As you were building your brand, you realized that most audiences and customers respond to positive experiences. Your patrons became who they were because of the extraordinary experience they had transacting with you. You even increased conversions after you immediately resolved the certain issues of some customers.
It is clear that investing in your customer service department is imperative to your business’ success. Here are the five qualities it should have.
Five Things That Distinguish An Excellent Customer Response Team
Immediate Presence and Resolution
Invest in a call-forwarding machine that gets someone human on the line immediately. Customers will not be impressed with the machine bot’s capability to emulate a person’s voice or issue an appropriate response. They are impressed more if your staff can resolve their problems at the soonest possible time. Great after-sales support also builds your brand, too.
Based on your own experience, you can attest that you would use the products or services of a company whose customer service agents had helped resolve your problems quickly. You understand as a consumer that you will face some issues with certain business products or services. However, you also expect a quick resolution or at least a straightforward answer from their respective departments.
Do Away with “Stock” Replies
Aside from answering machines, response bots, and other automated ways to respond to customers, train your staff never to answer with a robotic or “stock” reply such as “please bear with us as we investigate this matter for the meantime” or “we’re sorry, this department cannot answer your queries; please try again.” If anything, this makes your brand look uncaring and have poor after-sales.
The best way to respond to a customer’s query is to provide a solution wherever possible. Greet them in a humanly enthusiastic manner. Encourage the idea that you are pleased to listen to their concerns. Give them consolation for the bad experience. Train your staff to respond in a genuinely concerned manner.
Be human when responding to the problems of your customers; a small investment here will create raving patrons in the future. However, the future offers great solutions to still using automated responses without sounding like stock dialogue.
Quick Solutions without Voice Calls
Most customers are wary about sending complaint emails because most companies barely read or respond to them within an hour. Unless you’re Uber (which responds to their passenger’s concerns in less than a day), you might receive less emails from customers and more voice calls and chat messages instead.
Clients are happier if you can resolve their issues without resorting to calling through their mobile phones. Non-voice call support is efficient especially if your audiences mostly want to express their concerns during their work lunch or during times they cannot express their concerns through the phone.
It’s also easier on your end because you won’t need to have too many voice departments for your company. Having a few people to answer chat or emails is faster.
Be Helpful (And Take a Step Up)
When your customers call you, they want to receive a straight and helpful answer. However, if you want to convert complainants into conversions and brand advocates, you need to give them a positive experience, which you can deliver only if you take an “extra step” without any returns.
For example, if a customer calls your support department, don’t just stop by telling them to call the specific department and providing the phone number. Instead, forward the call so they do not have to drop the call and start redialing. It’s a small and forgettable thing, but it introduces a small positive experience.
A real-life example of such is Trader Joe’s customer service. The grocery chain did not leave an old man’s request hanging. Even if they never had any delivery services (but they do nowadays), they did so for their particular elderly customer.
When your caller has problems understanding certain details of a product or service, walk them through until the moment they encounter the problem, and aid them in full detail how to resolve their problem. Being helpful adds value and helps your audience maximize the use of your products and services, too.
Give Consolations for Irresolvable Issues
It is inevitable that at some point, you need to deliver a robotic “we’re sorry we can’t fix your problem at this time” statement to your customer because the problem is quite complicated or outside the jurisdiction of the customer support department. Immediately after the stock statement, tell your customer that they can receive a free item, benefit, or others from your company because of the hassle.
However, make sure to give something of value. Don’t provide a flawed offer, such as a quick-expiring movie ticket. The product or service you offer to make up for a fault must be flawless, too.
Bufferapp, a company in itself, has been a receiver of products for marketing purposes. While the intent is different, the idea of providing free products does introduce a positive effect each time. Use this to your advantage!