Man with headphones facing computer monitor (Photo by Andrea Piacquadio)
The Coronavirus has led to significant changes for the entire world. For many businesses, the epidemic has created a climate of uncertainty and a battle for survival. During these tough times holding onto customers is even more of a challenge than ever before. Consumers are likely to be extra cautious in their spending, and their loyalty to particular brands will be over-ridden by their desire to save money. Operating a business in this climate requires increased sensitivity to the needs of customers. Limited face to face customer contact and your employees working from home, can make it particularly challenging to deliver a high standard of customer service. It is crucial to address this issue and to find a way to provide high-quality customer service remotely. Without a robust customer service offering, your business may struggle to compete in these testing times.So, how do you deliver high-quality customer service remotely? Here are some tips to help:
1. Introduce a Live Chat Function
While delivering customer service face to face may not be possible, technology has the next best solution. Implementing Live Video Chat into your customer service offering will enhance the customer experience and set your business apart from your competitors. Live video chat has many benefits, but one of the most significant is the ability to offer your customers a personalised online experience tailored to their needs. Live video chat is an excellent way to bridge the gap between customers and your support team and deliver the best customer experience possible.
Many live video chat services are available, so it is best to do some research to find the best live video chat software. Choosing the best chat software will minimize the chances of glitches, which could harm your customer’s experience when using the service.
2. Focus on Response Times
Have you ever tried to get in contact with a company via their contact form and then waited for days, weeks, and months with getting a reply? If so, you will know how frustrating it is for customers to reach out to a company only to be ignored. Not receiving a response to a message via a contact form can leave customers feeling under-valued and unfairly treated.
Dealing with customer queries is a task that should be carried out promptly to show that you are competent and that you value your customers.
Setting an agreed response time with your staff and making it part of the daily workflow to check for customer messages should mean that they never get overlooked.
3. Offer Seamless Customer Service
Customers that become frustrated with your service could quickly begin to look to your competitors to receive the level of customer service that they expect. To address many frustrations experienced by customers, it is necessary to find ways to make your customer service offering seamless. As well as incorporating the live chat function into your customer service offering, you may want to introduce a customer relationship management (CRM) system into your business for a fully joined-up approach.
Young woman browsing laptop in living room (Photo by Ketut Subiyanto)