With great power, comes great customer service. Every interaction with your brand is an opportunity for a customer-centric experience that reinforces brand loyalty and supports the consumer purchasing journey whether it is a product or service that you are offering.
Customer service extends to both internal and external customers. Great customer service means applying best practices like valuing customers’ time, having a positive attitude, and providing knowledge and resourceful information.
However, you can always take service a step further – rather than meet expectations. One definition of great customer service is making sure people in the business are dealing directly with customers and are knowledgeable about the products or services that are on offer. It is important to be actively ready for customer questions and respond promptly (even if it’s negative feedback).
Excellence in customer service can also be defined by responding to customers as quickly as possible in a respectful manner with only the key information to solve the issue or sell a product. This shows the customer you are actively engaged and can cater to their needs. Make sure you go above and beyond to make the customer experience seamless.
Regardless of whether a small or large business, customer service should be at the heart of everything you do – from marketing to sales, to customer service.
Tools to provide excellent customer service: 1,2,3!
Having a landline phone may seem old school for business today however nothing provides greater joy to a customer than being able to speak to a knowledgeable person who can understand their issue or concern and have the problem solved quickly.
1) Zopier
Zopier can be connected via a computer and all incoming calls can be answered by a team member as part of their everyday tasks. This may also be a less expensive option than periodically reimbursing an employee’s mobile phone account. You can connect Zoiper to either a computer or mobile device.
2) Customer Relationship Management (CRM) System
Accessing information quickly is the key to great customer service.
The ability to email customers via your CRM and link your inbox to the chosen CRM is essential. Being able to locate information pertaining to a specific customer and an email string is easy when the information is kept in one system.
This is very important when several team members need to access customer information efficiently and quickly. Automated emails can be populated with ease from email addresses located in a CRM.
3) Live Chat
Having Live Chat connected to your computer or mobile device is a free and easy way to communicate to your customers. Many businesses believe this tool is just as important as having a landline phone.
More than ever, customers expect to be able to gain access to products and services seamlessly.
How does Live Chat work? Add a small JavaScript snippet to your site — it takes 30 seconds to get started. Creating shortcuts within the Live chat platform provides answers to the most commonly asked questions in a flash.
Our favourite live chat platform is Tawk.to. The best thing about Tawk.to is if you are a small business and don’t have the staff to manage live chat you can hire a chat agent for as little as $1 per hour.
Our challenge to you…
Implement at least one of these great customer service tools and tips in your business to reinforce brand loyalty and enhance the consumer purchasing journey.
