There are no questions that customer service is an integral
component of any business’s success. You might have an awesome product and
great pricing but if your customer’s experience is not good, then you are
losing the ultimate battle to win their hearts.
What is Bad Customer
Service?
Bad customer service is when the customer has an unpleasant
experience with your brand. This can happen at any touch point throughout their
journey. These touch points are the moments of truth (MoT) for the business and
opportunities to win them over. Whereas, if things go for a toss here, then
that leaves a bad taste.
Impact of Bad Customer
Service
54% of customers have higher expectations for customer service
today compared to previous years. This percentage jumps to 66% for consumers
aged from 18 to 34 years old (Microsoft). So, if as a business you
will not prioritize customer service experience, be ready to face some or all
of the following consequences.
1. Bad Word of Mouth
"It takes 20 years to build a reputation
and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things
differently." Warren Buffett Tweet
If you are not careful about monitoring and improving your
customer service experience, then you are opening yourself to a whole new level
of bad brand reputation. Always remember – customers love to talk about their
experiences and more so, when they are bad.
With social media becoming such a big phenomenon, dissemination of
information has become face and easy. A single tweet or Facebook post or a
video can go viral in no time. Some examples of the same can be seen
above.
2. Lesser Conversions
You call the customer service department and are made to hold the
line while a message plays saying “Please hold the line as all our
executives are busy at the moment”. What is the first thought that comes to
your mind? I assume you get frustrated and this is aggravated further when you
have to abandon the call or you never hear back from the executives. All of
these bad experiences align with the notorious reputation that people have of
the customer care department. The more frequent these poor experiences are, the
lesser the chances of a prospect converting into a customer.
3. Loss of Business &
Customer Attrition
Studies have shown that it is costlier to acquire new customers
than to retain existing ones. And the fact of the matter is that a great
product is only so much without awesome customer service. According to a report, around the globe, 96% of
consumers say customer service is an important factor in their choice of
loyalty to a brand. Frequently bad customer support experience makes the
customers unsure of your brand and hence, make them look for better
alternatives.
4. Reduced Employee
Morale
Poor customer service not only has an external consequences but
can lead to your best employees feeling burdened by handling frustrated and
angry customers. There can be a sense of free riding within the team i.e. good
customer support executives picking the slack for the not so good agents. If
this continues for a long time, employee morale goes down and so does the
service levels. At the same time, if the organization ties the agents’ hands
and force them to follow a rigid structure, without much freedom, there can be
a sense of helplessness among them.
Repairing the Damage -
Ways to Improve Customer Service
Today customers have plenty of alternatives – the competition is
very high. Be it a product or a service, there will be someone else in the
consideration set. So, being customer-centric and having an edge over the
competitors is the only way to attract and retain your customers.
Let us look at some of the ways to ensure pleasurable and
memorable customer service.
A) Don’t Make Customers
Wait or Repeat Themselves
A call center software will help you effectively
manage your customer service process. Interactive Voice Response (IVR) combined
with intelligent routing rules reduces the customer wait time by quickly
connecting them to the right agent/ department. And in case of high call
volume, allow your customers to hold their queue position even after
disconnecting the call.
At the same time, call center integration with a CRM gives your
agents all the information about the customer’s journey thereby improving the
quality of conversation. For instance, if the agent can see that the customer
had called earlier about a faulty product and sent an email for the same with
more details, the agent is in a much better position to resolve the query
satisfactorily, without asking the customer to repeat the details again and
again.
B) Value Customer
Feedback
Recording and analyzing the customer feedback gives you insights
into what your customers think about your brand and what are their expectations.
Provide them with various portals and channels to share their
experiences.
"52% of people
around the globe believe that companies need to take action on feedback
provided by their customers."
Use this feedback constructively rather than being defensive and
getting into a social media war. Doing that will only aggravate the situation
and will further hamper your brand’s reputation.
C) Omnichannel Support
Do not limit yourself to a few communication channels – be on all
the channels that your relevant audience prefers. For urgent and important
issues, you need to have the provision of call, whereas for any lengthy or
procedural documents or manuals, email is the best platform.
Since we are living in the ‘messaging’ age where customers like to text,
having chat support further simplifies their
customer experience.
D) Empower your Agents
Your employees are your best brand ambassadors – leverage them to
the best of your abilities to create a pleasurable customer experience. One of
the most famous examples of this is the Ritz Carlton’s $2000 Rule. Ritz empowers its employees to spend up to $2,000 to solve
customer problems without having to involve the manager. These employees can
spend up to $2,000 per incident, to rescue a guest experience.
Training your agents and giving them the right tools and
technology is another way to help them help your customers. For example, using
an omnichannel helpdesk software, the agent can get a 360-degree view of the
customer – regardless of the channel via which the customer has contacted.
These context-driven conversations resolves issues faster and leave a positive
impression on the customer
E) Celebrate Your Wins
Lastly, just like you own up to your mistakes, you need to
celebrate the wins as well. Let your prospects and customers know about these
successes. Social media has been the front-runner in this aspect. Similarly,
you can spread the word by doing other marketing activities like email
campaigns, case studies, newsletters, etc. All of these activities when done
consistently will significantly improve your brand recall and help in
increasing your customer base.
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