Customer service plays a vital role in your company’s growth. Constant learning and improvement is the key to success in customer support. According to a report by The Guardian Labs, by 2020, customer experience will have an even more significant impact on customer satisfaction.
Customer experiences are defined by the quality of the support they receive. Bad customer service will impact your existing and potential customers. Be it a small business or a large enterprise, it is always essential to make sure that your company has the right set of agents. They should have the required customer service skills for dealing with customer needs. All the support reps should focus on providing extraordinary customer care.
Listed below are some of the customer service tips and skills that your support team should implement and work on to improve their performance and have a better customer relationship.
1. Be patient and empathize with your customers
Ability to guess and understand customer’s mindset is no rocket science. You can acquire it by putting yourself in their shoes. Do not try to force the customers to buy your product. Explain the benefits of the service you provide patiently. Customers come with different mindsets. Some may be friendly. Some may be enraged. Your support team should handle everybody with the same level of commitment and service. With this trait, you can acquire new customers as well as retain your existing ones. Your customers will be receptive if you are patient and able to understand their expectations.
2. Have a clear composure
Customers expect the best service when they purchase our products. You can anticipate customer feedback from various directions. They help to know the customer’s experience. It is often frustrating if the customer goes public and leaves negative feedback on social media channels like Twitter, Facebook, and yelp. The customer service representatives should have the ability to digest such criticisms and analyze them patiently. After all, the customer is the king, and they have to keep the customer’s happiness in mind.
Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.
– Bill gates
3. Be adaptable to new situations
Your level of adaptability is directly proportional to the opportunities. The ability to sense and handle the customer’s sentiment is an essential secret to success here. Your agents have to adapt to the situations accordingly and serve them with a positive attitude. These situations teach you a lot, and providing customer support is a continuous learning process.
4. Communicate clearly
It is your fault if you do not communicate your product well enough. Make sure you do it succinctly. Your conversation should be in a positive tone. Use emoticons in your messages to create a positive vibe. Your tone on chat support can be misinterpreted, and hence choose your words wisely, review them once before submitting your response.
Customers often expect a quick resolution. You should refrain from asking too many questions and at the same time should not provide too many details for their queries. You can email them with more information if they request you. If you are using live chat software to support them, make sure you don’t make them wait for too long. End the conversation only after the customer is satisfied with your answers.
You can analyze all the frequently asked questions (FAQs) and probably implement a Chatbot solution to take care of them so that you do not have to parrot-back the same information to all of your customers.
5. Be knowledgeable
Customers completely trust the customer service team and depend on your understanding of the product. Hence, it is crucial that you stay updated and informed about your product. You should do an onboarding session with a subject matter expert and know the product to the last detail. You can enlighten the customers by sharing the product’s tips and tricks
Use words like “Sorry” and “Thank you.” These words are very powerful. If you are unsure about something, do not hesitate to say “Sorry.” Let them know that you will get back to them as soon as possible after discussing their problem with your product team. Customers will like your honesty and attempt to find the correct answer.
6. Listen, so your customers feel heard
You may have the right product, but if you are not meeting the service expectations of your customers, they will leave your business. Listen to your customers’ concerns carefully and make sure you are there for them. Active listening is a vital skill. You have got to develop it by practicing it with co-workers.
After every conversation with your customer, you can quickly summarize it. This way, you can make sure that you are on the same page with the customer. Empathize and reflect on their feelings when you need to. Say things like, “I understand how annoying it could be,” “I understand your frustration.”
7. Admit your mistakes and limitations
To err is human. It is very natural to make mistakes. Accept the error even if you find them before your customers do. Customers can criticize your support. Do not take things personally. Answer them with the utmost respect. It can be an excellent way for you to learn about them and convert them into a satisfied customer. The business owner can barge in and talk to the customer if required. This will allow you to take control of the situation and resolve the issue.
Every product is not 100% right. It may have shortcomings. Be open about your product’s limitations. This will build trust in your product and the rest of your communication.
8. Touch base with your customers
Follow up with the customer and make sure their issue or concern is sorted out. When your customer request is time-sensitive, you have got to respond to them quickly. If there is an unexpected delay in resolving the issue, be transparent. Keep them posted regularly about the status of their queries.
Record customer feedback. It is an easy way to know if your customer is satisfied with your service. Talk to them through different channels.
You could send customer service survey forms to your customers via email and get their valuable feedback.
This way, you make the customer realize that you are all ears for them. You may come with a follow-up program with your customers. Make it a habit. Doing this can increase customer loyalty.
9. Always be available
Your customers should be able to reach you anytime. If your customers are in different timezones, work accordingly, and provide support round the clock. You can also share the physical address of your company. This will build more trust.
Also, extend more help, in addition to the customer’s original question. Ask them if they have any more questions that they would like you to answer every time before you end the conversation with them. It will make them realize that you are always there for them.
Customers are going to be super happy and may spread a word about your product on social media. Word of mouth advertising by your customers will indicate that you are providing good customer service.
10. Engage with your support agents
Happy agents provide top-notch customer support. They lead to happy customers. It is your responsibility to ensure that your customer service agents are in the right mindset to handle customers. It encourages them to go the extra mile. It can change the typical support experience into a remembering one and also create a lasting impression. The business owner can monitor customer interactions and reward the best customer service representative.
Customer complaints need not necessarily come from email or a phone call. It can be from social media channels too. Hence, you must provide omnichannel customer support and appoint the right people for handling them.
Having a suggestion box or an online engagement survey will help you ascertain any indication of demotivation. You can analyze the benchmark engagement data and make sure you address the problems and motivate your reps.
The bottom line is to seek perfection and settle only for excellence. With HappyFox, you can deliver great customer service and achieve 100% customer satisfaction.
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