4 Simple Things to Get Right in Your Customer Service for 2021

There’s a customer behind every business interaction. Whether B2B or B2C, your customers aren’t comparing you to your direct competitors; they’re comparing you to the best in the world and expecting the same level of service. While there’s a growing disconnect between customer expectation and delivery in terms of the customer’s experience, it can be the complete opposite for your business.   

Let’s explore a few simple things you can do with little effort but great impact in 2021.  

Great customer service is a huge value-add and includes treating your customers fairly, answering their questions, solving their problems, and exceeding their expectations. Taking this approach is a surefire way to engage your customers and build strong, lasting relationships.  

Happy customers are the secret to business growth. If you can provide the products and services and make your customers’ lives easier by solving problems and proactively helping to reduce costs and improve efficiencies, you’ll not only have happy and loyal customers but also brand ambassadors for your IT services business.  

This is because people are no longer buying products and services. Rather, they are buying experiences delivered through your products and services. This makes it important to shift from seeing customer service as a money pit to viewing it as an opportunity for growth.  

Customers are not interested in your internal structure, they simply want to know how you’re going to help them in their time of need.   

If your teams operate in silos they’re not well-placed to help customers. Repeating themselves one service representative after another is arguably the biggest source of frustration for customers.  

Your main aim should be a frictionless customer experience which could easily be achieved through customer relationship management software. 

Today’s software focuses on pulling all your customer-based communications channels—from email and live chat to contact forms and IM platforms—together in a single inbox, with contextual details of each customer's history with your company.  

A single view of who they’re dealing with, even if it’s a complicated multinational enterprise, will empower your customer-facing employees to deal with clients with confidence. 

Companies that are getting customer service right have integrated their support function from the onset with the rest of their organisation through a unified platform that makes it possible to solve customer issues as a team—swiftly and accurately.  

 Customer service is more than just closing tickets. It’s about building and maintaining a trustworthy working relationship through consistency in your customer service interactions. 

Business customers expect great service teams to be reliable and responsive communicators. For example, live chat as a support tool reduces the response time significantly, making it possible to connect with users at the precise moment they need help or guidance in their purchase journey.  

Supplemented with co-browsing technology, agents can see customers’ screens to speed up query resolution.   

Don’t know where to start working on your customer service? Start by asking your customers. Sometimes the little things can make a huge difference in their experience and to your bottom line.   

Here are some ways in which you can collect feedback from your customers:  

• Contact forms or online comment boxes  
• Live chat feature  
• Online surveys  
• Exit polls   
• Thank you surveys or feedback forms  

Your customers aren’t just looking for communication in times of crisis or problem-solving. They’re looking for value in each engagement.  

Everyday service interactions are important, but celebrating milestones and providing useful, and relevant content on a regular basis will show your customers you care about them and their business.    

Although social distancing is limiting physical face-to-face interaction, it is still important to give a face to your brand. 

In B2B video can be used as an effective tool in customer support to add value and a personal touch. You can also use video as an effective marketing tool to showcase your products and services and train customers in how to use them.  

At ROTL, we are skilled in the science of turning customer satisfaction into customer loyalty. From sales enablement to customer service training, and impactful, personalised marketing assets, get in touch with me for a fresh approach to bringing your service strategy to life.