There is an opinion that the most important indicator when working with a client is retention, and all other aspects lose their importance. This is actually not the case, as customer retention requires these factors, namely satisfaction with the services received and an unforgettable brand experience.
If you have been in business for a long time, then you probably realize how important it is to satisfy the needs of the audience. Then a simple question:
Does your team do their best to serve and satisfy customers?
If you can easily give a positive answer without any twinges of conscience, then we would like to chat with you and get some advice from you. If the answer is no, then this blog was created just for you. Because the quality of customer service is the cornerstone for the successful development of your business. Let’s start looking at the main issues.
What is customer service?
This is one of the services of your organization that regularly consults your clients when they have any problems or doubts. Support is always provided both before and after the purchase of a product or service. It’s important to remember that great service is critical if you want the customer to have a positive experience and come back to you. As a leader, you should focus on this in order to improve the company’s performance. The next section will take a closer look at the benefits of customer satisfaction with your service team.
How can your customer service become the best customer experience?
A headline like this is not just used to grab attention, it really captures the essence of what is happening, since your service team can really leave unforgettable emotions and memories for the client. You can easily find in your browser companies that have already entered a similar list of quality service. However, our task is not to look at these companies, but in the processes that they use to organize their activities. Let’s consider a set of basic rules that determine the work of service groups and allow you to achieve maximum efficiency in working with clients.
Based on our practical experience and continuous interaction with users, we were able to identify ten rules to create the most effective service that will leave only positive emotions for your customers. Here we will try to highlight each of the points in more detail, since it is really extremely important.
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Defeat disappointment.
“I bought a subscription to your software, but it stopped working! Now I cannot prepare a report for work, what should I do now ?! ”.
Obviously, this is a frustrated client who could not use the tool to complete your task, and now he is very unhappy with you, because he is worried about his own future. At this point, the client is able to say a lot of very bad things about you and your company.
At such a moment, it is important for the support team to remain patient and to allow this fear and frustration to pass, you need to allow the person to express all their irritation and anger. In response, it is necessary to say polite and laconic phrases: “I understand your anger, I am going to help you” or something similar that will have a calming effect on the client. Remember, as soon as the first emotions pass, the client will immediately use your help, while they will follow every advice and recommendation, because they are interested in a quick solution to the problem. Like you, right? At this point, it will be easy to find a compromise, which will seriously raise the client’s satisfaction with the services provided. As a result, they will apologize and be happy to re-ask you for your service, and you will earn extra respect. Fine!
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Remain serious and positive.
You need to take the client’s problems seriously because they are also yours as part of the organization. A positive attitude will help calm the client, which will further speed up finding a solution. Thanks to the combination of these two features, you will be able to communicate with the client in the best possible way, in order to convince him that you are really interested in working with him, and not trying to end the communication session as soon as possible using a set of standard phrases. Show concern for the client, ask about his health and problems. For example, invite him to make hot tea to make it more enjoyable to deal with the error that has arisen.
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Don’t use the word “No.”
The harshness and coldness of this word will scare off any client almost immediately, regardless of the context of its use. Consequently, customer service personnel should root it out of their own vocabulary, as it will only evoke negative emotions and attitudes towards your brand. Use softer wording, for example: “I can find a specialist who can solve the problem”, “I can suggest the next way out of the situation.”
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“This is beyond my competence.”
This formulation immediately causes rejection from the client, who begins to think that they want to get rid of him as soon as possible. Don’t let such a phrase be part of the vocabulary of your support staff. The thing is that she shows a disregard for problems and feelings, which is guaranteed to lead to the loss of the client. Replace with the following phrases: “I will deal with this issue or hire a more competent specialist.”
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Personalization melts the heart
The importance of personalization in the service industry is growing every year. According to statistics for 2018, almost 90% of US residents were ready to provide more information about themselves in order to get a personalized work experience. Obviously, this value is now even higher. Personalization is a profitable tool for getting great results, now it does not bring immediate income, but a satisfied customer base, which is even more valuable because it will pay off over a certain distance.
The emphasis on personalization is a great move to increase customer loyalty to you. Address everyone by name, and think about ways to individualize each stage of working with you, so that the client feels care and attention to himself at each stage. Create a friendly atmosphere that will show that the client is always welcome and that he can contact here with any problems and questions.
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Approach your work with intelligence, not perseverance.
Let’s imagine a situation in which your client has something broken, and he contacted support to solve the problem. An employee can take several actions: figure it out on his own, attract a more competent employee, actively complete the application to create a quick algorithm for solving the problem, tell the buyer about the problem so that he knows about its solution in the future. The first two options will show the employee’s hard work, but the third or fourth option is best. The explanation is extremely simple: people will not want to constantly come back for a solution to the problem, and having such quick fix notes or relevant knowledge acquired from technical support will be an excellent help that will increase the loyalty of everyone who applied. In addition, all clients would be happy if their problems were really approached wisely, and not just out of necessity.
