10 Tips for Improving Customer Support

Article Summary

Companies spend millions every year for branding and other marketing activities. But when it comes to customer experience, most of them lack the proper knowledge on how to give the customers the “wow” experience. Here are 10 tips to improve customer experience.

Description

Companies spend millions every year for branding and other marketing activities. But when it comes to customer experience, most of them lack the proper knowledge on how to give the customers the “wow” experience. Research says that a satisfied customer is likely share her/his experience to at least 3 people, whereas a dissatisfied customer is a complete disaster, s/he would never come back again and also share the experience to at least 7 and more (twice the number!). Therefore, what you do when they need your assistance counts on every time.

Here are 10 tips on how you could improve your company’s customer support and make your customer experience better.

1. 24×7 Customer Support

There is nothing worse for a customer than to call in a customer support line and get a recording telling to call back during normal business hours when s/he needs immediate assistance. Hence, ensure the bandwidth of the company before you activate and facilitate the support function to your customers 24×7.

2. Text-enabled Customer Service

In the marketplace, where millennials are ruling over and prefer texting to calling. A text-enabling customer service and support is the smart fit for the companies to target this customer segment as well as improve their experience to a higher extent.

3. Live Chat Option

Incorporating your company website with a live chat option would not only slit the response time, but also cut time-consuming email exchanges by more than 40%, which means now your customer support team would have more time to engage more number of visitors and take up their experience to the next level.

4. Social Media Networks

The inbound marketing tools are gradually taking an edge over the outbound. Hence, enhancing your company presence over the social media networks would not only meet the expectations of today’s customers but also helps improve the quality of your customer support service to greater heights.

5. 360 Degree Channel Coverage

Due to the immense technological advancement in the past few years, consumer behavior has become somewhat unpredictable. Nowadays, you must incorporate a multichannel contact center, which would  seamlessly integrate all communication channels (both inbound and outbound) for one fluid experience. This would not only enhance your customer satisfaction to the next level, but also help develop your support team to deliver fast, easy and time bound.

6. Careful Listening

Effective listening plays a crucial part in instilling customers confidence in your support services. Hence, it is always better to use simple language rather than technical and industry lingo.

7. Self Service Option

Self Service is among the quickest option for customers to get the answers of their queries/ concerns. Therefore, it is advisable to have online tools like FAQs, a costumer online forum/ portal where a customer could post her/ his query and get it resolved by the other members of the forum. This would empower your customers and helps your support team to prioritize the set of incoming queries more tactfully. However, there should always be an agent assigned who would monitor and provide assistance as and when required.

8. Multi-Channel Ticket Management System

A multi-channel ticket management system would keep up all the channels your clients use. Therefore, query escalation and handling becomes more systematic and helps improve the brand reputation of your company.

9. Smart Telephonic System

A smart cloud based IVR system would fit the best when it comes to handling multiple queries at one go. Hence, having a toll-free-number for your business supportive functions is a must!

10. Hire Smart Customer Representatives

Always hire smart and effective people with a higher sense of responsibility and accountability. Your brand reputation and customer loyalty are based on the quality of customer service you offer. Hence, hire people who could take up initiatives by their own. And give them the ability to do what is right without having them to always ask for permissions.

About The Author

Shiv Pandey is a online marketing consultant and writes for many businesses including Five Splash Infotech, a leading company providing BPO services in India.