8 Most Important Customer Service Tips to Always Remember
Did you know that 90% of customers consider customer service as a deciding factor before doing business with a company? Likewise, it takes 12 positive reviews to make up for a negative customer review.
A company may offer the best product or service, but it will not achieve its projected sales if it doesn’t know how to be friendly with its buyers. A business must put more focus on customer retention than an acquisition to grow, and that is only possible with extraordinary customer service.
To help improve your relationship with your buyers, we offer some of the most important customer service tips that you will need:
Always Put the Customer First
Good customer service starts before you even meet your customers. This means, with every step your company takes, you should put your customer first and think from their point of view.
For example, while creating a product, you should be mindful of how useful it can be for your customers, and if it’s under their budget. Also, while updating your products, you should keep your customer’s reviews in mind more than your company’s preference.
Always remember that a business exists just because of its customers. So, it is the responsibility of the owners to act accordingly to what the customers want.
Be Kind and Generous
‘The customer is always right.’ Even though some individuals don’t believe in the saying, the most preferred companies in today’s time have always stood by the idea. After all, have you ever seen big companies like Apple and Google- who are known for their customer service talk back to their customers?
No matter how chatty or complaining someone may be, you need to have a thick skin. It is true that you don’t have to believe everything that a negative review says, but just remember that to run a successful business, you need to develop great composure. Never get anything in your head, and always smile when talking to your customers. If they find something annoying or not satisfactory, try to address the problem as much as possible.
Build a Good Website
Building a good website for your brand and products is one of the best customer service tips during this time of tech advancements. A website makes it simpler for customers to discover and buy your products. You can also add various content to your site, which could be blogs, articles, and product guides, which will enable buyers to interact with you more.
In your website, you can add elements such as a chatbox, a contact us page with a contact form, and maps and review sections. In other words, you should provide various ways for your customers to directly contact you while using your website, which is going to add up to your customer satisfaction score.
Use a Positive Tone
There are two ways of putting an idea. Rather than what you can’t accomplish, you should tell your customers what you can do for them at the moment.
For example, someone wants to buy a product. It is not available in your store right now but will arrive after a month.
Instead of telling your customer that you won’t be able to sell them the product for a month, tell them that you will be able to deliver them the item after a month. Adding a special discount would be better.
A business becomes a brand when it solves problems. In other words, your customers should see you as a problem solver, which will happen only if they think that you are giving your best at all times.
Take Reviews Seriously
Customer service is a never-ending process. The more you strive to make your customer service better, the more your business and its product will grow.
The secret behind all the successful and well-established companies is that they listen to their customers. They spend a lot on their customer service team and resources and bring up feedback in their board meetings. Some even go the extra mile to apologize to customers after a negative experience and create press releases to inform customers what they have done to address the issues.
You have to do the same. Never forget that reviews can be great tools to make your product even more brilliant. To score extra in the customer service department, you should try to reply to the reviews apologizing, or thanking your customers.
Be Good to Everyone and Not Just the Customers
How many times have you told someone that you don’t want to buy from them and they suddenly become pale? Some may even start being rude to you or even complain because you wasted their time.
From the customer’s perspective, it is one of the worst impressions of a business. Furthermore, if you start being unkind to a person because they didn’t buy from you, it means you shut down any opportunity of doing business with them in the future.
Not only that but being rude to anyone except your customers will result in bad word of mouth. This is a bigger problem than many think, as 64% of experienced executive marketers consider word of mouth to be the most effective form of promotion.
A Telephone Hotline is Essential
Clear communication is the key to adequate customer satisfaction. With better technologies, the customer waiting time is decreasing- researches show that many customers want to get replies from companies within 10 minutes of making a request.
However, one thing that hasn’t changed since the previous times is people’s preference for the communication channel. As customers always prefer a one to one interaction, phone calls are as relevant as they ever were.
Many companies have great websites or social media but don’t have phone numbers. This will backfire, as people won’t get the chance to communicate as they want.
If you don’t have your own staff for picking up phone calls, you can outsource call forwarding services. If possible, you can add a Toll-Free Number.
