Costi

How To Scale Your Ecommerce Customer Service With These Tools

Upon entering a brick and mortar store, consumers are often greeted (hopefully) by friendly store associates who can provide them with assistance while they browse. There is no face-to-face interaction with eCommerce, but that doesn't mean online businesses should cut corners when it comes to customer service. When it comes to eCommerce, it's of utmost importance that the buyer experience is the best it possibly can be.

When it comes to finding the right tools to help you launch, manage, and scale your eCommerce customer support team, the process can seem almost overwhelming. It is a good thing, then, that these tools can help your customer experience team to better serve your customers, increase your reviews, and even help to boost referrals and overall sales.

1) Zendesk

In today's world, Zendesk is almost synonymous with online customer service. Known for its customer service solution for every step of the customer journey, this product has been adopted by some of the biggest brands out there, such as Uber and Shopify.

Among the features of Zendesk are:

• An integrated ticketing system that allows you to manage customer tickets from a single dashboard
• It is possible to install a live chat application on your website, which would enable better customer feedback and give the opportunity to communicate with your customers at critical moments during the journey
• Ability to make calls from both landlines and mobile devices, as well as send text messages
• The Zendesk service also allows you to design your own custom knowledge base to make it easier for your customers to find the information they need, as well as provide its own CRM. It also provides you with easy-to-use analytics and reporting tools.
• You can integrate your Facebook Messenger account with your Zendesk service to generate tickets automatically and track them

2) Hubspot Service Hub

The Hubspot Service Hub is a customer support software solution that is a centralized one-stop shop that can be accessed from anywhere. You might be familiar with Hubspot as a marketing tool or resource.

Among its more important features are the following:

• Providing all team members with a team inbox where they can collaborate on projects and be aware of what's going on at all times
• Automation of ticketing that turns all incoming emails into tickets that can be handled using templates or canned responses
• Customer support using a chatbot to answer routine queries
• Data collection and feedback from your customers will help you continuously improve your campaigns and customer service
• As a tip, Service Hub seamlessly integrates with all other Hubspot software so that you have access to a whole field of customer data from a single dashboard.

3) Freshdesk

In similar fashion to Zendesk, Freshdesk is also a popular and well-known customer service software.

Among the most notable features of the software are the following:

• With a ticketing system, you can integrate multiple channels such as social media, email, website inquiries, texts and calls into the process
• From a single location, you can access all of your customer inquiries
• The ability to create a knowledge base of your own
• The reporting process
• There are two versions of Freshdesk: the free, basic subscription that offers basic functionality, and the paid version that comes with a wide range of additional features. If you have a small business, then you may only be able to use the free version of this software. Therefore, consider your needs before purchasing this software.

4) LiveChat

LiveChat is a useful live chat tool that can be integrated into a website so that you can chat with customers. I am sure that you have seen the little chat bubble that appears in the bottom corner of many websites so that visitors can contact the customer service team. The ease of use of the web chat is excellent for customers, but it's important to note that the customer service interface is equally easy to use and understand, so only limited training is needed.

To provide a personalized customer service experience for your customers, your customer service team can create individual profiles for each chat.

As a tip, you will be able to track the chats that lead to sales so that you can refine your pitches and sales approach by learning from the messaging used.

5) LiveAgent

Unlike the big players on the market, LiveAgent is made for smaller teams but don't let that fool you: it provides all the features that you'd expect from a bigger player. It comes with an inbox for your team, live chat, and an integrated call feature.

This is what makes LiveAgent different from other Customer Service tools because it brings gamification to your team through the LiveAgent interface. By completing tasks, agents can earn points and rewards, making it feel like they're on a quest rather than just picking up tickets at work. Additionally, you can choose how to reward your most successful members of the team based on their team ranking.

To foster employee satisfaction, which translates into a better customer experience, make customer support fun for your team.

6) SurveyMonkey

I am convinced that if you think customer service ends as soon as a sale is closed, you are missing out on an amazing opportunity to support your campaign as well as the success of your business.

SurveyMonkey offers a wide variety of survey templates that can be used to determine how your potential customers and leads feel about the business you run.

Thanks to its great analytical features and the fact that it provides access to a large amount of customer information, SurveyMonkey can help you make better business decisions by helping you analyze customer information.

It is easy to share SurveyMonkey's data via email or social media and it is also able to provide you with analytic reports that help you understand large volumes of data.

7) Acquire

Acquire is another live chat tool with a twist: it allows your customer service representatives to share their desktops with your customers in real time, without forcing them to download a piece of software for the purpose. That's neat, right?

By reducing communication time, this feature leads to a more streamlined solution which ultimately leads to a higher level of customer satisfaction. In addition to Audi and Samsung, Acquire is a trusted provider of online support to a number of well-known businesses.

Taking advantage of those screenshares, on both sides of the chat, fosters customer trust, so take advantage of it.

8) Salesforce Service Cloud

As a popular choice for customer support tools thanks to its wide range of features, Salesforce Service Cloud is powered by Artificial Intelligence and offers a variety of AI-based features.

• You can get detailed customer analytics that can help you improve customer experience by analyzing relevant, real-world data
• You will be able to make calls to a phone number directly from the tool itself and you will have access to specific customer data before making your call
• Support that is offered in multiple channels so that customers can choose the method of contact that is most convenient to them
• You will be able to access all your tickets in one place
• The desk software can be configured to connect with a variety of other tools in order to meet your needs.

