Irrespective of the sector they operate in, successful businesses share one commonality: they recognize the importance of customer service. That’s because a business is nothing without the people who buy from it. They are its lifeblood, pumping capital into it, ensuring profits, and functioning as an important marketing channel.
Strong customer service can be delivered in many ways. Perhaps a punctual courier service is essential. It’s also on display when customers interact with any touchpoint within your business, whether that involves speaking to a member of your sales team or reaching out to your contact center for issue resolution.
So, what does good customer service look like, and how can digital innovations help you deliver it?
What does good customer service look like?
It’s important to start by defining what strong customer service means. There are many components that contribute to a consumer’s overall experience with your brand, but some are more important than others.
Responsiveness, for example, is key. According to Help Scout, 90 percent of customers view an “immediate response” to questions as very important to their interactions with a company. 60 percent define “immediate” as 10 minutes or less. 71 percent of 16–24-year-olds also say that a quick response could drastically improve their experience.
Other consumer research has revealed it’s important that people getting in contact with a company aren’t asked to explain their issue to several customer service representatives, with 70 percent believing it’s the job of businesses to collaborate and pass on this information.
Successful issue resolution is also an important factor, with 90 percent of global consumers citing it as their most crucial customer service concern.
So, essentially, good customer service is quick, efficient, and provides satisfactory solutions to problems with a business’s products or services.
How digital customer service transformation can help
With these three key tenets in mind, there’s an obvious solution to improve your customer service: digital transformation. This can take many forms, from installing chatbots to live chat, online FAQ pages, and more.
Most modern customer service solutions offer a seamless and efficient customer experience. Ideally, they will use an omnichannel approach, which links up the various communication channels customers might contact you on.
This means, for example, that if a consumer who’s previously messaged via live chat phones your contact center to follow up on an issue, any information that’s already been submitted is made easily available to customer service agents. Ergo, they don’t have to ask the same questions again. This speeds up the resolution process and lessens customer frustrations.
Given the stats above, we needn’t reiterate how vital strong customer service is to modern consumers. What we should focus on, however, is its benefits to businesses. These sorts of contemporary omnichannel solutions can help companies to gain positive recognition online.
The importance of online reviews
You only have to look on a review site to see this phenomenon in action. For example, this review of Interactive Investor has a heavy focus on its customer service. Not only is this specifically rated, but there’s discussion around the platform’s omnichannel approach and live-chat options. The reason is simple: it matters to those who’ll be reading.
The importance of these reviews to companies is demonstrated by this : 90 percent of consumers check out online testimonials before visiting a business. A further 88 percent trust these as much as they do personal recommendations. 31 percent will also spend more on a company with “excellent” reviews.
One way to win these is by providing premium customer service. The happier a consumer is with their experience of your business, the more likely they are to recommend you online. Strong customer service offerings are also likely to be mentioned on customer review sites, helping build trust among those who frequent them.
So, what does this mean for your business? Put simply, that it’s a good time to review your customer service approach to improve it. One of the most effective ways of doing so is to upgrade your digital offerings, keeping an eye out for any tools that might help you to streamline and speed up your online issue resolution.
