Introduction
Customer service is the support a business offers to customers before, during, and after their purchase. Based on the interaction with your support team, buyers can either have a good or bad customer service experience.
If you want to improve customer retention and achieve business success, you should strive to provide excellent customer service. According to Microsoft, 96% of customers say good customer service helps to stay loyal to a brand.
Some examples of bad customer support
Bad customer service occurs when a business has inefficient support staff, refuses to provide real-time support, or cannot provide a solution to the customer's problems. 60% of customers admit to switching companies because of poor customer service experience. Below are some common examples of bad customer support:
- Being hard to get hold of
Some companies often refuse to take customer support seriously. They are less concerned about customer inquiries and complaints. You may notice that some businesses don't publish their contact details. Others may not have an active helpdesk or a customer support team.
Many businesses may provide poor customer service experience by ignoring their customers. They won't respond to support tickets or even reply to their email or social media comments. And customers won't be able to reach them on the phone either. They are always too busy to answer customer queries or complaints.
- Taking too long to respond
Some support agents take too long to respond to their customers and such practice is very bad for business. On average, most customers expect businesses to pick up phone calls and respond to live chats within 20 seconds, reply to emails within four hours, and also answer social media queries within 60 minutes.
- Making customers jump through hoops to speak to a human
Many customers find it difficult to connect to a live agent. They're often met with interactive voice response systems with too many menu options, i.e., press 1 for this, press 2 for that, etc. 86% of customers also report being put on hold every time they call a business and 53% say that they spend 10 to 20 minutes on hold.
- Incompetent customer support agents.
Some support agents don't have the required knowledge and proficiency for the role. They are unable to provide helpful solutions to the customer. Others may lack the right etiquette and attitude for dealing with various customers. They may also speak rudely or nonchalantly.
How to get customer service right?
Great customer service is all about responding almost immediately, giving effective solutions to problems, and utilizing good customer service etiquette. If you offer quality customer service, you'll experience benefits such as increased brand loyalty and recommendations, as well as more conversions and profits. Here are good ways to improve your customer service:
- Understand customer needs and pain points
Once you know who your ideal customers are, the next step is to understand their needs and expectations. This will help you determine what they are looking to achieve with your products and services. And you'll be able to provide a better customer experience from initial purchase through to after-sales support.
- Train your customer support agents
Every company needs to have competent people in their customer support team. You can choose to hire skilled and experienced agents. Or you can employ interns or entry-level support staff and equip them with customer service best practices, and in-depth knowledge of the company and the product so they can easily answer customers' questions.
- Invest in the best customer service tools
Customer service tools can help to improve team productivity, increase communication with customers, and boost customer satisfaction. You should invest in the right customer service or help desk software that can automate tasks. It also needs to have a good ticketing system that can speed up your response time and avoid queries falling through the cracks.
- Get personal with the customer
More companies should deliver personalized support to their customers. Good customer service is beyond using automated email or chat responses. Your support agents should be friendly, address the customer by name, ask questions to find out their needs, listen to their concerns, demonstrate empathy, and be willing to find the best solution for the customer.
- Meet your customers where they are
It's a good idea to provide multiple touchpoints for your customers to engage with you. These days, customers want to connect with brands on their favorite apps. Your customer support agents should be able to help customers on any support channel. You can also implement an omnichannel customer service experience.
- Evaluate your customer service data to further improve your service.
Businesses should give their customers a way to provide feedback. You can use customer satisfaction surveys, social media polls, or by asking for a review of your product or service. Then, you should analyze their responses to determine what needs to be improved upon.
Conclusion
Bad customer service causes more harm than good to any business. You should endeavor to improve your customer support strategies, use the right helpdesk platform and work with good support agents. It helps to retain customers and also sets you apart from your competitors.