9) Referral Candy

Referral Candy, a brand ambassador building software, is the ideal solution if you are looking for a way to stimulate your customer service team to build brand ambassadors. You will be able to offer your customers a custom link, which they can share with friends, family, or followers in exchange for a reward you choose to offer them, from discounts to limited-time deals and more.

Using easy-to-use technology you can convert your happy customers into ambassadors of your brand

In the end, you need to determine what your overall business goals are so that you can choose the right customer service tool at the end of the day. You don't have to choose just one, and most of these tools offer a "trial before we buy" option for you to test the water without committing to anything in order to allow your team to find the most appropriate tool for their team, as well as for your customers.

If you use the right tool - or a combination of tools - you will be able to maximize the lifetime value of your customers, boost sales overall, and expand your customer base.

by Costi

Outsourcing customer service in ecommerce: 3 tips

Developing strong customer loyalty isn't easy. Increasing customer relationships can provide ecommerce leaders with a human touch that will benefit their customers.

Consumers, irrespective of their expectation that shopping processes will be automated and available on-demand, still want a customer service experience that involves personal interaction.

Building positive customer relationships and brand loyalty requires high-touch interactions such as custom thank-you cards, exclusive sales, and regularly empathetic customer service. But how can we scale these?

What steps do you take to ensure this is of the highest quality at all times, whether it is done by an internal team or an independent contractor?

Taking care of your ecommerce and social media customer service in-house is one way to grow your business, but it is very important that you consider these three points:

First, make sure that the company you are outsourcing to is flexible

The second tip is to avoid lock periods and overtime pricing whenever possible

The third tip is to understand how the vendor hires and trains its employees

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Here are some basics to get us started. E-commerce customer service outsourcing is the process of providing customer service to an e-commerce site.

An e-commerce company that outsources its customer service will hire a third party provider to handle customer inquiries and communications. There are a number of inbound channels for marketing and technical communication, including email, social media, instant messaging, and live chat.

This type of outsourcing is now used by many companies in ecommerce and retail in order to lower costs, increase revenue, decrease workloads, and create customers who are "superfans."

It is possible to outsource customer service for retail and E-commerce through call centers or contact centers that keep agents who are trained to answer incoming calls.

Being able to provide first-class customer service to customers is one of the cornerstones of a successful business. Often, customers submit requests, complain, and also make purchases through it. Companies can perform their tasks efficiently with the help of a good customer relationship management platform. Whether your customer service department is surrounded by competitors or not, one of the easiest ways to distinguish yourself is by ensuring that your customers are satisfied.

A lot of business owners are wary about employing a third-party company to handle their customer success. In the end, pros and cons should be carefully weighed before a final decision is made.

Getting customers' needs met in a timely manner and improving the efficiency and profitability of your business shouldn't be thought of as cutting corners; rather, outsourcing customer service is about meeting clients' needs while improving efficiency and profitability.

Our brand is experiencing renewed interest and a new influx of clients. In the event of voicemail messages piling up, unanswered email messages, or unanswered live chat questions, you will lose out on brand expansion opportunities.

In the long run, all ecommerce companies, especially high-growth brands, must determine whether outsourcing customer service is a smart move.

Choosing the right time to outsource ecommerce customer service

You can decide whether to outsource your store's customer service by social media or technical support depending on your needs and resources. In the following four scenarios, you might consider transferring to a third party:

1. If your startup is still in its infancy.

Let us say that you are the CEO of a startup company. As a small company with limited resources, you'd like to focus on the main market operations instead of spending a lot of time and resources on your CS operation. To deal with this particular responsibility in the short-term, a working business model is needed. If you wish to utilize a contract model for your contact us page and phone inquiries, you may wish to do so.

In the ecommerce world, networks and languages often play a key role in determining the complexity of customer service experiences. If your company uses multiple networks or your customers are from various countries, you may want to consider subcontracting your customer service. Taking the time to learn the language will save you time, increase revenue, and prevent you from neglecting your customers.

2. When customer service must be provided in a variety of languages.

You may have customers all over the world. Only by hiring agents who speak your customer's native language can you provide an exceptional customer experience (CX).

You should collaborate with a company whose members work together when you receive a large amount of questions in various languages. As a result of collaborating on several tasks at the same time, we incur fewer expenses per project, which are then passed on to you, our client.

Jointly working with one agent across time zones and multiple languages is also a cost-effective way of covering a wide range of languages at no more than the cost of one in-house representative.

3. In case you need a multichannel customer support system.

Each platform is viewed as a separate discipline. Social media sites are entirely different from phone calls, and text messages are entirely different from live chats.

For each channel to be successful, it requires a unique set of capabilities and infrastructure. An agency that is familiar with this new channel, and that is also equipped with the best digital tools and experts, makes sense if you are interested in expanding your omnichannel customer service offerings.

4. If you require professional assistance urgently.

You can feel safe knowing that your partner has a lot of experience recruiting, managing, and managing customer success, so they will know precisely what is needed in every new hire.

The majority of e-commerce businesses outsource their support responsibility to third parties rather than build their own in-house support centers with all rights reserved.

Why is that? I believe this straightforward structure has many advantages. In this article, I will highlight five of them.

Outsourcing customer service can have many benefits for your business

1. Create a positive image of yourself

With quality training and resources provided by your outsourcing provider, the customer service team can lead to high levels of loyalty, which is beneficial to your brand management. By doing so, a company's brand will be protected, and it will be prevented from receiving negative publicity due to a bad customer service experience, such as a delayed response.

2. Improve customer satisfaction

Outsourcing will enable your company to improve customer service and customer relationship management skills, as well as improve its reputation. When people see your company as one that values customer satisfaction, your company will flourish and you will receive more positive customer reviews, which act as free peer-to-peer marketing. Furthermore, it will improve customer satisfaction KPIs such as net promoter scores (NPS) and customer effort scores (CES).