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Maintain humanity.
When processing applications, it is important to remember that the client is not just another virtual problem, but a person with his own feelings, life and problems, therefore it is important to treat him with understanding. This issue has not received much attention in the past, but 2020 has changed that. It is now believed that showing empathy will never be superfluous, and it can also be of immense benefit to a brand. Empathize with the problems of people who turn to you, put yourself in their place and position, so that the help is really high-quality and useful. After such a warm welcome, the person will probably want to return to you again. This is the result of compassion shown.
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Be honest – you are human too.
Obviously, the support service does not employ mindless robots, but the same people, like everywhere else, who may have their own problems and problems. It is important to be able to competently convey this to everyone who contacted the support service so as not to provoke a reciprocal aggression. Apologize and share your problem so that the person you are talking to can understand and support. Everyone has the right to be wrong or sick, so don’t be afraid to be honest and report your concerns. Trying to have a job done in a hurry so as not to delay it is not the best option, since the client’s loyalty to you will greatly decrease. They are more likely to provide reprieve for quality work if you’re honest.
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End the conversation in an original way
Satisfaction with the call will increase significantly if the support operators will competently end the dialogues. It is the end that determines the success and experience of interaction and conversation. This is what each employee pays their attention to when working in the claim processing department. Here it is beneficial to use motivating statements to encourage the client, to support him. You can ask about other problems and potential ways to solve them, wish you a good day, or somehow convey a positive atmosphere. This allows you to leave a lasting impression.
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Use the right feedback strategies
Obviously, the work of the feedback department must act according to certain regulations and strategies that will increase efficiency. This includes the manner of communication, a list of basic questions, as well as the operator’s actions when processing an application. Well-written questions allow you to quickly localize the problem to fix it, which means that satisfaction with actions will grow at an unimaginable rate.
Most important customer service metrics
The service leader can easily measure the performance of the service using relevant metrics. There are many such systems now, each of which focuses on different aspects of the issue. We’ll take a closer look at them in this section.
First Response Time
This indicator should be measured one of the first. It records the time that elapsed from the moment the request was received until the operator began processing it. The indicator allows you to correctly assess the waiting time of customers, on the basis of which you can then adjust the work of the whole team. An increase in the processing speed of applications has a positive effect on customer satisfaction, therefore it is extremely important to optimize this process.
Satisfaction score
A KPI that measures customer service satisfaction. To create a score, you need to ask a series of satisfaction questions, which are sent either in the form of a 5-point scale or surveys. For example, consider the following option:
Was the support team able to solve your problem?
Decoding points:
1 – No, I am very dissatisfied with the job.
2 – Not satisfied with the job.
3 – Neutral
4 – Satisfied.
5 – Maximum pleasure from job.
These questions and a rating scale are sent out to a specific control group and the results are averaged to provide a clear picture of the performance of the service desk team.
Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Unlike the past, NPS measures a customer’s loyalty to a product or the organization itself. CSAT measured current engagement and NPS measured current relationship. NPS can be used to generate forecasts for future purchases and recommendations from your customers. In the right hands, this indicator can be of great benefit. It implies the classification of responses on a 10-point scale.
All clients who gave a score from 0 to 6 have a negative attitude towards you, they are not satisfied with the services.
Those with a 7 or 8 are passive customers, but most likely won’t recommend.
Customers who gave a rating of 9-10 are most satisfied with you and are more likely to recommend your product to others.
Average duration of problem solving
The indicator allows you to estimate how long it takes your employees to solve an average problem. That is, the indicator reflects the time during which the user waits for a solution to his problem. Here you need to collect a certain amount of indicators in order to derive an average assessment of actions, which will demonstrate the most realistic picture. The average duration of solving the problem should be constantly reduced to increase satisfaction, but efficiency should not affect the quality of the solution.
Evaluation of the effort invested
The indicator allows you to understand how much effort is required from the client to get a solution. To create this estimate, ask a question of the form:
“The company helped to simplify the solution of my question.”
The more you were able to facilitate the task, the more likely the person will return to you again. For assessment, a scale from 0 to 10 is used, the closer to 10, the better the assistance provided.
Internal quality metric
Allows you to determine the performance of the support representative. It is formed from the assessments that employees and managers give to a friend, since only they have sufficient competence to determine how each employee complies with all regulations and how well he approaches the solution of all problems. With constant professional development, the ratings of employees will grow, and as a result, the level of customer satisfaction with your actions. This will ensure stable growth for the entire company.
Thus, we looked at the main metrics that can improve the interaction of the help desk with customers. With their correct use, as well as following all the recommendations from the material, you can significantly improve the user experience, which will increase the likelihood of returning to you. As a result, the performance of your brand and business will grow. Remember that the support service is the face of your company, which means that they must know all the intricacies of its work, observe etiquette and a polite attitude towards people. In this case, the results will not be long in coming.
