Today, customers rule and set high standards for quality of service. Something along the lines of this idea (or similar by the meaning) you can find almost everywhere. Yet, trying to comply with this cliche, many business owners, marketing, and support managers feel overwhelmed. They strive to do everything correctly and provide that praised, over-the-top experience, which can affect your staff.
There are dozens of poor services that deliver poor customer experience. Also, there is outstanding customer service that may fall by the wayside. A single mistake is all it takes to lose a loyal client. That is the last thing any company wants to accomplish.
Supportive, reliable customer service gets the credibility it deserves. This idea isn’t new or groundbreaking, yet the competition is intense. Building meaningful relationships with customers means you can craft great customer service. But how do you do something like this? Well, we have the answers. Here is a brief list of dos and don'ts you should avoid in customer support, spiced with customer support tips. Catch early errors before they become significant problems later.
The Do's of Customer Service
Undoubtedly, some of the tips and tricks may seem familiar or already used by your team. Either way, check them up to ensure you don’t deliver poor customer service and offer only a great customer experience.
#1. Treat Your Customers with Respect
A staple of any customer service do's and don'ts list. Serving your customers and your patrons with respect is critical to the survivability of your business. Serving your customers properly means more than just addressing customers' pain points on the spot. Lasting personal or business relationships start with respect. Here are some positive signs of customer service that make clients feel valuable and necessary: agents’ politeness, friendly attitude, and rapt attention. The result is the growing number of loyal and satisfied customers.
The clarity in communication with customers is when there is a productive use of both the clients and support team time. That is paramount that affects a majority of processes and, in any way, should be broken. Passive-aggressive language, overall tone and styling, slang and technical jargon affect communication in ways you can’t spot immediately. On the contrary, a poorly detailed message demonstrates your interest in your client’s issue. All of this makes a difference in the customer experience. Keep your tone and message clear and straight to the point.
#2. Honesty is the Best Policy
Breaking promises costs money and customer loyalty. Yet, on the flip side, exceeding expectations might not be worth the effort. The success factor lies in actually doing what was promised (timely responses and follow-ups, delivering promoted services, and providing everything in time), stating a clear price, and all extra charges and fees (if present). Additionally, create a coherent return and refund policy.
You must set up communication waypoints and develop an ability to close conversations effectively. (Don’t read on how to close a sale as these don’t work). Less than 4% of dissatisfied customers will speak again to you. Creating a proper customer feedback loop is essential. After all, unresolved issues lead to additional problems.
Outstanding customer service means your support team knows how to close conversations the “right way.” Reduce friction in the experience, show that you care about the client's convenience, and demonstrate value using your product or service.
#3. Accept Responsibility
Your support team acts as a company representative. Therefore, every support manager should be ready to take responsibility for any customer inconvenience, frustration, or other nasty situation. Even if it is not directly your fault, you should apologize and fix the issues as quickly and smoothly as possible. This is a key pillar of providing excellent customer service.
Here's a common occurrence: a service agent can’t resolve the issue and pass it to another manager. Such an approach is counter-productive and will prolong the entire process. Your clients will notice that you don’t value their time and don’t even want to solve their issues. Teach your team to take personal responsibility for delivering great customer service to the customers they serve.
#4. Walk Your Customer’s Shoes
Recall the last time you experienced poor customer service. What did you feel? Frustration, anger, disappointment? That's only a small fraction of the whole spectrum of emotions your customers feel when you deliver poor customer service. Don’t let them undergo such an experience. Let the unpleasant situation push you to acquire more loyal, satisfied customers.
As a whole, proper customer service should be available 24/7, but you can’t always be there. Focusing on shared problems, you can try to make a self-service portal personal, clear, and useful. Use your help content, such as screenshots and videos, to help push better customer service.
#5. Show Gratitude
A single, simple “Thank you” can help you build a strong customer base. People who buy your product or service will feel proud of their chosen brand. Besides, words of gratitude don’t require a ton of effort.
Many companies have learned this invaluable lesson the hard way. But you can avoid their don’ts of customer service and start making your rewards program now. Strengthen your relationships with customers by giving them reasons to buy from you. Employ gamification or give them access to special offers before they go public; give them something only they can access. Fueling your customers with appreciation and loyalty will back you up in tough times.
Now, let’s move on to the second part of the dos and don’ts of customer support and find out what will result in a richer customer experience.
The Deadly Sins of Customer Support
#1. Don’t Make Things Complicated
The problem is that support agents tend to underestimate their customers. That’s true, nowadays we are all more or less technically versed and have access to a considerable amount of information. What we want is a simple, straightforward service. It is better to supply multiple touchpoints (phone, email, live chat, self-service, social media, and the like) and offer accessible customer service.
Usually, customer interactions are formal, and in some cases, it might even seem like you treat your customers like another number. Make your conversation alive and personal—be friendly and casual in tone. That kind of inquiry will work better and will result in better customer service.
#2. Don’t Be a Bystander
Often, adjectives such as detached, unresponsive, inattentive, and unsympathetic are used to describe poor customer service. If your team demonstrates such feelings about their job, this is an alarming situation. Your efforts to maximize efficiency have basically failed. Professional customer service is not about excuses and blame. Customer problem is your problem, which is the fundamentals of proper customer service.
Ideally, you address the customer’s pain points on the spot. Yet, miscommunication often creates unnecessary conflicts. Using positive language will save you from unnecessary stress. Use the positive side of the situation to your advantage and focus on delivering a functional solution. Divide your attention to redirect the interaction from a negative to a positive tone, and you will see the effect almost immediately.
#3. Don’t Treat Customers as Transactions
Customer service moves towards a specific outcome with significant, rewarding value. However, it doesn’t mean that people come to you for a one-time purchase of a service or product. Don’t treat them as mere numbers. Try to see things through a human lens and show interest in them. This will be a solid start for long-lasting customer relationships.
Automation in customer service may seem like delivering impersonal service, but filtering (e.g., subject line keywords) tickets and requests give a better way to handle piles of work. Once a client is sent to the right person, the quality of the resolution rate grows while the time it takes to tackle a single request decreases. Again, outstanding customer service.
#4. Don’t Neglect Customer Feedback
Ask yourself: “How can I improve performance and boost income?” The answer is quite simple: “Listen to your customers.” Don’t treat their opinions and suggestions as a never-ending treadmill of updates. If you get feedback from your customers, it means that your clients care and want to make your work better.
Collecting support metrics is often an overlooked aspect of business operations. After enabling analytics, you will receive data about a request or ticket for a specific feature or about the time your team spends on conversations and ticket resolution. Don’t avoid looking at the received data as the panacea for all issues and problems that lie somewhere in the numbers.
#5. Don’t Be Afraid of Complaints
You are upset because customers deem the result of your ongoing efforts bad. How can you improve your customer service to avoid complaints? Well, despite the quality of your customer service, complaints are inevitable. Consider every complaint as an opportunity to fix a weak spot and provide clients with a better experience.
Continuing the topic of complaints, remember that not all of them indicate that something is wrong with your product or service. It might be useful to pay attention to vitriol messages, more often yes than no there is hidden great feedback that you’ll need to solve your current customer service issue. If the same complaint keeps popping up, then divide the time and pay closer attention.
Wrapping up
Customer service is not a department. It's an attitude that comes from areas beyond your customer support office. Implementing great customer service practices across your entire company can help you improve overall performance, bring the relationship with your customers to a new level, and prevent negative experiences.
