8 steps to improving customer communication in your customer service center

When contacting a company, customer experience (CX*) becomes more and more important. And a positive experience, whether through direct contact with a consultant or through electronic channels, more often leads to a purchase. Back in 2019, Forbes* presented research showing that 84% of companies which have implemented a customer-oriented strategy confirm an increase in income, and as many as 96% of customers consider the quality of service as an important factor influencing loyalty to a brand. Of course, it can be assumed that this is only a temporary phenomenon which will soon pass, not the first and not the last. However, subsequent publications based on research conducted in 2020* clearly show that this trend will become one of the main factors in the customer’s choice of a company in the coming years, regardless of the industry.

What can you do to improve your contact service strategy and make your company stand out on the market?

8 steps to improving customer communication in your customer service center

  1. Know your client

The aforementioned research shows that the lowest price of a product or service is no longer the decisive criterion. It is worth making the effort to understand your clientele: who they are, what their motivations are, what they are guided by.

By creating an appropriate customer profile, not only will the customer cease to be a completely anonymous recipient, but will also facilitate establishing a positive relationship. The profile may contain, in addition to age, gender and demographics, interests or information about behaviors. Thanks to them, interactions will be more meaningful and synchronized with the customer’s values.

  1. Adapt the interaction to the stage of the customer journey

Customers are at different stages of the sales process. They have different needs and different relationships with your company, so interacting with them may require a different attitude. Someone who is a regular customer will need more personalized communication than the customer to whom you are presenting your offer for the first time. With the help of CRM, your team will be able to efficiently recognize how to adapt communication to a given customer. Remember that at every stage your recipient feels appreciated and communicating with them should not be an impersonal exchange of opinions.

  1. Don’t put your callers on hold for too long

Putting calls on hold is extremely frustrating. Your client contacts the call center for direct support and most often expects efficient service. You can certainly find ways to keep the waiting time to a minimum in order to satisfy your customers and provide them with quality service. Even if the conversation has to be temporarily suspended, in order to verify certain information, it is worth informing the client about it.

  1. Reduce customer efforts

The effort your customers need to make contact with you can determine good and bad experiences with your business. Customers expect immediate contact, next day delivery, one-click clearance and the same speed of service from a call center. How to meet our client’s expectations?

  • FAQ and Knowledge Base that will allow the customer to easily spot the basic information,
  • Immediate callback in case of disconnection,
  • Paying undivided attention to customers and not asking them to repeat what they have just said,
  • Attempting to solve the problem in the first interaction,
  • Quick response after reporting, etc.

These are just a few techniques you can apply to improve your customer experience and drive positive CX.

  1. Improve call forwarding for better performance

Call forwarding is an important strategy in customer service, especially during peak hours. Ensuring that calls are routed to the right departments can prove important in creating positive first impressions for customers and increasing their positive experience. To build an effective call forwarding strategy, you need to constantly answer key questions:

  • “How can we quickly move the customer’s call to the appropriate department?”
  • “How can we ensure that the problem is resolved on the first contact?”
  • “How do I handle calls that require long waiting times?”.

  1. Provide the customers with the contact they expect

Perhaps you need to change the way customers contact your business to improve the quality of their experience. The telephone is not the best communication channel for every customer. Consider letting them reach you through their preferred communication channels, such as live chat or social media. Keep in mind, however, that AI tools like live chat and chat bots are undoubtedly the trend and can help a lot in customer service, but achieving the right balance is key to customer satisfaction. It’s important to identify the areas where chat bots might be more helpful and those where human help is mandatory to provide a better customer experience.

For example, having a chat bot might seem like a good idea to communicate when someone browses your website, but human intervention is a more appropriate approach for dealing with complaints.

  1. Ask for feedback to show you care

When you ask customers for their opinion on your services, they feel appreciated, and this can help increase brand loyalty. One way is to ask them to take a short (really short) survey about how successfully you have solved their problems and how you can improve your services in the future. This is the best way to understand your customers directly and find out what can improve their experience with your brand.

  1. Take care of employees’ motivation

If you want customers to be satisfied, strengthen and motivate your employees. A solid infrastructure, the help of advanced tools and technologies, a healthy work environment, and enough space for independent decision making can all help to achieve employee satisfaction. A satisfied employee develops a sense of identification with the company and makes every effort to retain valuable customers for the company.

We realize that creating your own professional call center is a challenge not only for operational reasons. If you do not have the resources and relevant experience or do not want to take operational risk on yourself, trust professionals. Call center outsourcing will allow you to focus on areas of key importance for the development of your company, and we will take care of the rest.

* CX – customer experience

*Link to the article in Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2019/09/24/50-stats-that-prove-the-value-of-customer-experience/?sh=16b626464ef2

* Link to the article in Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2020/06/23/4-actionable-customer-experience-statistics-for-2020/?sh=678a98f01a84