How to improve customer service: top tips

Customer service is undeniably the most important part of any business. Building those valuable relationships with trusting customers allows for growing success and a wider outreach, as you become an organisation people can rely on.

However, many companies aren’t clear on just how to improve customer service in order to keep people coming back. Thankfully, there are many ways to improve it easily – here are some top tips to ensure you’re delivering the best customer service possible on a daily basis.

Establish good lines of communication

When communicating with your customers, you’ll want to be clear, concise and trustworthy. Phone calls and emails are the most common forms of communication, with the former being the most effective as you’re picking up “emotional gradients” from the person on the other end, as reported by Entrepreneur.

If you want your customers to feel that added sense of trust, opt for phone calls. They’re much better for establishing those necessary bonds with the consumer, as you’re able to convey emotion as well as making your words much clearer than if they were in written form.

Though talking on the phone may be the best line of communication, it isn’t always the most convenient. Make sure there’s at least an email address that customers can send their comments and queries to, and try and respond as quickly as possible. The quicker the response, the more likely your customers are to trust you.

Although fax used to be incredibly popular, it has largely died out as technology moves on – don’t bother to utilise it in your company if you haven’t done so already.

Follow through on your promises

If you guarantee your customers certain services, make sure you follow through with it. Letting them down won’t likely end well, especially if they’re new to your business – if there are any issues, make sure you’re rectifying them with the customer as quickly and effectively as possible.

For example, Post & Packing offers a courier service with next-day delivery, and we guarantee your package will arrive to its destination on time. Any issues can be raised with us and we’ll immediately look into it.

But that isn’t all you should be promising your customers. You need to showcase a trustworthy ethic throughout every process of your business, whether it be:

·      Effective communication, ensuring a response within a sensible time frame if customer has sent an email/letter etc.

·      Quality products and services that are as good as advertised and marketed, so customers are not left disappointed or underwhelmed with your offerings

·      Regular offers, deals and loyalty schemes to keep customers coming back, establishing those necessary trusting relationships between business and consumer

Go the extra mile by offering customers more than the standard

There are plenty of other ways to keep your customers coming back. Make sure you’re going above and beyond with your customer service, offering more than what’s expected. You can make more of an impression and engage with potential consumers further by:

Sharing knowledge

Depending on what products you’re offering your customers, be sure to go the extra mile and share some knowledge about it. Whether it be of historical value or simply some helpful tips to make it easier for said customer, they’ll be grateful for your input and will likely invest trust into the business for being so knowledgeable.

Rectifying issues

If a customer comes to you with a complaint or an issue in regard to your products and services, be sure to do more than the norm in rectifying it. Go beyond what’s expected and perhaps offer a freebie or a deal to keep the customer coming back to you, instead of driving them away with an unfortunate mishap.

Go above and beyond with support

Regardless of how customers interact with your business, be sure to offer constant support whatever the issue. Although it may not be expected, by reaching your hand out to guide your customers no matter how inconvenient or difficult it may be, you’re helping establish a reliable business that these customers are always able to turn to.

Know the needs of your customers

When it comes to establishing your business and what you’re offering, the needs of your customers are paramount. The customer service experience is improved tenfold if you’re working towards fulfilling their wants and needs with your products.

Consider niche marketing in establishing a space for your business and the services you’re offering. Whereas a niche market itself is perhaps undesirable, as you’ll be limiting yourself dramatically to just a few consumers, niche marketing is different.

You need to find your own lane in a market that is perhaps oversaturated with the same old thing; tired, overdone products that remain popular should be given a new lease of life. So, be innovative and offer something similar to what is so widely sought out, but with something unique to draw those customers to you.

If you’ve got something new to offer, you’re almost guaranteeing exponential growth. You just need to be inventive and put your ambitious ideas into motion.

Train your employees in customer service skills

Your customer service will not be anywhere near sufficient should your employees lack any form of basic training. There are plenty of considerations to take into account in order to excel in customer service, something that is so vital to ensuring the success of your company.

Make sure your employees know how to deal with every circumstance when it comes to communicating with customers and rectifying any issues – the face value of customer service. But it also runs much deeper, as you’ll also essentially need to be aware of each process of your business.

Ensure that things run smoothly and efficiently, establishing the necessary processes to keep customers satisfied with your services. And perhaps introduce training schemes or events, where your employees can learn directly just how to improve upon their customer service both personally, and as part of the business altogether.

There are plenty of ways to improve customer service, as you can see. It’s perhaps the most important component of any successful business, so it’s worth thinking about. If it requires training, new processes or other changes to the way you do things, it’s a worthy change – establish those necessary relationships and you’ll gain customers for life.