Simple Ways to Communicate Better with your Customers
Communication is crucial to business success, but even more importantly, it’s crucial to keeping your customers satisfied. When it comes to communication, there are always options for making improvements. Here are some simple ways you can communicate better with your customers in order to provide them with excellent customer service.
Offer options
The more ways your customers have to communicate with you, the better. While telephones are traditionally the most common way for customers to communicate with your business, don’t overlook those who prefer to use email, chat boxes, or even social media. Recent generations don’t view telephones as the only method of communication for customer service, so make sure you are offering plenty of ways for your customers to reach you so you can solve their problems.
Keep it personal
Automated answering services are useful, but they shouldn’t be overused. Customers don’t like to jump through a million hoops just to get to speak with a live human, so don’t set your automated answering system up to make them work hard for the privilege. When it comes to telephone customer service, call centres are your friend. They can eliminate the need for automated answering services altogether and allow you to provide round the clock customer service for your customers, keeping them satisfied with your business.
Ditch the script
Scripting customer service calls has become a common thing in the customer service industry, but these types of interactions can leave customers feeling frustrated and annoyed. Instead, have your customer service representatives practice active listening and try to personalize every call or customer service interaction. Allow your employees to be flexible in their problem-solving techniques so they can help your customers have a better experience. After all, no two customers are exactly alike, so no two customer service responses should be, either.
Try not to keep them waiting
If you can’t resolve a problem quickly, let your customers know that you’ll call them back. Don’t disrespect them by wasting their time Û÷on hold’ while you try to find a solution. Instead, call them back when it’s convenient for them or ask if you can email them once the problem has been resolved. They’ll appreciate this much more than having to wait on hold for extended periods of time.