Your customers make your business a success and providing them with high-quality service is crucial so that they return in the future. You can work on improving and maintaining customer service throughout your business at every level, to ensure your customers get effective and informative help every time.
You can maintain good customer service by utilizing omnichannel customer service to communicate online, investing in staff training, and encouraging feedback. Read on to find out more about how to maintain good customer service below.
What is good customer service?
Customer service is an essential part of any customer-facing role, whether you’re selling a service or a product. When we talk about customer service, we are referring to the way we interact with our customers – it is the way we assist them to fulfil their needs, whatever they may be. Providing good customer service may mean you have to adapt your approach to suit different people. Being flexible and doing the best you can to solve any issues or answer any questions that your client or customer may have, is key. But why is it so important?
Why is it important?
Providing good customer service comes with a list of benefits for your business. Taking the time to help your customers in a way that meets their personal needs means that you are more likely to retain your customers, and therefore recurring revenue. It is a way of increasing good word of mouth – if one of your customers receives good service, they’re likely to tell others about this, increasing your overall customer base, and means your business can develop a good and trustworthy reputation.
Good customer service means that your business is more likely to receive good feedback and reviews. This is helpful so that you can build a strong and positive brand image – not only this, but it means that your employees are more likely to enjoy the job they’re doing and boost morale within the workforce. This means you can retain your valued employees, which could actually contribute to better customer service.
Is it difficult to maintain good customer service?
If you’re looking for ways that you can improve your customer service for good, as a way of retaining loyal customers or increasing positive word of mouth, there are a few factors that you should consider when working to implement these improvements – they are simple and effective, so you can put them into action with ease. We’ll look at these in more detail below.
Training
Making sure your staff are equipped with everything they need to carry out the highest-quality customer service is important. Investing in staff training means that you can implement good customer service at every level of your business and maintain a high level throughout. You can do this yourself, or you can use a CX specialist to provide the necessary training.
Knowing your product is essential, so integrating training surrounding the products and services that you sell is advantageous. If your employees have extensive knowledge, they can help customers with their issues quickly and efficiently. Ensuring that your staff can make recommendations on how your customers can get the most from the product your sell, as well as knowing how to iron out any issues means your customers are likely to find all the answers they need, presented in a trustworthy way.
Encourage feedback
Feedback is crucial when it comes to maintaining good customer service. Although you may be worried that encouraging feedback may result in you receiving some negative reviews, it is the best way of reflecting on your customer’s overall experience and can help you to identify what you can improve on. If there is an issue that seems to be reoccurring, you can take the steps to ensure you’re making the necessary changes. You can send out a virtual survey to your customers or give them a call as part of an aftercare package, you could also encourage them to get in contact via social media platforms.
Positive attitude
Having a positive attitude towards customers gives them a sense that you’re happy to help them. Unfortunately, you are likely to get a customer that has had a negative experience with your product or service at some point – a positive attitude can turn this around and can soften your customer, and make interacting easier in a difficult situation.
When communicating in person, it is easy to pick up on how someone is feeling due to their body language and tone of voice – this works for both you and the customer. If you give a stand-off-type attitude, you’re likely to make the situation worse. If your customer is particularly negative, you’ll be able to tell and defuse the situation. If you’re communicating over the phone, social media, or email, maintain a positive, friendly attitude – you can even use emojis for warmth if you think it is appropriate!
Go above and beyond
It’s the little added extras that will keep your customers coming back. Going above what is expected of you will stay with your customer long after their experience with your business – and this doesn’t have to be anything fancy, you could simply give them a follow-up call to chat and see how they’re getting on with a product. You could even offer a thank you gift to anyone that’s purchased from you. Carrying out high-quality customer service could be as simple as going out of your way to finding a solution for your customers and doing everything you can to help.
