unnecessary delays from your end. You should try and resolve the concerns as swiftly as you can as per the set priorities.
Don’t Hide Anything
Customers today are well-informed and way more learned compared to the ones from a few years back. Technology has made it easier for them to access information and explore things easier than ever before.
So, whatever you’re trying to hide from them, they will find out eventually, be it via Reddit, YouTube, or any other online community.
Therefore, it’s best that you are transparent with your customers when sharing information. Once you’re open with your customers, you will find them to be more understanding as you have gained their trust by being honest.
Don’t Be Afraid to Try New Things
Businesses are often reluctant to embrace new ways when it comes to customer service. Be it technology or contemporary tactics, companies would rather stick to the methods that have been working out for them.
And there’s nothing wrong with sticking to the tried and tested methods. But, you shouldn’t ignore the new ways that can help you improve the customer service experience.
Did you know that 34% of retail customers these days actually prefer interacting with chatbots compared to customer support representatives?
Customer preferences are drastically changing. What was working before might not work so well now. So, to keep up with volatile customer preferences, you have to keep evolving and be open to change.
It’s a Wrap
There you have it. The dos and don’ts of customer service. Try out the recommendations prescribed and see if they work out for you. The suggestions may have diverse implications as per the use cases, so consider your respective industry dynamics before making any change in your processes or your customer service policy.
