Is Your Customer Service Department Prepared for Today’s Consumers?

Is Your Customer Service Department Prepared for Today’s Consumers?

Author: Ari Rabban / Source: Entrepreneur Customer service is entering a renaissance. Technology is completely redefining what it means t

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Is Your Customer Service Department Prepared for Today's Consumers?

Customer service is entering a renaissance. Technology is completely redefining what it means to help your customer base, with use of live chat expected to grow by 87 percent over the next 12 months to 18 months. Why waste time hopping from department to department on a call when you can just type out a few questions and get straight to the heart of an issue?

But even with this technology in place, not all businesses are equipped to handle live chat — not to mention many of the other platforms now used for customer service.

Questions and complaints sent through these channels are just like those sent through any other means of communication. No matter the format, the goal for customer service teams is to provide a fast, clear and actionable reply. It’s all about optimizing technology to take a proactive approach to service.

A well-attended, well-prepared customer service center helps. Sure, training employees and providing top-notch software can carry a hefty price tag, but you want staff who can reply by phone, email or real-time chat — no matter what the cost.

Always a worthwhile investment.

When you commit to investing in your service department, you do more than nurture loyalty from your customer base. A recent Forrester survey discovered that this investment greatly improved individual team members’ productivity. Things become more predictable in how staff handles communications, and that predictability translates into greater efficiency and productivity.

With all your tools and resources geared toward service, employees can focus on the customer. They can develop a consistent approach, learn from each interaction and grow into their roles.

Keeping existing customers happy is often easier — and more cost-effective — than attracting new ones. According to Zendesk, a full 85 percent of customers will pay more if it means a better customer service experience. And the best way to keep customers happy is to leverage all the tools available to you. Technology allows you to follow up and resolve issues in a timely fashion.

While questions and complaints will vary, how you go about ensuring your company can tackle them will always be the same, and…

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