You can allocate a good bit of your resources developing high-quality products, but all this can mean diddly-squat if you have poor customer service.
After all, establishing lasting customer relationships takes more than selling your products and getting customers to buy them, making it crucial to provide exceptional customer support.
However, this is easier said than done.
You’ll need the right strategies, tools, and resources to ensure you provide the kind of customer care that exceeds your clients’ expectations and build trust and loyalty with your customers.
The good news is, there are tried and tested strategies to help you deliver exemplary customer service, and that’s what we’ll cover in this guide.
1. Create your own app
Creating an app allows you to tailor your solution to your customers’ and business’ needs. This helps you provide a better customer experience and support since you have near full control over your customers’ experience.
Compare this to when engaging your customers via email or Facebook, where they are exposed to other merchants and other push notifications that distract and even ruin their experience.
A crucial part of building your app is ensuring your data, repositories, and critical codes are secure and intact, making it vital to back up everything regularly.
Failing to do this can lead to app issues and breakdowns that can ruin your customers’ experiences.
The solution? Invest in a third-party tool such as Backrightup to run your Azure DevOps backups automatically and painlessly.
Image source: Backrightup.com
The tool does the heavy lifting for you by automating your backups, keeping you from doing them manually. This saves you tons of time and energy while keeping your data safe, preventing data loss, and in turn, avoid app breakdowns.
Creating an app can take a bit of elbow grease and resources, but the investment is well worth it when it can help you deliver exceptional customer service.
2. Use cloud-based tools
Some factors that contribute to an excellent customer experience are efficiency and convenience.
With cloud-based tools, your customers can access their documents and information without visiting your physical office.
This bit is crucial to providing exceptional support.
Not only does this give your customers better experiences, but it also helps you provide improved support because it expedites your processes and removes needless roadblocks to your transactions.
High-performing equipment rental companies, for example, use cloud-based tools with equipment inspection forms to rent out and return their equipment in record time.
Image source: Record360.com.
With digital equipment inspection forms, rental companies can give prompt support to their customers since they can release their equipment faster. Those who need to sign the documents to release and return them can sign through their internet-connected mobile devices.
By using cloud-based tools, your company becomes more reachable. You can also engage and support your customers quicker.
3. Utilize a reliable helpdesk software
Using reliable helpdesk software allows you to streamline customer conversations throughout multiple channels from one place. It also helps your team track user requests and handle client support-related issues efficiently.
However, not all helpdesk software is created equal. Some are exceedingly cheaper than others but lack crucial features that can make or break your customer support’s quality.
While some helpdesk platforms are slightly pricey, these can equip you with the functionalities your team needs to give exceptional support to your customers.
For instance, helpdesk software Zendesk lets your team connect all your customer data sources and seamlessly bring the right information.
The software provides a unified agent workspace that allows your customer support reps to communicate with customers easily via chat, email, SMS, voice. This also includes social messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Apple Business Chat, Facebook, and other channels from one place.
Image Source: Zendesk.com.
With reliable helpdesk software, you get a robust client support solution that meets your team’s needs while streamlining your customer service delivery and improving its quality.
4. Personalize your service
Exceptional customer support isn’t limited to efficient service delivery. It also includes providing a memorable, positive customer experience, which fosters trust, loyalty, and in turn, good client relationships.
An excellent approach to achieve this is to personalize your client support services.
Add a personal touch to your customer service to make your clients feel you care about them and any issues they have with your products and services. This can be something as simple as addressing them using their names in emails and during calls.
An even better strategy is to use data to personalize the customer experience.
For example, you can link your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software to your customer service software. This can automate customer data gathering and sharing, streamlining your client support service interactions and delivery.
This way, customers can submit a ticket on your website and won’t have to repeat any information by the time they speak to your agents (and sales reps).
For example, HubSpot CRM helps your team manage customer communications through one universal inbox, including shared team email, live chat, and ticketing tools.
Image Source: Hubspot.com.
With this, your reps can instantly get the context they need to respond to customer concerns and resolve issues efficiently.
Data from your CRM solution also allows you to better understand your prospects and customers, including their preferences and previous purchases. This helps you implement highly-tailored customer experiences and support services.
5. Offer multi-channel options
Offer multiple channels where your clients can reach your support team as they prefer, including social media, your website, live chat, and others. This helps you provide convenient and excellent client experiences.
Ensure you have the technology in place to handle multiple customer support service channels seamlessly, or you end up getting flooded with support requests but fail to address them promptly. This could ruin the entire customer experience.
For instance, use software that lets your agents switch between communication channels easily without going through each channel separately.
Let’s say your customer begins with a live chat, but the issue becomes too complex to handle through that channel alone.
In this situation, you would want a solution that allows your customer support reps to transition easily to a phone call or other channels to speed up resolution.
Take these customer support strategies for a spin
The quality of your customer support services can make or break your company’s success and growth.
While customer service strategies can vary depending on your business approach and needs, use the tips in this guide to kickstart your efforts and improve your support services.
The higher your customer support service quality, the better your clients’ experience with your brand, fostering customer loyalty and advocacy.
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