30 Oct Don’t Bury your Customer Service
No contact tab, no customer service number, and no chat icon. If you want to address your customers’ needs, don’t bury your customer service.
Don’t Require a Treasure Map
If your customer service avenues are more hidden than the mummy’s tomb you are likely to lose repeat business. By the time customers do find you they may have more than one simple question to address, which impacts first call resolution (FCR).
Don’t bury your customer service options under a complicated site map. It looks like you don’t want your customers to contact you and that looks suspicious.
You can plan for escalation of inquiries, but make the entry point easy for your customers whether it be chat, email, social or phone.
Don’t Scare Your Customers
Customer service has been the subject of numerous skits, cartoons (Dilbert anyone?) and snarky social memes. Businesses and customers both seem afraid of it. Scary service has become common when service is really a tool to retain and improve business.
Your customer service team provides an opportunity to build a relationship with your customers. Investing in it has the potential to reap long-lasting rewards.
Create a culture that supports your agents. They are your representatives. Ensure they are well trained, supported and respected. By giving your agents what they need to provide excellent service, they present a positive resource rather than an obstacle to be overcome.
Don’t Keep your Customers in the Dark
“You’re estimated wait time is 75 minutes.”
Don’t keep your customers in the dark. It’s scary in there. High volume times happen. From power outages to faulty parts to delayed shipping, business challenges are going to occur. How you handle them will affect your business success and longevity.
Communicate. Give your customers the benefit of honesty so that they can make an informed choice.
- Let them know how long they may be waiting
- Offer a callback or alternate method of resolution
- Create self-serve options. Have a FAQ and direct customers to it
- When there is an unusual spike, be honest: “We have fewer employees to handle our calls as we are trying to address a surge in email inquiries.” Hey, it isn’t what they want to hear, but it’s much better than leaving your customers to wonder when, if, or how they will be heard.
Don’t Stay in the Dark Ages
Humanity created awesome tools. Can you imagine life without the wheel…or the smartphone? Customer service tools exist to increase the number of customers served and improve first contact resolution. Use those tools well.
- Tag your customer service inquiries correctly. This speeds up resolution and helps clear backlogs.
- Allow for shared information so that customers do not have to repeat themselves when transferred to another department or following up on a ticket.
- Score interactions as they happen, allowing agents to self-correct
- Utilize modern QA to stay on top of trends in your service team or contact center
The customer service experience doesn’t need to be a house of horrors. Done well, customer service reaps rewards. Neither your customers nor your business gets buried.
Happy Halloween!
