7 Winning Customer Service Strategies

7 Winning CUSTOMER SERVICE STRATEGIES 1 Optimize Agent Training Invest in an agent training program to ensure your agents are empowered and prepared to meet customer needs. Make sure your agents know what customers expect when they reach 92% want to out to support: be treated with dignity 76% want assurance that their problems won't be repeated 74%, want an explanation sorry 63%, want an 62% opportunity to vent want an apology Source: MIT Sloan 2 Choose the Right Tools Ensure that your helpdesk and call center software meets the needs of your customers and agents. What helpdesk buyers complain most about their software: 34.4% Other 24.6% Poor UI (bugs, downtime, price, etc.) 21.3% Missing 8.2% Complex signup / features login 11.5%, Lack of help / documentation Source: Get App 3 Improve Call Center KPIS Develop a list of key performance indicators (KPIS) you will use to measure your customer service efforts. Average abandonment First call Average time in queue resolution rate 26% of consumers are transferred from agent to agent without a resolution. 75% of customers say it takes too long to reach a live agent. 67%, of customers hang up the phone, frustrated they couldn't talk to a real person. Source: American Express / Harris Interactive / American Express Personalize the Experience Your business tools should help agents see: Previous interactions (phone, email, chat, social media) Support requests E Cases, notes and events Make Data-Driven Decisions Use metrics and 96% of companies are reporting to develop unsatisfied with their solid conclusions that ability to use data. will help drive results Source: Aberdeen Group Companies Using Customer Analytics Report: 58% 89% 87% A 58% improvement in employee performance. Being more likely (89%) to map buyer journeys to business activities. Being more likely (87%) to identify how each channel contributes to results. Source: Aberdeen Group Optimize Quality Assurance (QA) QA practices help to enhance service quality, increase efficiency and reduce wasteful spending. Almost 9 out of 10 U.S. consumers say they would pay more to ensure a superior customer experience. Source: Harris Interactive To optimize QA, use tools like: Call monitoring and recording Agent reporting Call barging 7 Offer Omnichannel Support Provide support on the channels your customers use to reach you. Channels customers prefer to use are: 36% phone 33% live chat 25% email 5% online support portal 2% social media Source: Parature talkdēsk Create a Call Center in 5 Minutes Works Cited: 2013 National Customer Rage survey (MIT Sloan) "How to Choose Helpdesk Software" (GetApp) 2012 Global Customer Service Barometer (American Express) Harris Interactive Poll Customer Analytics: How to Make Best Use of Customer Data (Aberdeen Group) 2015 U.S. State of Multichannel Customer Service Report (Parature) 4-