In today’s digital economy, your customer service is a core part of the customer experience. But will it get you up to speed for the next decade? In this article, I’ll discuss 10 elements to take your customer service to the next level.
Face-to-face customer contact
For a long time, personal aftercare simply consisted of face-to-face contact. Was there something wrong with the product? Then you simply went back to the store and received text, explanation and possibly a new copy. All stores had a clear human face, and the contact was also clear one-on-one.
In the 1980s and 1990s, this changed. Large retail chains made their advance, and home delivery also made its entrance. Shops became more anonymous, and so did customer service. This was often done by telephone and centralized, via large call centers. Minutes-long telephone queues were not an exception.
The internet, and social media in particular, changed that broken relationship forever. Out of necessity, because bad customer experiences spread like wildfire. On the other hand, that same internet and social media also gave people more opportunities to take customer service to a higher level.
Bad service = bad news
Bad customer service is almost always bad news for your business. The research ' Context, Commerce + Customer: Best Practices to Exceed Expectations ' (conducted by SAP and CMO Council, pdf) underlines once again how important customer service is to the customer. The researchers asked customers what they find most important in the entire customer experience. Of the top 5 mentioned things, 3 are directly related to customer service (see graph below).
Customer service research
Of the 5 most frequently mentioned elements that determine the customer experience, 3 are directly related to customer service.
It is a fact that attracting new customers is more expensive than retaining existing ones. When you see 'expensive' new customers disappear just as quickly, you undermine your own business.
There’s another thing going on, too. According to the research, poor customer service makes both new and existing customers more sensitive to price fluctuations. They’re more likely to shop with competitors if poor service negatively impacts the overall customer experience .
How do you ensure that you raise your customer service to a level that suits the times?
1. From cost item to engine for growth
Outsourcing a helpdesk to a large and 'cheap' call center is in many cases no longer the right strategy. Customer service is a fully-fledged part of the customer experience and as such deserves a full-fledged place in your own organization. It increasingly forms the basis for growth: satisfied customers are returning and loyal customers. A customer base does not grow if more people leave than you gain.
2. From operational KPIs to holistic, company-wide goals
The performance of individual helpdesk agents and the helpdesk as a whole is often measured industry email list by KPIs such as response time and tickets handled per hour. While some of these performance indicators are useful, they do not reflect where the company ultimately wants to go with its customer experience.
Make satisfaction with the service provision measurable and investigate the relationship between this factor and the turnover you generate from your existing customer base.
3. Use modern technology
Cloud CRM, intelligent chatbots , big data analytics: the modern customer service agent has a wealth of tools at his/her disposal to boost service delivery. Use them, or your competitors will. Moreover, modern tech solutions are simply essential for many of the points mentioned here.
Computing everywhere
4. Ensure a complete customer view
Perhaps this is the most important thing for correct service provision: a good picture of the customer. What purchases he or she has made, personal preferences, messages on social media. You can use a single software solution that collects all those contact moments, records them and integrates data from the entire customer journey . You can also choose to link different systems and in this way get a complete picture. With this method, make sure that no fragmented picture is created.
5. Any device, any time, anywhere
The modern customer expects 24/7 service, everywhere and via any device. Set up your customer service accordingly. Make sure the customer can contact you in every possible way: by phone, via social media, text message, chat and – if that is of added value – possibly face to face.
6. Give customer care a place at the development table
Of all the people in your organization, service employees are most likely to have direct contact with your customers. They hear first-hand experiences and problems about your product or service. Based on that feedback, you can make adjustments or even develop entirely new concepts. Therefore, ensure regular consultation between product development and customer care.
7. Treat helpdesk employees as full-fledged employees and provide sufficient development opportunities
Service provision is people work: without good employees no good service. The focus of the employees must be completely on customer satisfaction. That is the most important KPI that you must make measurable.
A rapidly changing workforce consisting only of temporary workers and students is not conducive to the quality of your service. Offer helpdesk employees training opportunities, for example to strengthen their sales or marketing skills.
Good customer care does not mean that you strive for human interaction for every customer contact.
8. Digital where possible, human where necessary
Good customer care does not mean that you strive for human interaction for every customer contact. Simple matters, such as changing contact details or requesting a return shipment, should be possible for customers to arrange themselves via automated systems. This also allows the available human capacity to benefit more from truly valuable assistance.
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