The impact of online reviews and discourse surrounding your company is more important than ever. Positive reviews can help your company generate about 31% more revenue. Figuring out how to gain those positive reviews is simple: offer stellar customer service.
Implementing that service, however, is another story. With the rise of social media and other digital platforms as well as an increasing dependence on technology, customer service teams must be prepared to offer exceptional customer service over multiple channels.
Before we provide tips on providing exceptional customer service in the digital age, let’s explore how critical it is for any business’s success.
The Importance of Great Digital Customer Service
Some of the most common customer complaints are:
- Dealing with rude, hard-to-understand, or ineffective customer service reps;
- Sitting through long wait times for customer service;
- Not being able to resolve an issue in one call;
- Not getting any follow-up after an interaction.
These things can ruin a customer’s perception of and experience with your business. In addition, the customer will probably talk about this bad experience with others, which damages your business’s ability to make a name for itself and thrive.
The good news is that exceptional customer service can help you avoid all the above complaints. A business that prides itself on excellent customer service will ensure:
- Its team is well-trained;
- Its customers don’t have to wait for a resolution;
- Issues are resolved as quickly as possible (hopefully in one day);
- And that communication and follow-up are constant until a solution is reached.
Keep reading for guidance on providing the above service for your customers.
Tips for Providing Superior Customer Service Online
Providing superior customer service, digitally, isn’t as difficult as it may seem. The following tips can help you impress your customers and make serving them much more manageable.
Respond as quickly as you can
First and foremost, you’ve got to respond to customer service inquiries as quickly as possible. Customers these days are used to instant communication and gratification. So, responding to their queries days later isn’t an option.
If you can offer customer service support 24/7, great. If not, be sure it’s available during business hours, and set up automatic replies after hours so that your customers know you’ll connect with them the next day.
Expand your customer service channels
Once upon a time, customer service was limited to face-to-face interactions. Then came customer service support over the phone. And now, customers are contacting businesses on as many channels as the company offers.
Everyone has a different preference when it comes to communication and customer service. So, it’s best to offer as many avenues as possible for solving your customer’s issues. This means developing an omnichannel approach to customer service.
Consider including these channels in your customer service strategy:
- Email;
- Phone;
- Live chat;
- Social media;
- Text message;
- Chatbot on your website;
- Self-serve knowledge base.
Of course, you can still provide in-person customer service. Just make sure you aren’t neglecting your online presence, responding instantly even if you aren’t available at the time. This can be done through automated replies programmed into chatbots and email software systems.
Lead with empathy
Empathy is the ability to understand, be aware of, and share someone else’s feelings. In other words, you see things from their perspective and adopt the emotions they’re experiencing in the interaction.
When you empathize with your customers, you’ll have an easier time finding a resolution. This is because the customer will feel like you genuinely understand them and what they’re going through. And that, in turn, makes them more cooperative. Step into your customer’s shoes whenever they contact you about a customer service issue and stay there until it is resolved.
Personalize every interaction
Generic replies, reading off a script, not referring to your customer by name, and doing the same thing in every interaction aren’t conducive to exceptional customer service. Instead, personalize every interaction you have with a customer.
Learning and using the customer’s first name is just the beginning. Spark a meaningful conversation with them. Learn a bit about them. And then, ask them open-ended questions and listen to what they’re saying and their suggestions for rectifying their issue.
Lighten the interaction with a bit of laughter and reassurance that you will take care of them to top off your personalization efforts.
A satisfactory resolution is the goal
Ultimately, you want to come to a satisfactory resolution. Of course, you want the solution to be acceptable on both sides. However, it should be more about your customer than anything.
If you can provide what they’re asking for and it not be disruptive to your business, do it. On the other hand, if the customer is asking for something you just can’t do, give them a transparent reason why and offer an alternative.
It’s important to note that sometimes there won’t be a satisfactory resolution, no matter how empathetic and flexible you are. In these cases, make the customer as “whole” as possible and leave the door open for a better relationship in the future.
Always follow up
Following up is integral to ensuring your customers are satisfied with their resolution. It’s also an opportunity to ask for feedback on their most recent interaction. The latter can help you improve your practices and better serve your customers.
So, after you’ve concluded a customer service interaction, reach out to the customer via email and ask if there’s anything that’s come up since you last talked to them. Also, inquire about the resolution you agreed on and if it’s been fulfilled.
Then, a week or so later, send out your feedback survey or ask the customer direct questions about their experience.
Invest in helpful tools
It’s challenging to handle everything manually and provide top-tier customer service. Investing in helpful tech tools that make customer service interactions seamless is a much better approach. Here are a few ideas for tools that can help elevate your customer service:
- Survey builders;
- Chatbot support;
- Help desk software;
- Social media support;
- Automatic callback systems;
- Project management software;
- Content management systems (CMS);
- Video conferencing tools and live support;
- Customer relationship management (CRM) systems.
You don’t have to invest in all or any of the above customer service tools. However, if you do and train your team on how to use them effectively, your customers will absolutely benefit.
Prioritize cybersecurity
Cybersecurity becomes critical as you use the above tools and rely on technology more. One of the worst experiences your customers can have is reading your email about how their data’s been leaked or compromised.
They may have to deal with identity theft because of the leak. And that can be an incredibly stressful situation to deal with. You have to figure out what happened, report it, and take many steps to protect yourself and resolve the issue.
If your business is the reason for them dealing with that stress, the relationship is likely to end. So, invest in top-tier cybersecurity tools. In addition, develop robust cybersecurity protocols your customer service team can easily follow to protect their customers’ data and help them rebuild should something happen.
Conclusion
Exceptional customer service in today’s digital age isn’t an option. It’s a requirement if you want to thrive. Build great relationships and provide your customers with memorable customer service experiences by implementing the tips above.
