Being customer-centric is a challenge all companies must strive for. Not only does a happy customer base ensure longevity, but it also minimises negativity that can be harmful to your reputation and future revenue. With most industries being highly competitive, if your brand is not providing what the customer wants, they will soon vote with their feet and shop elsewhere. As it is a crucial part of business development, here’s a quick guide on how to improve your customer service and why it matters.
Review the Customer Journey
If you haven’t put yourself in your customer’s shoes, then it can be difficult to envisage the customer journey. Most customers want to be able to achieve what they set out to do as quickly and efficiently as possible. Whether they want to enquire about a service or product, find more information before making a purchase, or complete a transaction from their basket, the route to doing so need’s to have been carefully planned. This is where a customer experience specialist can assist and help your brand deliver a seamless journey. The customer experience needs to be at the forefront of many aspects including UX design and functionality. Discovering obstacles in the customer journey means you can make improvements and keep your customers happy.
Listen to Customers & Resolve Pain Points
Maintaining a feedback loop with your customers is crucial to improving customer service. If customers do not have an outlet to provide feedback, it can be very difficult to discover pain points and help enhance service. Ideally, your company will have some form of feedback process in place either through after-sales surveys, an inbound call centre or a live chat facility. Finding a process that works for your brand will encourage customers to feedback regularly so that you can discover pain points as they happen. Whilst getting positive feedback is great and can be used to promote your products and services, it’s the negative feedback that can provide insight into the customer experience and the obstacles that need to be addressed. Working with CX experts or agencies can help to integrate software to make collating feedback an easy process that saves on time and resources.
Ensure Friendliness & Attentiveness
Any staff that interact with customers directly need to always ensure an attentive demeanour. Being friendly is part of this and ensures that customers feel welcomed and that their query is being addressed. If at any point a customer feels ignored or that someone is being rude, then it can quickly escalate into a bigger issue. Service with a smile is a cliché, but being friendly and keeping composure under difficult situations is always the best way forward. If your customer service team are unable to maintain a positive attitude, standards can begin to slip quickly and negative feedback can mount. Monitoring your staff’s performance can help address any issues with technique and attitude quickly and avoid persistent issues.
Improving your customer service levels can have numerous positive outcomes for your brand. By staying focused on the customer experience, your company can enjoy continued success in the long term.
