Approaches to creating good customer service

One of our clients wasn’t ready for changes and spent hundreds of thousands of Euros on promoting his product, taking advantage of the trite but still working technologies as he believed.

After conducting the “Mystery Shopping” check-up, we realized that in most cases the client’s product was not on the menu. And against their responsibilities, the staff often recommended the visitors the products of other brands.  If the goods were offered to the customer, the characteristics and way of presentation were not taken into account. Therefore, the message was not sent to consumers, consequently, the brand lost money.

What did they do wrong at the beginning? Before working on new ideas, you need to analyze the situation in your company deeply and professionally. In this way, you will save money and convey the consumer’s perception of the brand. Think about what you offer to customers. Whether you support their ideas, initiatives and whether your service meets their expectations.

Earlier people were choosing the company only in terms of the price and properties of goods. Now the basic factor is the total experience of interaction between consumers and the company and building a competent customer service. Customer service is the support you offer your consumers before, during and after they buy or use your products or services.

The customer has become very demanding in terms of service, which creates the need to implement a new strategy and, as a consequence, new deals for customers. But any new strategy does not replace the basic quality standards. A customer-oriented approach remains the basis of customer service. Any changes and events that happen to the customers determine the course of events within the organization.

The basis of the company’s client-oriented approach is, first of all, a deep understanding of a client and his needs. Therefore, it is impossible to make a company be client-oriented, confining to just a few steps. The key to success consists of the constant study of the customers and quick response to changes in their needs.

Listen to the customer 

Many people believe they know their target audience, but unfortunately, this is often not true, which is confirmed by the low level of sales and low customer loyalty. In order to learn real consumers’ wishes, the researchers will offer to conduct an in-depth interview or focus group. These methods help to understand the values and true motives of your customers’ behavior. 

Back in the last century, American company Procter & Gamble became the first among the companies, producing consumer goods, to hear its customers literally. On the packaging of its products, the company decided to use the toll-free “800 Series” phone number. According to the reports, the year when such customer feedback was launched, the company received 200,000 calls and responded to them! The employees note that such communication with a customer helps to improve the products up to the present day.

Within the context of a modern world, IT solutions allow to fine-tune the customers’ mood with the subsequent correction of tools. For example, they are automated cloud CRM, which are integrated with different communication channels and have a single core of data on the client experience of the company. 

If you manage to create a great customer experience, the customers will tell each other about it. A positive feedback from the consumer is the best additional promotion for goods and services.

Create common standards

Assessment of the quality of service and production is based on two important points: expectation and result. In order to convince a buyer to make a purchase for the first time, you must set high expectations and, as a result, high standards corresponding to them. It is quite possible that they already exist in your company. But how effectively they work and whether it is necessary to reconsider them if you have decided to follow a new way; whether it is necessary to introduce new standards and if it is, which ones exactly. Depending on how fully you have documented the standards of customer service and how clearly you announce the idea of customer focus to your employees, you will get a different level of quality. The main standard is to keep the promises you make to your customers. If you have promised fast and best service – do it! 

In order to get the customers interested to come back to you next time, your company should impress their expected results. This will make customers more loyal to the brand.

An ideal example, in this case, is the example of Zappos – an online store with free shipping. The company hasn’t advertised its main feature – fast free shipping. The orders were delivered to the customers faster than they expected. Thus, consumers received a pleasant and surprising bonus in the form of fast delivery.

Test new approaches

The market is upgraded by new marketing tools constantly. Companies catch the trend, choose a tool and implement it in their business activity, not trying to understand all the subtleties. The implementation cycle assumes that you have to sell the idea, have all the necessary resources, control and make adjustments on a regular basis. It is important to give feedback. This is the whole management process.

One of the successful examples of implementing new approaches is the case of one of the most popular online platforms Evernote, which helps to organize and store your notes and links to your favorite websites, as well as create notebooks for sharing.

In order to attract a fresh army of users, the company used the mechanics of closed beta-version. Evernote has been working for the first four months in the status of closed beta. During this period, the first “wave” of users was able to investigate the service, send invitations to their friends and those to whom such a website could be really useful. By the time the publicly available version was launched, there were already 125,000 interested target users on the platform.

But the examples of successful launch of the product testing and its further implementation are unique. As our 18-year experience shows, 90% of all projects fail at the stage of implementation. To get a quality result and minimize unwanted expenses, it is better to seek professional advice.

Admit your mistakes

Sometimes it is better to recognize a problem and tell your customers that you are doing your best to sort it out. A lot of customers know that technology can fail, and they prefer you apologize for a mistake. And if you apologize in a fancy way, your customers will like it as a concern even more.

For example, when Adobe crashed because of a problem with Amazon Web Services, they tweeted about it. A video was posted to distract from the problem and cheer the users up. While some of them asked when the program would be re-started, there were many comments regarding charming puppies.

If you aim to improve your relationship with the customers, reach a new level of sales and just become a successful company, you should always remember about your consumers. Customer service is not only about gimmicks, approaches, and strategies of mutual relations. It is about quality first of all.

Consider customer service as something more than just a seller-buyer relationship. You are dealing with real people, and the quality of service you provide will be the cornerstone for further relationship development.