Yesterday, I was reading through a post on Facebook on the poor customer service in an industry in Nigeria - how most customer representatives interact with their customers.
This made me write on this piece.
Most of us don't know that customer service is one of the most effective ways of knowing what customers want and retaining customers.
A report was shown that 63% of customers prefer small businesses to large corporations because there is a face attached to the small business. They feel they won't get lost in bureaucracy. And that small businesses can be held more accountable for their actions.
Related: 75 Customer Service Facts and Statistics
In enacting customer service in your business, you need to understand its importance to your business, you need to know what customers would expect of your customer service, and what you can do to provide the best customer service.
The importance of great customer service to businesses
1. It helps in attracting and retaining customers.
2. It increase sales.
3. It helps the particular business to stand out from its competitors.
A poor customer service results in:
1. Loosing customer
2. Lack of trust in the business
What would customers expect of your customer service?
1. Customers need the consistency and effectiveness of your customer service from day to day and from location to location. Your customer service can be done over phone communication, text interaction and social media connection.
Related: How to engage with customers on Social Media
No matter how close your business is to your customers, they will always expect your customer service to be effective. And no matter how customers contact you, they will also need your customer service to be consistent.
2. Apart from that, customers expect responsiveness. You need to be ready to answer the questions of your customers.
This is one of the issue we have in our country, Nigeria. The customer representatives of businesses don't respond to questions asked by customers. A study found that 41% of companies don't respond to customer service emails, and 9 out of 10 don't even acknowledge receiving them.
A solution has been provided to solve that - set up an automated email responder that acknowledges emails sent to your customer service department and tells the sender when to expect a reply. But don't forget to actually reply, too.
Yeah, First Bank does that.
Similarly, make sure any calls or messages to your business are responded in a timely manner. If someone calls your business, no one picks up, and your business hours are not listed in a voice message, he/she will assume the business is closed.
Related: 20 Customer Service Email Template
3. Customers expect to be able to choose how to reach out to your business.
It is expected that your business have multiple ways of communication. The communication channel to use depends on your audience, and that can be done by researching the most popular forms of communication and interaction with your audience. Make sure you are monitoring it and are available to be contacted there.
You can offer customer support by the combination of phone, social media, email, live chat, and texting.
Note: Most customers aren't actually looking to talk. In fact, 71% want to be able to solve their customer service problems on their own using information that they find themselves.
Maintaining a Frequently Asked Question section (just like this) on your website solves that, even after the business hours when live customer service is not available.
For products and services that are more complex consider leaving a feedback section on your website, so that customers can ask questions and share answers.
You can also use social media as a knowledge base. But in using this platform, make sure you monitor where those reviews are posted and answer questions there.
4. Finally, customers expect a personal touch. Always give your customers a personalized message and calls. 'Hello, Mr. Michael' - with this, you give your customer a sense of belonging.
So, take time to get to know your customers either by talking to them in person or by gathering data on their buying habits using point-on-sale systems, loyalty programs, or Customer Relationship Management [CRM] apps.
Channel this knowledge into tailored solutions. If your business is an e-commerce business, let your customers set up a profile that reminds them of their shipping info at checkout.
And if your business is a corporate one, then create a section where your clients can insert their names, emails and their interests.
Author: Michael Agwulonu, Digital Marketing Strategist
Comments
Post a Comment