There's no future for a business that can't keep its customers happy. Your products and services might disappoint from time to time. It's a natural part of the business process.
But having a strong customer support team to redirect complaints helps you learn from your mistakes. Here are 6 tips for improving your customer service options.
1. Focus On Empathy
Train your customer support team to be more empathetic to customer complaints. If employees can put themselves in the customer's shoes, they can better identify solutions.
Customers sometimes aren't sure what the solution to the problem should be. Your team's ability to listen actively better positions them to clear up any misunderstandings.
2. Be Adaptable
The course of a conversation with a customer can quickly change course. Ask your customer support team to remain flexible in how they handle the situation.
For example, the solution might seem to be clear but then suddenly a new conflict arises. This conflict might be based on a misunderstanding or part of the problem not previously understood. Your customer support team need to know how to pivot to address all of the customer's concerns, not just the ones that are convenient to solve.
3. Keep Clear Communication
Use authentic communication. Customers hate being tricked by promotions.
When you mean to offer a buy one get one free coupon, there can't be any other stipulations to the purchase. Customers who arrive to learn you meant purchases over $100 will be turned off to your brand.
It appears you're trying to be sneaky and untrustworthy brands don't get repeat business.
4. Improve Your Work Ethic
There's an art to holding a customer's hand through a problem while balancing other important tasks. If you have a call center, you might not be able to devote one employee to hours of conflict resolution.
It's necessary to develop a system where multiple employees can chip in to respond to problems so the customer doesn't feel ignored. Time is money in a business. This doesn't change because of one or two customers dominating your staff's time.
5. Improve Team's Knowledge
Ongoing training is essential for customer support teams. It's impossible for your team to really understand why a problem occurred with a product or service if they have no idea how it works.
You might find that employees can simply troubleshoot with customers to improve their satisfaction. Never charge customers to get help.
It's a sign you don't stand by the products you sell, which will harm your company reputation.
6. Don't React
Overreacting makes a customer's problem personal. Train your customer support team to have thick skin so they don't get too emotionally involved with anyone.
Empathy can be achieved with a healthy detachment from the problem. Your team's end game is a happy customer. Treat it like a game to keep the team's eye on the prize.
Building Lasting Customer Support
Customer support is single-handedly the most important aspect of your business. It's the service you provide that shows whether or not you're an honest business person.
It either attracts customers to buy more or repels them away from your business. For more information and tips on increasing customer support, visit the CX section of the Bootstrap Business Blog for updates.
