Across all industries one thing always holds true, customer service is king. Whether a product or service is being purchased, the customer needs to feel engaged with the brand both during and after the buying process – this is critical to creating loyalty. In fact, it is so important that 59% of Americans are willing to try a new brand for a better customer service experience. ICMI recently posted an article discussing the 5 main things customers want from customer service. A summary of that article is below:
59% is a large customer base to risk losing, especially since 7 out of 10 people are likely to spend more with companies where they receive great customer service. Every company believes they offer superior customer service, but unfortunately your customers do not always agree.
What Customers Actually Want
1. Convenience
Customers now have preferences on what channels they want service from depending on the nature of their problem. For impersonal/generic questions there has been a spike in the use of Twitter, Facebook, and other social media channels. While customers with more complicated questions still opt for more interactive channels such as phone or live chat.
2. Timely and Relevant Responses
78% of customers will return to a brand if their needs are met in a simple and efficient manner. That puts the pressure on contact centers to reduce wait times and be available around the clock to answer a customer’s questions.
3. Friendly Service
Dealing with a service issue can be incredibly frustrating for a customer, but sometimes a pleasant agent can make all the difference. Something as simple as a basic introduction can set the experience off on the right foot, yet historically customer service agents fail to ask the customer’s name 79% of the time.
4. Self-Service Option
People are becoming increasingly independent and have begun to opt for self-service options over traditional channels. By providing a knowledge base of frequently asked questions and basic product information a company can keep other service channels free for more complex service inquiries.
5. To Speak Their Own Language
If an English-speaking organization fails to provide multilingual service options they are isolating nearly 80% of the world’s population. That’s too many potential customers to ignore, especially when multilingual organizations consistently show higher customer satisfaction scores and brand loyalty.
Technology is the Solution
Meeting all of a customer’s needs is easier said than done, especially as contact centers are expected to support an increasingly diverse customer base. Luckily, different technologies are emerging to help ease the transition of contact centers supporting global organizations.
Implementation of live chat solutions has empowered agents to manage multiple customer service interactions at once. While online communities have popped up as a self-service option where customers can interact with and share solutions to common problems with one another.
Recognized Benefits
With these factors and technologies working in harmony an organization can truly offer superior service and differentiate themselves from the competition. An established service culture has lasting effects on both internal and external aspects of the business from employee retention to customer satisfaction.
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