The main players in the modern market competition are the customers. They have the greatest power. Since they are using the Internet – all they have to do is click the mouse and change the site. Then, they can compare items and prices, see something new, cheaper, or in a better package. Time and distance in this case are not a limiting factor. Today, customers save their time by searching the Internet – and no one can deceive them, they move from country to country. They get to choose. Therefore, the relationship with customers (a CRM system) is today the most valuable asset of every company. CRM has its own rules and strategies. We are going to reveal some of the strategies that can help you improve your customer service.
Customer Support
Everyone thinks Marketing is the same as advertising. However, advertising is just one of the marketing tools. And no, that is not a euphemism for something else. Advertising is worth nothing to you if you do not have a good product or service. If you sell services, especially the intangible ones – then your customer support is crucial. Customer support, service, and friendly staff – these things are of utmost importance. It is because you must always have the best possible relationship with existing and potential consumers.
Retaining Customers – The Biggest Challenge of Today
Today, we have much bigger challenges in marketing – and the goal to keep existing consumers and acquire new ones. Why is this important for startups and online businesses? For a simple reason: Trust is the most important thing for online sales. And trust is built through excellent communication between company representatives and consumers. On the first line (first front) between the company and the consumer, it is customer support. On the other, it is management. What we need to emphasize the most is what good communication with consumers means – that is, what are the best strategies by which you can improve your customer service.
What Does Good Communication With Customers Mean?
Fast communication (customer support)
This means you should answer all your consumers’ questions quickly and within a maximum of 24 hours. It doesn’t matter if it’s Sunday at 10 pm – you need to answer to your consumer. If those are steady customers – you need to take care of and be there for them. They must always know that you exist because of them and not the other way round. Therefore, always respond as soon as possible.
The customer is always right
You have often seen and even felt on your skin, rudeness, impatience, and anger of customer support. You must not allow that! The client may not understand or know the process and concept of your business. No matter what you’re right about – you have to explain it to your customer nicely, with a smile on your face! Not in any other way. So, it’s all about patience, reasonableness, and calmness. Just show your customers that you care about them.
A smile on the employee’s face
If you don’t have happy and motivated employees – you won’t have many customers. Because all the negativity that an employee can have will surely pass on to the consumer. That is why it is important that every member of the team, no matter if he is in the lowest or highest position – must be overjoyed and always with a smile on his face. So, you try to keep employees motivated – so they have their responsibilities and independence at work. Motivate them with constant training and courses as well. It’s not all about pay. Because it will all pay off in the end.
Customer Support Strategies
To provide the best customer support, take advantage of all the technology available to you today. Multi-channel customer support is a strategic way to manage all customer issues. Email, social media, live chat, SMS, phone – these are just some of the ways you will achieve this. It is important to emphasize one thing: If you offer customer support across multiple channels, all of those channels must work.
1. Email address through which you provide customer support
Everyone has an email. Therefore, you should allow people to email you for any additional questions. Open a special email account for this purpose. If you are the owner of a webshop, do not give out your private email address under any circumstances. That email should be [email protected] or info @yourcompany.com or even askme@ yourcompany.com. You can specify email on your webpage – but you can also raise your email support to a higher level. Create a contact form through which people can send you a message, and you will receive messages in your inbox, that is, mailbox.
2. Take advantage of social networks for customer support
If you have a social media profile, you also have users. And you need to take care of them. If you have LinkedIn and you open it every other day – and someone asks you a question through it, that’s not exactly good. Then it’s better not to have LinkedIn than to focus on Facebook. It may seem very simple to you – but customer support on social media also has its downsides. Users expect a response or any reaction within two hours, that’s one thing. And the other thing is your rating is related to your response time. Of course, customers are more satisfied when you respond to them quickly.
3. Use Chatbots
Chatbots replace one of man’s greatest needs – the need for communication. The world has grown into a space of social networks – where chat has surpassed SMS or even phone communication. People like the opportunity to solve some things without real communication with other people – especially the millennials and the younger generations. Most of the largest social networking platforms have already confirmed this trend – and provided platforms for chatbots. According to BotSurfer, today, you can easily design chatbots yourself – thanks to new technology and platforms for creating chatbots. Of course, you will adapt them to your needs.
Where do companies see their benefits? Most calls and needed help can be categorized as repetitive tasks. These are the most common questions to which you can give already established answers via chatbot. Providing communication without involving people at any time 24/7 – gives your business 80% more time to focus on much more complex problems, and thus provides much better answers, while the quantity is covered by chatbots. All in all, it’s a win-win situation.
4. Live chat as part of the web store
For the customer who wants to have everything in front of his nose – the best solution is live chat. In the lower right corner, there is a box where the operator writes to the customer. After the regular info. a live chat operator usually asks the customer “How can I help you” or “Are you interested in something extra”? It’s just like a salesman in a store asks you questions. And it works well. It raises conversion and helps in business and it would be good to have it.
5. A good old phone to provide customer support
Some people are not very sure about communication via live chat, social networks, or email. They need to be offered a good old phone for several reasons:
- For some people, it is important to hear the human voice.
- A good business idea can come right from talking to customers. People express their problems over the phone – and the more you know the customer the better you can grow the business.
- People are used to being able to always call someone and ask that person to solve their problem.
- If you don’t have some phone number that people can call – some it can look like you’re some frivolous company. And no one wants that.
The Bottom Line
In the end, we can state only one thing: Use all available strategies and customer support channels. Make sure you answer questions quickly and hire a person who knows the answers to customer questions. Good customer support can certainly help you in sales, just like a good webshop.
