fbpx

3 E’s of Intelligent Customer Service

Have you ever wondered how to make customer service conversations easier? The answer is simple – it takes three E’s.


Have you ever wondered how to make customer service conversations easier? The answer is simple – it takes three E’s.

Many a times, while delivering the best customer service and scaling your business it’s easy to forget the things that matter most to customers. But when you deliver great service not only will you have them coming back for more, but you can retain customers for the long-run.

So, here’s a look at three E’s to remember when delivering excellent customer service:

 

Engage

Social media has raised the customer service bar. Why? Because social platforms foster engagement and it’s not solely reliant on one-to-one interactions. It includes familiarizing a broader audience with your brand.

However, when you do have a customer on the phone remember: no one wants to talk to someone with a boring, monotone, and uninterested disposition. Find scalable ways to engage customers on social media, send a follow-up “thank you” email, or offer free gifts to incentivize purchase behavior. All of these things add a personal touch that can set you apart from competitors.

 

Enhance

To enhance, or improve, customer interactions is paramount to driving revenue and loyalty. One of the best way to enhance customer relationships is through good old fashioned conversations. In a digital driven business environment, sometime the distinctive success factor is human interaction.

Jeff Kirchick, VP Enterprise Sales at NextCaller explains why customers want to talk to a human. “If you’re anything like me, you don’t spend too much time looking for the answer to your question online because it is time-consuming, tedious, and sometimes painful . . . I will be honest – I reach for the phone almost immediately. It’s just my personality. I want immediate answers, so I can get on to the next issue or task in my life.”

Today many companies offer multi-channel customer service, but voice is still the preferred mode of communication amongst customers. According to Marketing Charts research suggests, “Roughly 9 in 10 survey respondents aged 18-65 speak with live representatives on the phone, the most common customer service channel of the listed options, with website self-service closely following (83%). While a greater share this year are using smartphone applications (42%) and social media (37%) for customer service, social media has just a 29% success rate in resolving issues, compared to a 69% success rate over the phone. And while social media is gaining ground among younger age groups, they still prefer to speak to an agent on the phone.”

Forrester mirrors these findings stating that “companies must understand their customers’ communication channel preferences and be prepared for them to change over time. This also means that companies must choose technology ecosystems that provide the business agility and flexibility.”

So, when talking to a customer, don’t rush conversations. Talk in a calm and concise manner so the caller can understand you. Furthermore, when on a sales call, listen more than you speak and instead of being 100 percent product-focused, share information that will ease their pain points. Seek to have an open-ended conversation and evoke curiosity. Listening not only improves the conversation, it keeps customers from abruptly leaving the conversation.

 

Elevate

Elevate the value of your customers. This is the most important part of any customer service strategy. If something is referred to as a “service” that means you will endeavor to provide value along with it.

Always give customers more than they expect. This is when they will perceive that you care—especially when an incentive is offered in a personalized way. Also, remember that the customer is always right. Even if you don’t agree with a customer, respect their point of view; and attempt to clarify and resolve concerns in a diplomatic manner.

 

This article has been edited and condensed.

Arundhuti Roy is writing on behalf of Voicetree Technologies, India. Roy has a BA(Hons) English from the University of Delhi and is pursuing her Masters in Literature. Connect with @myoperator on Twitter.

 

© YFS Magazine. All Rights Reserved. Copying prohibited. All material is protected by U.S. and international copyright laws. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this material is prohibited. Sharing of this material under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International terms, listed here, is permitted.

   

In this article