You may have a great product, but if your customer service is unhelpful, unreliable, or difficult to contact, people will hear about it and you will lose business.
This is one of the main reasons why investing in customer service is key to long-term success. But what does it mean to provide excellent customer service, and how can you ensure that every customer has a great experience with your business when they ask for help? We have discovered many ways to put your customer service at the center of the game in your company.
What is Great Customer Service?
Great customer service means following best practices such as valuing customers' time, having a positive attitude, and providing valuable information and resources, but also going the extra mile to exceed - rather than meet - expectations.
10 Best Ways to Deliver Great Customer Service
You can use a number of different methods – including the built-in features of customer service software, shared inbox tools, and helpdesk tools – to delight your customers and get them to see your support for their friends.
Here are our top 10 best ways to
provide great customer service
1. Know your product
As a customer advocate, you spend all day diagnosing customer issues, which means you have to be a product expert. A thorough knowledge of your product is an important customer service skill. Ideally, you should believe in your product, be able to discuss strategies and take action carefully, and show your customers how the product can benefit them, not to mention any problems that don't work well.
Your job is to help your customers get the best out of their purchases and feel like they're getting what they paid for. Make it your goal to learn everything there is to know about your product so you can advise your customers in time for new features and services.
2. Maintain a positive attitude
Testimonials are everything, and the right attitude goes a long way in providing great customer service.
Flavio Martins, Vice President of Customer Services at DigiCert Inc., said, "Good practices turn negative customer experiences into positive customer experiences." Since most customer interactions are not face-to-face, your personality should be reflected in your language and tone of voice.
It's easy to misinterpret the tone of a written communication, and an email or live chat can sound cold. The brain uses many signals to interpret another person's emotional tone, including body language and facial expressions, many of which are missing from the Internet.
Don't be afraid to use emoticons to show love and a good laugh, or pick up the phone if you find an email or conversation damaging.
3. Solve creative problems
Over 80% of customers quit because they received poor customer service. That's why you should strive to solve your customers' problems and make them a central part of your support service - and there will always be problems.
Everyone has heard of Zappos' customer service. For example, they once sent the bride free shoes the day before the wedding when her order was sent to the wrong place due to an error by the delivery company.
Zappos solved a problem and demonstrated great customer service - they won a customer for life and gave the man a story he couldn't wait to share. Don't be afraid to impress your customers when you're trying to solve a problem for them. You can fix the problem and move on, but by designing something that meets their needs more and more, you will create customers who are more engaged with you and your product.
4. Respond quickly
66% of people believe that valuing their time is the most important factor in any customer experience online. Resolving customer inquiries as quickly as possible is a cornerstone of good customer service. Speed should be key, especially for small issues that don't take long to resolve. That being said, great customer service runs fast every time.
Clients understand that complex questions take time to resolve. There is a difference between how long it takes to respond and how quickly you solve their problem. Customers don't want to suffer in ticket lines, but they will spend as much time as it takes to solve their problem. You should too.
Get back to your customers as soon as possible, but don't be too quick to hang up or close the ticket without properly resolving the issue.
5. Organize your work
40% of customers say they want better customer service. It means they want to feel more than just a ticket number. They get angry when they are not treated like everyone, give them a plate response, or hit different people like a tennis ball. Customers want to interact with a person, not a business. This is one of the reasons why many companies send gifts to their customers on their birthdays.
Not only do you know your customers' names, but also their birthdays? What about their interests or hobbies? Can you make them laugh? Obviously it's not possible to do this for everyone, but stepping out of the script and helping out when you can is an important way to show your customers that you know them and care about them.
In Help Scout, tickets are called "conversations" to encourage the support team to think about requests and queues in a more personalized way. So whether you use Help Scout or one of its alternatives, think about how the support tools you use can help you organize your support relationship.
6. Help customers help themselves
That said, customers don't always want to talk to someone to resolve their issue - often they want to quickly resolve their issue themselves. Among consumers, 81% try to solve a problem themselves before contacting a representative. Other research shows that 71% want to be able to solve most customer service problems themselves.
Personal service is a cost-effective way to keep customers happy. This is the idea that led to Help Scout's Beacon, which puts help content front and center so customers can find answers wherever they are without leaving the page. Then, if they cannot answer their own questions, the help of a real person is just a few clicks away.
7. Focus on support and customer
Your customers are an important part of your business whether they come in front of products or profits. Treat them as if they are the center of your world - because they are.
As Kristin Smaby said in "Being human is good business", "It is time to consider a different approach: creating a human-based customer service through great people and smart technology. So know your customers. Make them human. Make yourself human. It's worth it."
Southwest Airlines applied this principle in a memorable way when one of their pilots booked a return flight to wait for a customer attending a funeral. They put people before what they think, and this customer will never forget it.
8. Listen carefully
Paying attention to customer feedback involves analyzing data, and listening directly. Show your customers that you hear them when they take the time to talk to you. Listening increases the chances that you will hear your customers' real issues and be able to address them effectively, which will lead to happy customers.
Listen to what they have to say without raising your own agenda. Don't assume you know what your customer is going to say. Demonstrate good listening skills; when on the phone or in live chat, use phrases like "Sounds like..." and "You mean...?" or "Let me make sure I understand." Be sure to repeat the problem in your own words to show that you heard them.
Good listening also means getting to know your client's unique personality and current emotional state so you can tailor your response to that situation. Customer service is nothing special.
9. Keep your word
If you make a promise, making sure you keep it is a smart salesperson's job. Don't let your customers down. Keeping your word is a matter of respect and trust.
For example, if you promise a 99% uptime SLA, make sure you meet that standard. If you promise to develop certain features in your software in a certain period of time, be sure to stick to that.
When you break your word, such as saying you'll get back to a customer within 24 hours and you don't, offer something to make up for it. If your customer's delivery is faulty, offer to replace it and reimburse them for their trouble. You may lose money in the short term, but you will gain a loyal customer.
Interestingly, customers are not very appreciative when you deliver more than promised. However, they get angry when you break a promise. It's always best to promise and over-deliver to ensure you don't violate this important social contract.
10. Be careful
Going the extra mile is one of the most important things you can do to provide great customer service. This is when you’ve checked all the boxes, but still wants to do more. Sometimes being helpful means anticipating your customers' needs before they articulate them. In fact, sometimes customers can ask for one thing without realizing that they really want something else. It is your responsibility to anticipate their needs and meet their needs.
When customers feel that you value them - like they are truly special to you - they will keep coming back. This can be related to the phenomenon of reciprocity and social relations: if you do something good to your customers, they will want to do something in return - like buying your product!
Sending them a small "just because" gift, or giving them a rare promotional code, will speak volumes to your customers and show your genuine appreciation for their business.
The Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville really helped out a customer when a guest asked where he could buy a clock they had in his room. The hotel gave him one as an unexpected parting gift, which made them very hospitable.
Advising clients by business type and industry
• B2B customer service
• B2C customer service
• SaaS support
• Customer service in the health sector
• Start of marketing activities
• Customer service and education
• Financial Customer Service
• Small business customer service
• Customer service and non-profit organizations
• E-commerce customer service
Last Word
Grow your business by providing excellent customer service
All of the above come together to create great customer service. It's great customer service that keeps your customers loyal to you and your business, and earns you a reputation for being helpful and a pleasure to work with. Customers want to be treated like people, not numbers in a line. Create them and personalize yourself for customer-driven growth.
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