When it comes to running a successful customer service department for your company, the golden rule is to always go above and beyond. While meeting customer expectations is a must, exceeding them and putting in the extra effort to create “wow” moments is well worth the effort. These “wow” moments don’t have to be the biggest or grandest of gestures. Rather, they can be little things that make your customers hang up the phone feeling impressed, heard and fulfilled. After all, if you fail to properly take care of your customers and provide them with positive feelings, you run the risk of them looking for “wow” elsewhere. If you’re wondering what you can be doing to create these memorable experiences for your customers, look no further. We’ve compiled some of the simplest yet most effective starting points for you to improve your customer interactions.
To make your customers feel heard and valued, gather relevant information about them. This will make the customer journey as simple as possible for your agents to understand. Pull all customer information available into one simple unified interface to avoid navigating multiple apps or screens during the call. If you’re prepared with customer information at your fingertips, you’ll have an easier time directly dealing with any issues your customers experience. You’ll also be able to create new guidelines for their account based on their feedback. Making your customers’ data instantaneous helps deal directly with the issue at hand and also gives your agents enough data to think more proactively than reactively.
Respond to Customer Feedback
While it’s great that many companies ask for customer feedback, far too many end the process there. This leaves customers feeling unfulfilled and unheard. To set your company apart from the rest and create a positive customer experience, directly respond to your customers’ feedback. This can be done via phone call, an email thanking them for their thoughts, or by sending updates on how their problems are being solved. To take it a step further, consider installing customer feedback management software to alert the right agent to provide feedback, track customer actions and send follow-up reminders.
Encourage Advisors to Go Off-Script
One of the best ways to create personal relationships with customers is by educating and preparing your advisors. You’ll want to prepare them enough so they (and their managers) feel comfortable going off-script. Encourage your advisors to practice with internal experts to be the best they can be. Technology, specifically cloud call center tools, also supplement this by displaying relevant interaction history before agents receiving customer calls. This provides your advisors with opportunities to make dialogue more personal and catered to each customer, fostering personal connections.
Utilize Speech Analytics
To best understand what words and phrases resonate with your customers, consider using and tracking speech analytics. This allows you to take a deeper dive into how your products and services are being positioned best and what makes them stand out in a crowd. Once you’ve analyzed what words and phrases are being used, you can use this understanding to craft a more holistic picture of what keeps your customers coming back for more. This includes cutting out certain phrases or practices that work against the best interest of your customers.
Remember the Fundamentals
It’s no secret that poor customer service leads to poor business performance. What’s lesser know is that a big part of this is forgetting the fundamentals. Rather than focusing on adding shiny new tools to your repertoire, take a step back and lock down the basics. Call quality, for example, will remain of paramount importance for call centers and should constantly be monitored. After all, there’s nothing worse than an unexpected issue popping up and not being able to get the problem resolved. To avoid this from occurring, you’ll want to have the best technology in place with security encryption when available. Minimizing issues with calls themselves will make your customers trust your business more and keep them coming back for more.
If you’re adding these rules into your daily customer service practices, your company will be in a much better position to create positive and memorable experiences for your customers. What other tips do you have for modern call centers looking to improve customer experience this year?
