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An excellent customer service strategy separates your call center from the competition by providing a difficult-to-replicate intangible competitive edge. A confident consumer who trusts in their product or service selection will be more likely to promote it to others if they receive excellent customer service from your business.
This article details seven great tips you can implement within your customer service strategy.
Key Points:
- You should always offer alternatives to traditional communication channels
- Give more autonomy to customer service agents
- Track customer feedback through surveys
- Your call center must have a precise call-routing solution
1. Offer as many communication channels as possible
Depending on the circumstances, a client may be able to contact customer support using the most convenient methods.
For example, one prefers email or SMS in the evening after work. If it is a request throughout the day, they can utilize the website’s chat or, if it is not urgent, email. If the appeal is sophisticated or significant, they will want to call.
To compel their consumers to utilize Self Care, several companies obscure their phone numbers as much as possible. If a consumer needs assistance over the phone, it is either urgent or necessary.
You will generate bad customer satisfaction scores by concealing your contact details.
If you are concerned about having too many phone or email interactions, you can do the following:
- Redirect a portion of the calls toward digital channels using an on-hold message that notifies callers of alternative methods to obtain answers. If your reachability is of the utmost importance, you can significantly raise the phone wait time.
- Utilize an IVR or a Callbot that understands natural language to digitize specific phone conversations.
Of course, you must always consider traditional channels such as phone, email, SMS, etc., and modern communication channels like social media or web chat, adapting to your client’s needs. Consequently, younger generations favor instant reaction channels over channels with a delayed response time.
With NobelBiz Omni+, you can accommodate virtually any communication channel: Voice Calls, Facebook Messenger, Twitter, WhatsApp, Telegram, SMS, Email, Live Chat, Webchat, Voicemail, and more.
NobelBiz OMNI+ is a complete cloud contact center software equipped with a complex toolbox of features, functions, and integrations carefully designed to manage the operations of every type of contact center. You are looking at a truly customizable powerhouse of productivity and probably the only software you will ever need to run virtually any contact center activity.
On the other hand, when it comes to your customer service strategy, you are probably wondering what is more important: Having a team that provides prompt, individualized customer support or having a system that offers many easy-to-use communication channels.
Based on this example, consider the possibility that your team might be overloaded. You are increasing your team’s productivity and alleviating their workload by providing a convenient, easy-to-use communication channel like Facebook Messenger.
2. Avoid random routing at all costs
Nothing is more annoying for customers than being moved from one department to another and having to explain the situation each time…
Call Routing without help or a description of the situation between agents requires consumers to retell their narrative each time, recite their customer number, or even be moved to a different department, waiting an additional five minutes for nothing.
Just so you know, contact center software can also incorporate the concept of priority. An internal call from a corporate agent will have priority in the call queue, saving the adviser time and preventing the transferred consumer from having to wait again in an IVR.
Another alternative is establishing several levels of help (such as level 1 for simple requests and level 2 for tedious or complicated requests). Hence, the basic requests are efficiently handled, whereas level 2 is responsible for complex demands. Consumers will experience less frustration, along with the agents receiving a reduced workload.
Furthermore, if a call center agent is doing rote calls or conducting calls for follow-up actions on previous engagements, the supervisor can always see their ROI and how much time they spend on each call.
3. Do not keep the consumer waiting
You can offer to call them back (the call-back system) or at least provide an estimated wait time before an agent is available (via CTI functions).
Contact center systems also enable clients to record their requests via voicemails, which managers may process during off-peak hours.
If this is not practical for you, provide two contract tiers, ordinary and premium, with priority queue access.
If your business allows it, you may also negotiate with the agents to modify the working hours, either to prolong the time slots or reduce the total hours worked.
With around ten agents, you can expand your business hours (by delegating to them only simple requests – for complex requests, your internal team will always be the dedicated contact). Also, provide flexible off-peak hours, encouraging employees to work on the weekends (which promotes productivity).
Focus on customer service over sales
Most companies fall into the trap of trying to meet too many different goals from the onset of the contact center implementation process. They aim to generate new sales, improve customer retention and productivity, and optimize profitability.
Instead, aim to improve the client experience as much as possible while finding a happy medium with existing customer retention levels and achieving growth with your brand.
Profit-related goals can be met, but focus on client satisfaction first and then try to accelerate productivity when it becomes apparent that the workload is too heavy.
4. Allow agents a margin of autonomy at all times
An excellent customer service strategy tip is compiling a list of business liberties agents might take with customers based on the circumstances.
This enables them to customize their reaction to the individual in front of them autonomously, without needing to contact a supervisor.
In the worst-case scenario, you may always recommend the transfer to a manager to demonstrate that your call center is customer-centric.
The processing time should be used to determine the number of agents in the customer service department, but it should not be an indicator of conversation quality.
The standard for measuring the quality of service must be the customer’s satisfaction with the response (and the resolution to the first call, along with the waiting time).
Please don’t hesitate to congratulate agents who get positive client feedback; doing so shows that service quality is of utmost importance.
History demonstrates that rewarding positive practices and projects is more successful than punishing lousy conduct.
5. Create a retention customer service
Occasionally, a business gesture, a modest effort, and careful listening are sufficient to regain a consumer’s trust.
This retention service is designed to listen to the consumer and negotiate with them with more autonomy on commercial gestures and to create a training program on handling customer friction points situation.
To avoid having too many dissatisfied customers, don’t forget to set up an “onboarding procedure” for new customers or even to set up a Customer Success Manager function whose job is to guide customers through their first steps of using the system and to ensure that everything goes smoothly.
How do you start from scratch and build an efficient and helpful customer service department? We asked customer service and experience expert Shep Hyken just that. First, you need to know where you are and your customers’ most significant problems.6. Send periodic customer satisfaction surveys
First, sending a satisfaction survey to your customers is a great way to get to know them better and improve your connection. Customers will feel they matter to you if you are interested in their needs and problems. Because of this, they will be more likely to stick with your brand. By looking at their answers, you’ll be able to find out how to improve their level of satisfaction, also known as the Customer Satisfaction Score CSAT.
Most of what you need for your customer service strategy will come from what your customers have to say. Companies can learn a lot from comments and other suggestions, especially when they show what customers want or what parts of the experience they like.
Customer feedback will help you improve your business because it can only tell how good your products and services are. Then, you’ll be able to make good decisions quickly and offer products and services that make a difference.
7. When there is no answer, honesty is the best policy!
It is not always possible to find a solution to every problem, and clients often realize this.
On the other hand, agents should constantly put themselves in the client’s shoes and behave as if they (or someone they know well) had the situation. This greatly helps to humanize the customer in the agent’s eyes.
By reminding them of this, you are sending the message that they can discuss the client’s issue with a superior to account for exceptional circumstances, even if the rules and procedures are strictly adhered to.
Conclusion
Please remember that your service is only as excellent as your ability to manage and offer alternative solutions.
If you effectively manage your agents, teach them, and make them respect their profession, they will be more productive, and your clients will be grateful.
Also, supply them with a software solution that is both easy to navigate and effective. If your agents are enthusiastic about their jobs and are willing (and convinced) to assist a client, you will undoubtedly provide a positive customer experience.
Abdelmounim Benharouga has always had a strong passion for writing and digital marketing. He started as a Digital Content Writer part of marketing department then moved to being Customer Success Manager for the African Region within the Nobelbiz team.