There is no hiding from the fact that customer service is a pivotal element of your business. Sure you may have a fantastic idea, you may spend all of the hours working hard to make your business known and seen by potential customers, they may even buy or order from you, but without customer service, these people may not come back again. Bad customer service can also lead onto reviews being made about your business, which could potentially stop other people wanting to do business with you. It can be a downward spiral. However, good customer service can mean repeat custom and recommendations to others. Which is only going to benefit you. So how do you ensure you get this element of your business right? Here are some suggestions.
Make sure you keep in contact with them after purchase
Let’s face it, when you order something, you expect to be made aware of the updates and when you are likely to receive the purchased items, or indeed when a company can carry out the services ordered. As a customer, this is a given, but as a business owner, do you do all that you can to keep your customers updated? Possibly not. There is never going to be a time where a customer says they were over informed. They have parted with money after all. Think about how. Often you keep in touch with your customers, not just to give the updates on their order, but to also discuss up and coming offers and share information with them.
Make processes easy
A customer doesn’t want a transaction between them and a company to be hard work. What is the point if it isn’t easy? This is when you may want to think about the processes you have in place when it comes to customers ordering products or services, and even the delivery elements. There is also the fact that some people may wish to return items or exchange, this is when investing in reverse logistics technology could be worthwhile. Making things easier for the customer is always going to stand you highly on the customer service factor.
Be contactable when it comes to questions
It isn’t always going to be plain sailing is it when it comes to your process. After all, in an ideal world, a customer would find your website, place an order, love it, and then that’s the end of the process. But these days customers have questions, they have needs, so you may want to ensure that you have decent ways in which a customer can contact you directly. This might be live chat options on your website. A quick response time when it comes to emails or direct messages, or at least responding to comments when people have spent the time to engage on social media. These things can make a huge difference.
Customer loyalty offers
Finally, customer loyalty is one area of your business you may not focus any energy, but you should. Think about having offers just for previous customers. Offer referrals and discounts for extra business. There is always something you can do, and it can make a customer feel extra special.
Let’s hope this has you fine tuning your customer service.
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