Five Ways To Achieve Excellent Customer Service

Selling high-quality products or expert services isn’t enough to compete and come out on top. Today, businesses need to provide the whole package, which includes excellent customer service. So what is the standard required for top quality customer service?

What we know is, we all interpret the requirements for service differently and arguably, there is no one template to follow. However, doing the basics of anything well is a great foundation for a company.

If you can build on the foundation and provide an even better service, your business stands a chance to jump ahead of competitors and grab more market share. However, it’s not as easy as you think, and what we know is, social media has given the consumer a voice, and they’re using it to share their experiences, both good and bad.

A mention on Facebook or Twitter that your company is underperforming in one way or another can spread like wildfire among followers. Before long, you notice your sales are drying up, so it’s best to prevent this event from occurring in the first place by providing a favourable customer experience.

Know The Customer

Personalised data capture can be used to create more meaningful customer experiences. Use what you know on key demographics to target audiences with the most appropriate products and services. The more personalised the experience, the higher the conversion rate with your email and social media marketing.

Remember, consumers, want their interactions with your company to be straight forward. Their time is precious, so respect it and use your customers’ feedback to tweak your touchpoints.

Create an Emotional Connection

Emotion plays a big part in human decision making, and it’s a common belief that 80% of all decisions are based on emotion. The part of your brain that controls emotion is the limbic system and your communication can elicit the right emotions to get the sale.

People who love a certain brand often can’t tell you why they love that brand because it’s an emotional connection rather than a logical one. The more you can get your customers to associate your brand with positive emotions, the more likely they will return to you.

Everyone Needs to Buy-In

There are lots of different points where your customer encounters your company – these are called touchpoints. Your customers might deal with multiple employees across different departments, all within one customer journey.

Staff need to be on the same page when it comes to customer experience (CX). It’s no good one department doing an outstanding job, only for another department to undo all that hard work by not meeting the same standards. It’s difficult to get everyone working as a cohesive unit, but it makes a huge difference to the customer experience when it works.

Listen to Your Employees

Your employees are your eyes and ears. Their experiences with customers can be collated and utilised to improve internal systems—host regular inter-departmental team meetings to discuss customer and staff feedback and garner ways to improve service levels. Make sure your business sets goals and measures front of house activity, including customer support.

Make it a Part of Your Culture

Make customer service part of your mission statement and also inherent in the company culture. When you value your customers highly, so too will your staff. ‘The customer is always right’ is not actually true, and it’s a saying that used for creating the right mindset.

Summary

We are all consumers, so treat your clients as you want to be treated. Sharing our experiences with our friends, family, and associates online is part of our fabric. We will share images of food and other purchases, and social media is the perfect channel for providing feedback. It’s keeping businesses honest and raising the bar, so customers get a better outcome.