3. Increase your company's profitability

Furthermore, outsourcing increases business profitability and effectiveness for your brand. If you contract with a third party to manage your customer service, you will be able to devote more of your time to other important tasks, such as sales, lead generation, market research, web content creation, and public relations.

A firm that provides outsourcing services has a reputation of being highly experienced and well-trained, as well as having a proven track record. Outsourcing companies offer programs that boost revenue and reduce costs at the same time. It is a great idea to hire a firm that specializes in customer support if you want to ensure high levels of efficiency while allowing you to focus your energy and time on capturing more business.

4. Increase revenue while saving money at the same time

You can save money for your business by subcontracting your customer support roles. As a result of subcontracting customer care roles, you can now focus more on other aspects of your business that will benefit your brand financially. An excellent customer support system can actually boost a company's revenue and client loyalty.

Some companies might increase their savings and ensure a higher return on investment by outsourcing other business processes in addition to recruiting, engineering, sales, promotions, order fulfillment, web analytics, search engine optimization, information technology, and producing goods.

5. Serve international customers

You should outsource your call center services if you plan to sell your products or services overseas. By contracting your customer service with the region where your main demographic is located, you have eliminated time zone challenges.

Now that you know some of the benefits and best times to outsource customer service, let's move on to our main course: how you can effectively outsource call center operations.

Three tips for outsourcing your business

The first tip is to make sure the vendor is flexible to your needs

When it comes to customer service, flexibility is the ability to adapt to changing conditions as they arise. Being able to cater to the diverse needs of the customer base in an efficient manner depends on managing the complexity of each unique customer experience.

When looking for a provider for your Ecommerce use case, the most crucial factor is to find one that can help you improve every aspect of the customer experience. Ideally, your vendor will be able to provide you with a wide range of technology integration solutions, from telephone support to customer service analytics software. Responsive and flexible vendors enable retailers to scale as they grow. As a result, retailers can easily adapt to changing customer expectations.

Tip 2: Do not lock your account for an extended period of time

Customer service providers for e-commerce websites should be flexible and not charge overtime during lock-in periods

Lock periods are a sign of inflexibility on the part of a company. Contact centers ignore one of the fundamental challenges facing customer experience today by continuing to use 30- or 90-day lock periods. The importance of flexibility has never been greater. From another perspective as well, customer support solutions that have lock periods are likely to be inflexible. Be extremely cautious in order to ensure that your vendor is familiar with the latest trends in customer experience in ecommerce.

Understanding how a vendor hires and trains its employees is a third tip

You will stand out from your competitors if you provide excellent customer service in any industry. Any business that wants to retain its customers must provide excellent customer service.

Please consider this question. When a customer calls customer service with a pressing question, I would like to know what approach you think would make him or her more satisfied and more likely to stay with the company. How do you feel about an email response that is standardized or a well-researched and tailored response from a company that cares about your success? Personally, I prefer the latter.

Training your sales team or marketing team properly and effectively is just as important (if not more important) than training your support team. The contact center services that you provide to your customers are what helps to keep their loyalty and encourage feedback as well as word of mouth referrals. It is imperative that you are very selective when selecting your CS company.

At the end of the day, the bottom line is

You decide what to do. The ultimate judge of the ecommerce customer experience will continue to be your customer base, regardless of whether you manage it in house or outsource it. Gather feedback from your customers and pivot accordingly so that you can come up with a customer service strategy that will drive engagement, loyalty, and success for your business.

Running an e-commerce store is not easy. A great product must be developed, a specific market must be targeted, an inbound marketing campaign must be planned, shipping and delivery methods must be identified, customer support must be maintained, and inventory must be managed... and that's just the beginning!

Do you really have the time to properly handle the customer side of things yourself, even if you had the time? Do you need a helping hand to take some of the weight off your shoulders and provide you with guidance?

Are you considering outsourcing your ecommerce customer service to an external company? Learn how to increase customer satisfaction, repeat purchases, and conversational commerce by turning your customer support team into a powerful revenue generator.

by Costi

The 25 Awesome Customer Service Tips That You Need To Follow In 2022

There are many proven ways your company can provide customers with an exceptional customer service experience by 2021 and beyond.

There is no denying that the situation is dire. The customer has a right to expect a great shopping experience. A company is opening itself up to competition if it doesn't have a truly customer-centric culture that enables it to deliver prompt support and memorable conversations.

What's the best way for companies to ensure they deliver the customer service they should be delivering?

If you're looking for some inspiration for your customer service strategy, check out these 25 customer service tips:

Smile

There's nothing more welcoming than a smile on your customer's face. This is what sets the tone of the conversation, making you more approachable. Walmart's 10-foot rule is one of the things that makes you more approachable. Within 10 feet of the sales executive, any potential customer will be greeted, smiled at and offered help. The company's tactics have been praised by industry peers.

I think the best thing is the fact that you also hear a smile over the phone. People understand when you talk to them in a relaxed and positive manner, with a smile on your face.

Making sure you use the right technology

The key to providing good customer service is to combine technology with the human touch. In today's digital world, companies have access to a wide range of tools and software to enhance the customer experience, and most are using those tools and software to enhance the customer experience.

As an example of a customer service technology that is popular, here are a few examples:

Adding a live chat feature.

Gone are the old days when we would sit back and fuss in hopes of getting a response to an email. You can use live chat to give your customers the ability to quickly engage in a conversation with a member of your team, and vice versa.

