Customer service is an essential aspect of any business. It’s where customers go to for answers to their questions, and for support in solving problems they might be encountering.
But how can you ensure that your customer service is the best quality it can be? Here are some tips for improving and sustaining the quality of your customer services.
Employ a customer-centric approach
Customers should be at the forefront of everything businesses do. This will not only benefit the quality of your customer service, but the business as a whole.
In fact, research undertaken by Deloitte and Touche showed that companies who adopted a customer-centric approach were 60% more profitable than those that did not.
Take the time to really understand who your customers are, what they need, and what they consider to be good quality customer service. This will allow you to tailor your service to suit them, boosting customer satisfaction.
Try to solve problems in one singular interaction
When asked what the most important aspect of a good customer service experience was, 33% of people said it was to get their issue resolved in a single interaction, no matter how long it took – the top answer in the survey.
Whether a customer calls with a query, for advice, or to make a complaint, it is clear that solving the problem in one interaction is important to ensure good quality customer service.
This doesn’t mean that everything has to be solved immediately over one communication channel, however. A single interaction might start as a live chat, before the agent transfers the conversation to email to provide more detailed answers, and perhaps even conclude with a follow up phone call to ensure everything is now resolved.
Conduct frequent training
Though getting issues solved all at once might be the most important aspect of good customer service globally, it’s a different story when the data is broken down into different age groups.
For example, for people aged 55 and older, their most desired aspect of customer service is to speak with a knowledgeable customer service representative, with 40% of the total responses.
With this in mind, ensuring your customer service is of the highest quality means conducting frequent training sessions, so that your agents are always fully clued up as to best support your customers, especially if your target market consists of older generations.
Consider unifying your communications channels
Unified communications can revolutionise customer service offerings, improving efficiency and productivity within the organisation, which improves overall quality of customer satisfaction.
Unified communications combines several communications channels into one, easy to use solution, accessed via an online portal or downloadable application, and operated over the internet.
This does not mean, however, that you need to use a completely new software. Microsoft Teams can be transformed into a unified communications portal when integrated with Microsoft Teams operator connect.
Calls from customers and colleagues alike can be answered via the Teams app, on whatever device you are using, wherever you are working from. Even better, they can easily be forwarded to the appropriate departments with a click of a mouse, for seamless customer support.
Portray emotions through tone of voice
And finally, remember that live chat and phone calls mean you cannot rely on body language and facial expressions to convey emotion. Instead, ensure that your tone of voice is light and cheerful, whilst still remaining professional and informative.