Customer service is everything. In a world where reviews are shared instantaneously and the whole population is your potential customer base, you need to make sure you are doing everything right to keep your customers feeling happy with their experience of shopping with you. Here are four ways to get customer service right in 2023.
Be transparent with your information
There is nothing more frustrating than trying to make a complaint to a company and just being sent round and round in circles on their website because the contact information is hidden under multiple layers of secrecy. Having an FAQ page is great, but it can’t be an alternative to contact information because it can’t possibly cover every question or concern. Having a very clear ‘contact’ page is the best way to stop your customer feeling even more frustrated.
Have multiple ways to contact you
You don’t know the needs of your customer, so it is important to offer multiple methods of contact so that they can choose what works for them to make their complaint process as painless as possible. While 66% of customers prefer to make a phone call to have their complaint resolved quickly, some people suffer from phone anxiety or simply don’t have the time to sit on the phone, so giving them the option of contacting you in a different way is going to make them feel better about their experience with you.
Always remember the LEAF approach
I worked in customer service for many years in person before I started to work online, and one thing I was always taught was the LEAF approach – Listen, Empathise, Ask what they’d like you to do, Fix it. Ultimately when your customer complains to you, they want two things: empathy, and a resolution. And believe it or not, offering a resolution such as a refund can still leave a bad taste in their mouths if it isn’t paired with empathy. Ensure that your customer feels heard and understood in order to provide top notch customer service.
Don’t keep people waiting
Once people have made that initial contact with you and you have gone through the issue with them and settled on a resolution, make sure you take action straight away. Customers don’t like to feel unheard – in fact, 49% of social media complaints go unanswered, leaving customers feeling frustrated and escalating their complaints higher. If you have settled on a resolution it is important that you deliver that right away, so that the customer doesn’t feel the need to reach out to you for a second time, which will result in them feeling more frustrated with their customer service experience.
How do you ensure you give good customer service every single time? Leave your tips in the comments below.
Heavensa also known as Heaven’s A Dreamy Life is the digital home of Gee, a UK-based content creator and entrepreneur.