The Forrester Research study showed that 44% of Internet consumers say it is one of the most important features a website can offer if they are in the middle of an online purchase and can ask a live person questions.

The second option is to include a technical support system.

It is imperative to have systems in place to capture, convert and resolve customer inquiries from a centralized, unified platform.

Remembering past conversations with customers will allow you to pick up where you left off and be able to communicate with context. You can turn these conversations into actionable tickets by assigning them to the right department, defining SLAs and prioritizing them accordingly. Plus, you'll be able to collaborate with other team members.

Use a CRM tool

Leverage the data at your disposal by using CRM tools to deliver a personalized experience (e.g., wish your customer a happy birthday and offer a small discount).

With CRM tools, you can speed up response times. And when integrated with a unified communications platform, they do an even better job of improving internal and external communications by bringing together all the messages from emails, chats, SMS, voice calls, and storing them in one place.

Maintain a user-friendly and up-to-date company website.

It is essential to do this. There is no other way to make sure you have the most up-to-date information at your fingertips. You should never compromise on the quality of your website, as it is the face of your company on the Internet.  A/B testing different versions of your key pages can be one of the easiest ways to improve the usability and customer experience of your website, eliminating any frustrations and improving the overall customer experience. This ensures that your customers can access the most important information conveniently.

In addition, it's always a good idea to consult website design best practices to keep up with trends and think about the user.

Try to maintain a positive attitude at all times

Positive attitude can't be replaced by anything. An example would be Apple. A very detailed set of guidelines for employees outlines the very specific belief that a positive attitude is a crucial part of providing good customer service.

Friendliness is hardwired into our brains. We can't help but respond to friendliness: it's in all of us.

Make a lasting impression with your last words.

From the beginning of the customer experience to the end, the experience is customer-centric. There is no room for complacency.

Don't forget to leave the customer with a smile on their face at the end of the transaction. It may seem obvious to say "have a nice day," but a simple "have a nice day" can leave a lasting impression. Follow up with customers who have contacted you with problems, as well as potential customers you have spoken with. There's a chance they will buy in the future (or even better, refer others to you if they don't buy today).

Be sure to respond as soon as possible

Most customers believe that companies should respond to emails within an hour of receiving them. Companies are expected to respond even faster to live chat requests. You need to make sure that proper routing processes are in place to ensure that the correct agent receives the customer's request. It is also important to ensure that you have the right staff in place at all times (and if necessary, make use of chatbots for 24/7 service).

Be able to correct customers correctly.

The customer is not always right. People make mistakes. There is always the possibility that they are misinformed. However, it is imperative that you address them with a soft approach when it comes to correcting them. Try not to aggravate them. You can simply say that you would love to help. Remember that your goal is to educate them, not to argue with them.  The most important thing is not to antagonize them, put yourself in their shoes and try to understand where they are coming from.

The following is an example of a response:.

In a situation like this, I would understand your frustration. What seems to be the problem is that you were connecting with your personal email address, but you should add a business email address to connect. I'll be happy to help you sort it out."

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

It's straight out of the "Customer Support Rulebook". No matter what the problem is, when your company makes a mistake, you need to acknowledge it immediately.

Extend a sincere apology and let them know that you're taking steps to make sure something like this doesn't happen again. It's not at all difficult to get the tone right with the use of a ready-made apology email template.

Here are some other customer service tips that you may find helpful....

Listen to what your customers are saying

As soon as you hear this, pay attention. Customers like to be heard, that's why you address them. Be prepared to listen to what they have to say and take their concerns seriously.

The best way to learn is to pay attention to what is being said. If you keep your ears open, you will never know what information you may receive that is valuable to you. It can mean the difference between being able to solve the problem and not being able to.

Reward and incentivize your employees

Most businesses offer their regular customers loyalty cards or memberships as a way to reward their loyalty. A customer's perception of your company is profoundly influenced by the rewards and incentives you offer, as well as their desire to continue buying from you.

The best way to keep your customers happy is to reward them. Offer your customers incentives and bonuses to make them feel appreciated for their loyalty. A good example of this is Amazon's Prime membership.

Make sure you don't waste time

When a customer calls you, they have a real concern that needs to be addressed, and they expect you to solve their problem quickly. If you manage your customer service workflow effectively, you can delight your customers and improve their perception of your brand. If they don't find a solution in a timely manner, there's a chance they'll look elsewhere next time.

It's not acceptable to say "no."

A customer service agent speaks on behalf of the company. The customer service department represents the company as a whole when they say "no". The word "no" is never the end of an answer. Even if situations start with "no" or "I don't know," you can always find a way to put a positive spin on them as they develop.

Offer alternative solutions to the problem. If there is no solution, find another one that works. If, for example, you receive a request for a discount from a customer, think about how you would respond. Even if you have to turn it down, you can often do so in a way that is beneficial to both you and your customers.

There is always a way to solve customer problems, whatever the problem.

It's a customer service tip that acts on customer problems as soon as possible when it comes to customer service tips.

Act as soon as possible

It has already been mentioned not to waste customers' time, but what about your own?

The following are the characteristics of a timely resolution:

More time is available to spend on other activities.

It frees up resources to tackle the next problem.

It is important not to waste money and resources.

Do not waste the customer's time.

It is important to have an efficient team that prevents queries from piling up.

Find a solution without redirecting users to another page.

Most companies cannot solve a problem on the first contact. In fact, 80% of companies need at least two attempts.

This is neither efficient nor good for customer satisfaction. The customer expects to have a problem solved in a single interaction. You can achieve this through better IVR options, connecting with the right people and training your team. Don't let customers bounce from one department to another.

Teach your staff to believe in and understand your products.

Untrained support agents are the worst nightmare for customers.

Proper training is the key to avoiding this. Equip them with the confidence and tools they need. In training and development, employees must learn how to solve problems, communicate with customers and deal with issues. For them to deal effectively with customers, they must have a thorough understanding of the product.

Be empathetic

Customer service teams that demonstrate empathy excel. As a result, satisfactory resolutions are reached for all parties. The default approach in a real-time environment should be empathy.

There are a few phrases here and there that can reassure a customer:

"I understand how important this issue is to you."

The situation can be confusing, and we understand your situation."

"We understand how upsetting this must be.

We'll get it resolved as soon as possible, of course."

Empathy makes it much easier to establish rapport.

We're nearing the end of our customer service tips.

Keep customers informed

Staying on top of the latest news is very popular. Inform customers about the progress of support tickets, product updates and other processes that concern them, especially in cases of unexpected delays.

It is always a good idea to manage their expectations. If there is a change of plans, explain the reasons. If you want your business to grow, you must keep your customers constantly informed.

Be sure to address them on a first-name basis

It is estimated that only 21% of customer service representatives ask for the customer's name, according to a study by Contact Point Client. Here's a huge missed opportunity. Customers like to be called by their first name. Using their first name creates a sense of connection and familiarity with them.

Certainly, there are exceptions to this rule: if you are cold calling a potential customer, it is best to avoid using their first name. However, if you do, be sure to maintain your relationship with him.

Take a moment to say thank you

Thank you very much. This is a simple, but powerful idea. It's more than a simple courtesy. Thanking someone at the right time helps build trust between people.

It takes just one small step to make a big difference. We appreciate the information we receive from our customers. When you transfer them or put them on hold, say thank you. When you say goodbye, it is critical that you thank the caller.

Recognize and reward loyal customers.

It is estimated that an American household is a member of an average of 14 systems in a given year, but only deals with about 7 of them on a regular basis.

As a loyal customer, you want to be recognized for your loyalty. Your company should always be at the forefront of rewarding loyal customers. To achieve this, you need a strong loyalty program.

As an example, consider Virgin Atlantic's successful loyalty program.

Don't forget your new customers

In fact, if you play your cards right, your next generation of loyal customers can be your new customers. Offer a small gift in exchange for joining the company. Offer them a discount for joining the company. Send them a thank you note after they've joined. With some platforms, you can even send cards and congratulatory messages. Wouldn't it be nice to have a gift package of some kind? Something small, but meaningful, as a token of our thanks and appreciation.

The best way to get new customers is of course to have a great product in the first place, but of course that's not enough.

Here's a list of some of our top tips for customer service.

Use social media to solve problems.

It's no secret that social media is an essential tool for customer service, especially when it comes to handling customer complaints and inquiries. Large companies do it too. Take Whole Foods Market, for example.

On Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram, some companies resolve issues almost exclusively on social media. Social media is a great way to solve problems.

The Nielson Company conducted a survey in which it found that nearly 50% of customers raise concerns via social media. This is a very important issue that needs to be addressed. It is a very powerful issue that cannot be ignored.

The use of social media can serve several purposes

Increase brand awareness

It is expected that half of your customers will require a social media presence. What are you doing if you ignore that opportunity?

Thanks to social media, businesses and customers are increasingly connected. A richer customer experience is achieved by sharing information about the product or service, or engaging through other channels.

The second part of the strategy is to engage with customers.

Respond to each comment, tweet and message individually. Let them know they are part of something special. Spending time listening to your customers is a sure way to keep them loyal to your company.

Share content that is relevant

New offers need to be announced and promoted. You can easily share information with your customers on social media at the click of a button and it will increase engagement.

Don't be afraid to go the extra mile - do something unexpected.

This is one of the most important customer service tips: successful companies always do something extra to make sure their customers are satisfied with their service. In some cases, you need to go the extra mile. Instead of simply offering a discount coupon, how about offering a discount coupon just to apologize?

In response to a request for a free Samsung Galaxy S3 phone based on the dragon theme, Samsung scored some epic points.

In stories like these, we can see how a brand can come out with its own personality, creating a connection with the public.

From the prestigious Ritz-Carlton Stables, here's another example of going the extra mile.

Consistency is the key to success

Your team demonstrates enthusiasm and courtesy from day one.

We offer discount coupons to our customers.

Day 50 has arrived.

There is a negative attitude on your team that throws ridiculous charges at your customers.

This is a big no-no. To provide exceptional customer service, consistency is a must. Maintaining a positive attitude at all times is a must. Therefore, keep the customer at the forefront whenever possible.

Support should be cross-departmental in nature.

Collaboration leads to efficiency, which in turn leads to faster response times, when combined with an integrated approach to customer service.

Having an interdepartmental support structure means:

Everyone must participate and help to make the project a success.

There is training and experience for everyone.

There is no question that everyone knows the product/service.

Create a bond and trust between the parties.

Achieving an emotional connection with customers is not an easy task. Understanding a few things can go a long way in gaining trust:

Instead of doing business with companies, people prefer to do business with other people.

Reaching out to others is very important.

Interacting with your customers is an important aspect of your business.

To answer their questions and solve their problems, you have to listen to them.

It is your responsibility to help them with things they don't understand and you have to advise them.

It is important that you are honest at all times.

To keep them safe, you have to look out for them.

It's your responsibility to meet the customer's expectations.

The point is, if all of this is in place, you'll have a much better chance of creating meaningful bonds and increasing loyalty.

Keep this in mind:

You can make sure your customer service team provides efficient service by following these 25 customer service tips. You should always be smiling, show empathy and treat customers well. As a result, you will not only have happy customers, but you will also have a happy business.

Tell us in the comments which customer service tip your team will apply first in the future. Also, you can share this information on social media so other businesses can learn how to improve their customer service.

by Costi

Tips for Improving Customer Experience

Having such a high level of customer experience is not surprising.

According to a survey conducted by American Express, 86% of consumers are willing to pay more for better service.

Recent studies published by the Temkin Group found that companies earning $1 billion a year can expect to earn an additional $700 million after an investment in customer service within three years of making this investment.

In just 36 months, the company's revenues have increased by 70%!

Bottom line:

To increase customer satisfaction, companies that have successfully implemented a customer experience strategy have reduced customer churn, increased revenue and reduced churn rates.

Isn't that what you are aiming to achieve here?

There is a surprising finding: less than half of organizations will invest in customer experience initiatives in the next year.

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How do you define customer experience?

Customer experience (also referred to as CX) is a process defined by the interactions and experiences the customer has with your company throughout the entire customer journey, from first contact to becoming a happy and loyal customer of your company.

CX is an integral part of customer relationship management (CRM), and it is crucial that companies place a high value on customer experience, as those who have a positive experience are more likely to become loyal and repeat customers.

In fact, according to a global customer experience study by Oracle, 74% of senior executives believe that customer experience has a direct impact on customer loyalty. If you want your customers to stay loyal, you need to invest in the experiences they have.

The longer they stay loyal to a brand, the happier they will be with it. Therefore, if you ignore customer service emails or treat customers poorly, you are more likely to lose them or stop doing business with them. That's why companies that offer a superior customer experience outperform their competitors in the long run, and that means customers will end up spending more money with your company (rather than theirs).

Taking a look at some statistics we've come across, we think they're worth mentioning:

Over the next two decades (and beyond), customer experience will be the primary differentiator between brands.
After just one bad experience with a brand, one in three consumers will abandon it,
There is no doubt that a customer will pay an additional price premium of up to 13% (and even up to 18%) if they are provided with an excellent customer experience,
An average of 49% of shoppers have made impulse purchases after experiencing a more personalized level of service.
The company with the highest customer experience score (i.e. 10/10) is more likely to spend 140% more and retain customers for up to 6 years.

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Poor customer experiences can have a significant impact on your business

When it comes to the perfect customer experience, the focus is on ensuring that all interactions and touch points with your business are easy, delightful and seamless. This is the opposite of what a bad customer experience entails.

Every year, $62 billion is lost as a result of poor customer service. According to another study, 91% of dissatisfied customers leave a brand without complaining if they are unhappy with the service they receive.

The situation is not likely to improve any time soon. Among consumers, only 10% believe that brands meet their expectations of a good experience.

A poor customer experience can be due to a number of reasons, including

Difficulty in the buying process
Customer service experiences that were negative
Compromising the security of the customer's personal information
Waiting too long on hold
Ignoring customer feedback

That said, the question remains: how can your organization create a great customer experience strategy?

What can you do to improve the customer experience?

Establish a clear vision of the customer experience.

The first step in building an effective customer experience strategy is to create a clear customer-centric vision that can be communicated to your organization. It's a good idea to create a set of statements that serve as guiding principles for creating this vision.

Zappos, for example, uses their core family values in their culture, including delivering wow through their service, being humble and embracing change; all elements that contribute to their culture.

Once these principles are established, they will determine the behavior of your organization. There is no doubt that everyone on your team should be aware of these principles and apply them in all areas of training and development.

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Make sure you understand who your customers are

To leverage these principles to improve the customer experience, the next step is to show how these principles apply to the different types of customers dealing with your customer service teams. It is essential that your organization is able to empathize with the challenges and issues your customers face to truly understand what they need and want from you.

To achieve this, one option is to segment your customers and create customer personas (or profiles). Make sure each persona has a unique name and personality. In this case, Ana is 35 years old; she likes new technologies and is tech-savvy enough to follow a video tutorial on her own, while Juan, who is 42, needs to be able to follow clear instructions on a web page.

Creating personas will help your customer service team recognize who each of your customers is and understand them better. Creating personas is also one of the first steps to becoming truly customer-centric.

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Create a connection with your customers on an emotional level

You know the phrase "it's not what you say, it's how you say it"?

A good customer experience is achieved when a member of your team is able to create an emotional connection with the customer.

Here's a great example of how Zappos has created an emotional connection with its customers:

Following the death of a customer's mother, the customer was late returning a pair of shoes. Zappos immediately made sure the shoes were returned and had them picked up by a courier at no cost when they discovered what had happened. But that's not all Zappos did for the customer. The customer arrived home the next day to find a bouquet of flowers and a note from the Zappos Customer Success team sending their condolences to the family.

In a recent study in the Journal of Consumer Research, it was found that more than 50% of an experience is based on emotion, as emotional reactions shape attitudes that, in turn, affect behavior.

As a result of emotional attachment, customers become loyal to the brand they use because they remember how they feel when using a product or service. Companies that optimize emotional connection outperform their competitors by 85% in terms of sales growth.

In addition, according to a recent Harvard Business Review study titled "The New Science of Customer Emotions," emotionally engaged customers are the following:

At least three times more likely to recommend your product or service to a friend or colleague.

They are more than three times more likely to buy again (!!)

