Review, Redo, & Revamp: Improving Service Quality
Improving your customer service is as simple as reviewing your communication, service diversity, and understanding of the customer experience.
We all strive to be masters of customer service, but unfortunately, delivering quality service across multiple channels, demographics, and industries can be easier said than done. Our efforts don’t always hit the mark on the first go, making an occasional customer service revamp necessary to meet the very specific (and often temperamental!) needs of your market.
Open Your Ears
Voice of Customer (VOC) is a growing trend in the customer service world. Much like it sounds, VOC involves learning about the expectations and preferences of your customers directly from the source via surveys and feedback. If your contact centre is interested in revamping its practices to provide better service, VOC initiatives and better internal communication are a great place to start.
Survey customers to learn how your centre is performing. There are many inexpensive options that can give you valuable insight into the weaknesses of your centre and the performance of specific agents. This strategy also gives your customers another way to provide service critiques aside from the usual channels—data compiled by Sandsiv found that for every customer that comes forward with a complaint, 25 others (with similar issues) will have remained silent. This statistic highlights an interesting advantage to be had over your competitors—contact centres who can utilize this wealth of untapped feedback can gain far more insight into the customer experience than centres who rely only on customer-offered criticism.
But don’t stop your communication overhaul there. Revamp your own internal communication practices within the contact centre to involve management, contact agents, and your customers. This gives you a comprehensive view of your centre’s performance, and may even boost internal morale by helping all of your agents feel involved in the service improvement process. Learning the ins and outs of your service quality across every department can help inform your improvement initiatives with insight that can only be gained from a 360 degree view of your operation.
Put Yourself in Their Shoes
To know how best to revamp your customer service, you have to understand what makes your customers tick. Failing to understand your customer’s priorities is a common culprit of ineffective service. Review your contact centre’s policies to determine whether you actually know what they want, the channels they want to reach you with, and the best ways to meet their needs. A 2013 Report by Oracle showed that senior executives recognize the value of a positive experience, with the belief that inconsistent, irrelevant, or negative customer experiences can hurt a brand’s annual revenue by up to 20 percent.
Twenty percent! That’s not a figure to take lightly.
To avoid the blows to your company’s revenue and brand perceptions, focus your improvements on increasing your customer’s comfort during the service experience. Data compiled by Matt Dixon on customer service effort and ROI had some striking statistics to reveal: 94 percent of customers surveyed indicated that a low-effort customer experience would make them want to do business with that company again. Compare this to the customers who received a high effort experience—a meager 4 percent.
In the interest of building a low-effort experience, revamp your customer service with your audience comfort in mind. Learn what channels they prefer (Self-service? Voice support? Social media?) and make it easy for them to find you. Offering support in their preferred channels via agents specifically trained for that purpose does more than just improve their experience—it telegraphs that your centre is attuned to their needs and willing to work with them every step of the way. Thanks to the proliferation of the Internet, your customers have plenty of buying options and a lower tolerance for an inadequate service experience. Make their service as seamless, streamlined, and comfortable as possible to help ensure brand loyalty, repeat business, and better overall satisfaction.
A Service Overhaul
Revamping the quality of your customer service isn’t easy, but it’s definitely worth the effort. It all starts with communication—learning what works, what doesn’t, and where to apply your efforts for the best effect. From there, you must make sure you understand the values and priorities of your market and diversify your outreach accordingly. Offering a streamlined and effortless experience informed by actionable feedback is the best way to overhaul your service and better meet the needs of your customers.
