Top 6 Customer Service Tips for Businesses

The bridge between business and consumer is always great customer service. Here are 6 tips you cannot do without.

We are at an exciting time in the world of customer service. It is making significant leaps and bounds, not just from the business perspective, but it is having a positive effect on the entire relationship between the consumer and the company. Many companies are looking to integrate live chat for businesses as it helps to build that all-important relationship, but there are a variety of other methods you must consider to make sure you and your customer work together well. Here are some of the most important tips your business should follow.

Clear Communication

Communication comprises so many different aspects, from the tone of voice to the clarity in the conversation, and the reality is that while we can use a variety of tools to streamline our levels of communication, it is not a replacement for helping the customer understand their position.

If a customer is frustrated, they need to know that something is being done to solve the problem, but they also need to know the steps. When we contact an organisation, we hear the same tired old responses, for example, we are a “valued customer.”

The fact is that when we communicate with customers we must explain why what we're doing is going to benefit them, which is all about the manner in which we communicate.

Use the Right Tools

Having the right tools in place means you will always have methods to solve customer queries quickly. From the perspective of any contact centre agent stumbling around in the dark, trying to access something buried on a different drive, this is only going to make things more frustrating for the customer in the long run, which can have a detrimental effect on the conversation and the overall perception of your business.

When you have the right tools that allow you to create streamlined solutions, it also means that your employees are delivering customer service that is short and snappy. The right tools provide that foundation, even when your customer service team is not there. Live chat for businesses provides that gap, not just when your workers have headed home for the evening, but can also fill in gaps in service agent knowledge because you can pre-programme a variety of responses to give the customer what they need.

In fact, customers of a certain age prefer chatbots over any other human interaction. It's vital that you provide a greater selection of services to the customer, so they can choose the one that they want.

Build Rapport With Every Customer

Many small businesses cannot underestimate the importance of a simple relationship with a customer. If you have a small customer base, you must reach out to them and get to know them by name, which helps you to personalise interactions, so they feel valued and special. You can do this in a number of different ways, for example, CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software can give you the tools to build up that customer profile, but you can also build rapport in how you interact with customers.

If you are diversifying your support tools and you are looking to integrate chatbots or live chat for businesses, you can still build rapport with a customer by simply offering genuine and sincere compliments to your customers, but also using positive language and speaking as your customers do. We have to remember that customers do not want “correspondence,” they want conversations. If a customer is treated like a number, they are not going to feel special, which is why a personalised response, even in chatbot form, can go a long way to make them feel unique.

Pick the Right Service Channels

If you are running a small company, you've got to be very careful in how you interact with the customer. There are a number of different factors that can influence which channels you offer, like time and costs. The right channels could benefit from being automated and could reduce call volumes, but more importantly, they can provide that all-important answer to your customer’s needs.

According to Statista, 64% of customers used email more than any other form, 30% used phone calls, and 47% opted for websites and applications chat. The lesson in this is to communicate with your customers in a way that appeals to them because it can help you to diffuse frustrations, especially when they are complaining.

Do Not Attempt to Solve Issues Quickly

We all have pressures to resolve customer issues quickly. The reality is that offering speedy service seldom solves problems if you are operating too quickly, and customers can easily catch wind of the fact that they are just a number in the process.

It's important to resolve customers' problems as quickly as possible, but this means offering that quality advice the first time around. This will ensure your customers appreciate your business more.

Understand Your Product

As straightforward as it sounds, if your business is expanding rapidly to the point where your customer support team cannot keep up, they will be flying blind, especially in relation to inquisitive customers that need help throughout the entire sales process. It's critical for your support agents to understand the product or service inside out, and if you add a new feature or product, it's important to establish that wide-ranging knowledge upfront.

This should mean that your team has all the answers available, so they can guide a customer towards the final sale or help them with any problems effectively. Knowledge is power, especially when it comes to creating a worthwhile relationship with a customer. Customers who want to purchase from you need to be treated with respect, and this is why, if your support agents do not know their way around the product, this will only reflect poorly on your business.

Customer service covers a variety of components, from tools like live chat for businesses to the skills your team has. They are all crucial, and if you are looking to boost your business, it's all in how you deliver that support.