They buy less frequently (44% of respondents said they rarely or never buy)

There is much less price sensitivity (33% of respondents said they would need a discount of more than 20% before defecting).

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The ability to capture customer feedback in real time.

What are some ways to know if you are delivering a WOW customer experience?

It's critical to ask questions. And ideally, you want to do this by getting real-time feedback.

If you use live chat tools to engage in real-time conversations with customers, you can send a follow-up email to each customer using post-interaction surveys and similar customer experience tools.

Of course, there is the option to make outbound sales calls to customers to get more in-depth feedback from them.

In addition, it is important to tie customer feedback to a specific customer service agent, which shows everyone on the team how they are making a difference in the organization.

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For your team development you should use a quality framework.

After following the above steps, you now know what your customers think about the quality of your service compared to the customer experience principles you have defined. The next step would be to identify the training needs of each member of your customer service team.

There are many organizations that evaluate the quality of phone and email communication; however, a quality framework goes a step further by scheduling and tracking the development of your teams through coaching, eLearning and group training.

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Respond regularly to employee feedback

Almost every organization has an annual survey process that is used to gather overall feedback from your team; their level of engagement and their ability to deliver exceptional service.

However, what happens in the 11 months between these survey periods?

In most cases, nothing happens. I believe it is for this reason that ongoing employee feedback can be extremely useful, through the use of tools that allow employees to share ideas on how to improve the customer experience, as well as allowing managers to see how their employees feel about the organization.

For example, project management software or social networking tools can be used to create a closed environment where the organization can leave feedback in real time.

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Measure the ROI of delivering a great customer experience.

Finally, how can you be sure that all this investment you've made in your teams, processes and technology is paying off?

There is a direct correlation between business results and the answer to this question.

Make sure the customer experience is as personalized as possible.

You can give something away for free and you don't have to give a reason.

Make sure you are proactive. Prevent problems from occurring in the first place.

Every customer complaint you receive should be treated with gratitude. There is always something to be learned from every complaint.

The best way to celebrate your best customers is to acknowledge them publicly and personally.

Give the gift of omnichannel by giving the gift of omnichannel.

Make sure your response times are as short as possible to maximize the customer experience.

It is very important that you listen and learn from every single review your business receives.

Respond to customer requests in a timely manner.

It is important to make your mobile presence known.

The customer should be considered your brand ambassador.

Make customer feedback surveys an important part of your business by giving them more importance.

Make it easy: Make the customer journey as easy as possible.

Get to know your customers by asking them questions, no matter how small they may seem.

It's critical to monitor calls: Pay attention to peak times, call spikes and other trends. Give employees the tools they need to improve their performance.

Never put a customer on hold when it's avoidable.

Invest in the growing and changing AI technology that appeals to younger customers, so you can create smarter AI.

Let's change things up with chatbots.

It's important to say "thank you."

A well-trained, fast-acting agent makes for a repeat customer, and repeat customers translate into repeat revenue.

The key to engaging your agents is to ensure a mutually supportive environment for staff.

Happiness is not contagious.

Improve internal communication with #CoffeeTalk.

Make sure your general managers are on board with the culture of putting the customer first.

Complaints can be used as a learning tool.

Make sure you leave a lasting impression.

It's important to remember your customers' faces and locations.

Examine the data closely. Gather customer information from all channels.

It is important to read and listen to customer feedback. Pay attention to what they have to say. Don't take it personally.

It is possible to mine gold from customer data.

Apply what your customers want to see in the world: You are the change they want to see in the world.

Keep your promises: Deliver what you have promised.

Does your customer complain about the same thing over and over again? Do you feel you have to cut to the chase and find out what the problem is?

Every day is an opportunity to learn something new.

Create communities: Invite your customers to join through webinars and interactive tours.

Make sure you are up to date on CX technology (or you will perish).

It's never a good idea to rush a customer to hang up the phone.

Apologize to upset customers: Try to empathize with their situation.

You should never be afraid to ask for help or advice.

You should offer your customers the option to design or customize their experience with your brand.

It is important that all employees are on the same page about what your brand stands for.

Get rid of jargon and speak clearly to the customer.

Offer customers the option of online self-service.

Hire people who are passionate about serving others.

Use technologies that support both the customer and the agent.

Reassure customers by calling them back.

Listen.

It is important to create a quotable company mandate that everyone can get behind.

Maintain high standards in your work.

Study companies that excel in customer experience and take note of their successes to emulate them.

Maintain a positive attitude at all times. Providing a positive experience for your customers is the most important element in making your business successful. Make sure you are willing to solve their problems. Keep in mind that it is important to maintain a long-term relationship with each customer. A good reputation will lead to repeat business.

Actively listen to the customer's needs, concerns and frustrations. Before you begin to act, verify and clarify what you have heard from your customer. There is nothing more annoying to the customer than having to repeat yourself because the employee is not listening to what you have to say, or because you are wasting time (my experience at a printing company).

Keep in mind that your customers may be very frustrated and not at their cooperative best. Don't lose sight of your goal, which is to solve the problem.

In your communications, be sure to be honest and clear. Acknowledge when your company has caused the problem and provide unwanted information in a direct, friendly and positive manner when necessary.

It is important that you acknowledge the customer's frustration. Do not criticize the company when your own company is responsible for the problem.

Look for solutions that allow for a win-win situation. It is not acceptable to blame customers for their mistakes; sometimes we, as customers, make mistakes.

Verify that the customer's agreed-upon solution and the organization's customer service objectives are in line with the proposed solution.

Solve the problem. Make sure you deliver what you promised to do, keep the customer informed and follow up with them to ensure their satisfaction.

