Technology in Customer ServiceIt's more important than ever for companies to prioritize high quality customer service and to utilize technology ensuring its consistency at scale.
cus•tom•er serv•ice
noun
the act of assisting and advocating for your customers before, during, and after the purchase of a product or service.
Customer service is about creating a seamless experience for customers from start to finish. This means being responsive to customer needs and concerns, offering personalized solutions and going above and beyond to exceed expectations.
Doing this well — at scale and with speed — is where smart technology, proven process and your customer service team come together.
Smart use of technology can help streamline the entire customer experience. Implementing the following systems can support your customer service teams to operate with more information and resources, creating an ideal experience for customers regardless of where they are within your ecosystem —
Customer relationship management (CRM) — CRMs help businesses manage customer data, track interactions and identify patterns and trends in customer behavior. This can help businesses provide better customer service by anticipating customer needs and preferences. Understanding the trends and patterns of customer data is a dedicated and ongoing activity, it requires routine interpretation and process adjustment to be implemented effectively.
Self-service options — Businesses can also offer self-service options like organized and logical FAQ resources, knowledge bases for every point along the user journey, and tutorials that guide customers along a simple series of activities to help them troubleshoot issues on their own. This can free customer service representatives to focus on more complex inquiries. Creating a process for customer service teams to report repeat issues allows your self-service options to be improved routinely allowing for ongoing support and improvement of the customer experience.
Reputation and online review monitoring — Platforms like Meta, Google and many more can be used to engage with customers, provide customer service support and resolve current and future problems. The ability to quickly respond to customer inquiries, resolve complaints or provide updates helps to build a seamless and ongoing dialogue which can improve your customer experience and create genuine brand touchpoints. This also helps your customer service team to deliver upon the values that support your brand ethos.
Aggregating information from major social media networks and search engines will allow your team to identify issues and respond in real time. When proactively managing your reputation, consider how new tools can integrate with other business systems already in place. The purpose is to use the technology seamlessly for speed and quality. Also, when implementing a reputation monitoring tool, create your plan to train team members, document processes and provide ideal responses.
Personalized marketing efforts — Technology can also be used to deliver personalized marketing messages that are tailored to individual customer preferences and behaviors. By providing personalized offers and recommendations, businesses can improve customer satisfaction, retention and loyalty.
Creating your marketing roadmap to outline key points along the customer life cycle where personalized marketing can be most effective. Every business's marketing ecosystem is unique and optimal implementation of marketing messages should be tailored. Those messages will be informed by specific customer data collected.
When your customers feel valued and appreciated, they are more likely to become advocates for your brand. Things like referrals to friends and family, sharing their experience on social networks and becoming brand evangelists.
Nearly 80% of American consumers say that speed, convenience, knowledgeable help and friendly service are the most important elements of a positive customer experience.
PwC, Consumer Intelligence Series — the Future of Customer ExperienceAn equally important component to superior customer service is the formation of a strong and dedicated customer support team that delivers positive ‘on brand’ customer experiences. This includes staffing your team with employees who are both empathetic and solution oriented.
- Provide ideal scenarios for training
- Ongoing coaching, beyond day one
- Routine brand value training for staff
- Create a rewards and recognition program
Earning customer loyalty isn't always easy. It requires a long-term commitment to delivering exceptional customer service, even when the initial transaction didn’t go as planned. Be transparent about any issues that surface and work quickly to resolve them in a way that makes your customers feel heard, respected and valued. Ensure that your customer service team is empowered to make decisions and provide immediate solutions when interacting with customers.
A key to gaining market share is intensive focus on the needs and desires of your customers. Technology can help you improve your customer service operations significantly in a variety of ways. By capturing customer data, you gain important insights on their needs and expectations. Equally, your customer service team must put forth a wholly customer centric approach, including having the ability and authority to act quickly to provide solutions.
Your customer service approach is an integral part of the overall customer experience. Deliver on your brand values and the promises you make — your team, your brand and your business will be well rewarded when you do, garnering customer trust and loyalty, creating a solid foundation for success and growth.
Lovely People understands the importance of putting customers first. Let’s talk.