4 Customer Service Trends Shaping Biz
Muncie, Indiana NEWS – Sixty-two percent of global consumers stopped doing business with a brand or organization after a poor customer service experience, according to the 2015 Global State of the Multichannel Customer Service Report. The research also found that 60 percent of consumers have higher expectations for customer service now than they did just one year ago.
While the pressure to deliver exemplary customer service is heating up, it also gives your business an opportunity to gain a competitive edge. Crush your competition by over delivering on quality customer service. Take a look at some of the customer service trends shaping the way you can win loyal customers for life.
Move to a Cloud Contact Center
The fastest way to deploy trendsetting, state-of-the-art customer service solutions is to move to the cloud. A system like Aspect Zipwire offers up-to-date solutions without the startup capital or IT investment to do it yourself in-house. You can focus on your bottom line and training quality customer service associates instead of worrying about how to deploy your solutions. Using a cloud-based solution enables you to get up and running with inbound, outbound or hybrid and multichannel capabilities to customize the service you want for your customers.
Offer Multichannel Communication
Today’s consumers want instant, multichannel support, such as online chat and self-help resources with 24/7 support. But to really understand the rising multichannel trend, you need to look at the devices people are using. Modern consumers are leveraging omnichannel tools to tap into email, texting and social media in one place. Meet your ideal customer where they’re looking for support, and be ready to offer a consistent and cohesive experience. Regardless of the device they’re using, your customers should be able to seamlessly move from voice support to email with the same information following them from channel to channel.
Incentivize Your Employees
All of your employees should act like consumer advocates with their customer’s best interest at heart. Look at Zappos for inspiration. Their reps are legendary for going the extra mile, such as sending a customer flowers when a relative dies and staying on the phone for hours to sort through thousands of pairs of shoes. Zappos also encourages customers to call them directly by placing their phone number on every web page.
Zappos knows the ROI of your sales starts with your front-line associates. Incentivize your employees to develop lasting and productive relationships with customers with a rewards program. Offer bonuses, extra days off and flexible hours as a motivation to foster their most important customer relationships. But perhaps more importantly, keep work fun. Offer catered lunches, work outings and a culture that supports its staff.
Develop Expert Knowledge
Customers are pretty savvy and oftentimes look up solutions on their own instead of dealing with customer service. This means that by the time they call your customer service channels, they’ve probably already looked through your self-help resources and searched online help forums. Thoroughly train your employees to become an expert resource and knowledge base for your business. Customers don’t want to wait on hold for supervisors and the tech team to chime in. They want answers from a live person as quickly as possible. After all, what message does your customer get if your team doesn’t know your own products or services inside and out?