Make sure you go above and beyond what the customer expects.

Always thank your customers for their cooperation. To achieve your organization's strategic objectives, you must treat them as valued partners.

Describe the basic principles of customer service. Every time I walk through the doors of my favorite office supply company, I am greeted with a smile. It's always a cheerful, energetic greeting that makes me feel welcome.

Make sure all employees (both customer-facing and non-customer-facing) know the organization's goals and values as they relate to customers.

Here are some additional ideas for improving customer service

Get to know your customers and go beyond their expectations... make them say "WOW!". """"

You must be passionate about the relationship you have with your customers.

It is important to remember that only extremely satisfied customers are truly loyal; repeat customers are not necessarily loyal customers. Having a positive attitude toward your customers doesn't mean you have a reciprocal relationship with them (you may be the only one in town...right now).

Customers who feel appreciated, respected, valued and recognized are more loyal to your company because they have an emotional connection to it.

Use only technologies that support your relationship with your customers.

You must hire the best people to become the best: train and develop them and make sure you do everything you can to keep them with your company.

The services you offer must be above the norm within the industry in which you operate.

It is important to see mistakes as opportunities and not failures.

Try to experience your own business from your customers' point of view (have you seen Undercover Boss?).

In my opinion, you are probably not as customer-centric as you think you are (check your customer interfaces from all levels).

Take note of the small details: anticipate your customers' needs before they even realize they have them. You will be able to impress your customers if you listen carefully to what they say.

It's no good if your customers are satisfied. Being loyal to your customers is priceless.

The foundation of good customer relationships is in your culture, not in your programs or initiatives. As an example of this, how you treat your employees is a direct reflection of how you treat your customers.

It is important to design a customer-centric strategy that cultivates a relationship with customers that nurtures engagement and cultivates lasting loyalty (both ways). In other words, it's an attitude based on respect for the customer that relies on genuine and expressed respect from the employee. It is a way of extending your brand and instilling trust, confidence and reliability in your customers.

by Costi

How to Engage Your Customers - A Complete Guide

In this day and age, customer engagement is one of the most important aspects of business. It is ironic that even though companies readily admit that customer engagement is something they would like to improve, it isn't always obvious what they mean when they talk about it or how it can be best leveraged.

Let's take a look at this for ourselves and see what it has to offer.

How does customer engagement differ from customer service?

The term "customer engagement" refers to the bond created by the interactions between a business and its customers on a psychological and emotional level. There are several different channels and mediums through which these interactions may occur - both offline as well as online.

In order to build long-lasting relationships with customers, it is imperative to engage them positively.

Importance of customer engagement

Customer engagement helps keep your brand top of the customer’s mind by creating a strong tie with your company. In other words, engaged customers keep coming back.

The reason is simple: because of the way your brand makes them feel.

They enjoy the experience above and beyond just the product or service that you offer, and that persuades them to become loyal customers. That’s why companies with the strongest omnichannel customer engagement strategies retain an average of 89 percent of their customers, while companies with weak omnichannel strategies retain just 33 percent.

Loyal customers may even be happy to do some of your marketing for you by recommending your business to others, too.

Customer engagement tips

So, it’s clear that creating a customer engagement strategy is important to your business. But how can you best go about it?

It’s all about learning how to better connect with your customers.

Here are some ways you can do that:

1. Ensure that you are transparent in your business practices

Having a loyal customer base isn't an easy thing to achieve. Oftentimes, customers believe that companies only look after themselves, and this is part of the reason for this. If you want to prove that this is not the case, then you need to show that your company has the best interests of your customers at heart. In some cases, it might be worth pointing a customer towards the product of a competitor if that product is more suited to meet the needs of the customer. Despite the fact that you may not be able to immediately see a financial benefit from this, you will be able to foster more trust with your customers and build better relationships in the long run.

2. Make sure that you are using the right technology

One of the best ways to interact with customers and create engagement with your business is to use technology to help you do your job better and more effectively. Imagine that a consumer has a question regarding a product that they would like answered, but does not wish to have to send off an email and wait around for a response.

Technology such as live chat, or chatbots, can provide customers with the information they need in real time in this situation. So that your business can engage with potential or existing customers before they go elsewhere, you can engage them before they leave.

The use of other technology, such as cobrowsing, can go a step further. It is possible to provide an interactive visual tool that can help customers overcome obstacles, for example, when they encounter a tricky or confusing form. It is important to show the customer such care in order to ensure that they feel appreciated and that they remain loyal to you in the long term.

3. Don't forget to put a human touch on it

I'm not going to lie, there is a lot to be said about technology and the benefits it brings, but there's no denying that the power of the human touch should also not be overlooked. The customer needs to have the opportunity to interact with a real person.

Furthermore, there is no reason why human agents cannot be empowered to take care of the complex customer service issues that arise as well. It is the perfect time to showcase the human side of your business by showcasing people from within the company to the public directly. It is possible, for example, to create digital marketing content, such as video content, that you can share and promote digitally, or even conduct in-person events to accomplish this goal.

4. Use social media to your advantage

Nowadays, social media isn't an optional marketing tool for brands, because your customers expect you to be on social media. If you're in that position, you can't just throw up any old thing every once in a while and hope that it'll work. In order for you to be successful you will have to develop a regular cadence and develop relevant content. In social media interfaces, you can use analytics tools to determine who your audience is and what will be effective for them.

You need to ensure that the content you share on social media is inviting to them, as social media is also a platform for starting conversations. There are several formats you can use in order to do this, such as polls and quizzes. