Describe the most satisfying interaction you’ve ever had with a company’s customer service department. It could be a barista who always knows how you prefer your latte. Or how about the time you had an issue and phoned customer service? The representative was understanding and went above and beyond to resolve the problem.
Reliable customer experience like Xfinity customer service can transform the way customers perceive your company. Furthermore, it might strengthen the bonds between you and your followers.
In this guide, we will explore some of the factors that make customer service exceptional. So let’s dive in!
What Is Exceptional Customer Service?
Consistently exceeding customer expectations is the hallmark of excellent customer service. Fast, simple, individual, and sympathetic service is what makes for happy customers. Companies that thrive at customer service invest the time required to learn about their clientele.
Tips for Providing Outstanding Customer Service
It’s one thing to have customer satisfaction as a goal. To stand out from the crowd, however, you’ll need to do more than simply provide better customer service than the competition. Not to mention, consumers have increasingly high standards. Good customer service isn’t good enough for many businesses.
Follow these steps to elevate your customer service to the next level.
1. Communicate With Your Customers in Ways They Prefer
You might want to “take that conversation offline” if a consumer tweets a complaint so that the issue isn’t discussed in public. However, it is not always so clear-cut. Perhaps they have already tried phoning your toll-free number, only to be met with an excessively long hold time. Perhaps they have a preference for communicating via social media with businesses.
When choosing a support method, customers take into account their desired response time and the complexity of their issue. Your customers would rather interact with you on the same channels they use to maintain personal relationships. Therefore, providing assistance through the customer’s preferred support channel is one of the greatest ways to build a wonderful customer care experience.
All channels, including phone, email, IM, live chat, and social media, must be covered by your agents’ ability to respond to customer questions and concerns. It’s useful if agents can easily transition between multiple kinds of communication, and technology can keep track of everything.
Imagine a scenario in which a consumer launches live chat, but the issue gets too complex to be resolved in that setting. The transition to phone conversations shouldn’t be too challenging for your agents.
2. Feel Compassion
To give a customer a memorable experience, you need to be able to connect with them on a personal level. This begins with having empathy for the customer, which includes making their needs your top priority and viewing them as the protagonist, rather than the problem, in your work. It’s an essential trait for everyone working in customer service.
Many organizations raised the bar in terms of their empathy for customers in 2020, with measures ranging from the freezing of bank loans for customers experiencing financial hardship to the drastic reduction of insurance premiums due to people not driving their cars enough during the lockdown.
Customers will keep expecting businesses to go above and above in showing compassion and adaptability. Providing agents with clear authority to make decisions outside of established procedures is essential if they are to provide customers with solutions that meet or exceed their expectations.
3. Be Proactive
Your clientele may choose to voice their dissatisfaction when things don’t go as anticipated. Fixing the initial problem and appeasing the customer are now competing priorities. One key to providing outstanding service to consumers is to anticipate their requirements before they even ask for them.
The term “proactive customer service” refers to situations in which a company goes out of its way to assist a client even before the client requests assistance. This implies making an effort to find solutions as soon as difficulties arise.
Proactive customer service has many advantages:
● Preventing issues from arising is usually possible. You’re helping your customers immediately, rather than waiting for them to complain. That saves your customer service team time, and it keeps your customer delighted.
● An agent can make instantaneous product recommendations if they have access to data that reveals a customer’s tastes. Increased client loyalty and additional upselling possibilities can result from such personalized care.
4. Let Them Help Themselves
Not every customer is comfortable asking for assistance. To provide exceptional customer service, you also need to let your customers solve their issues on their own. 69% of consumers prefer to find their own solutions to issues, and the majority of those always or mostly begin with a search on the company’s website.
However, only a third of organizations offer a knowledge base or community forum, and less than one in three offer social messaging, chatbots, or in-app messaging.
Conclusion
When the quality of your customer service may make or break your business in this market, now is not the time to settle for average. You can avoid the pitfalls of mediocre customer service by investing the time required to learn what constitutes outstanding service for your specific clientele.
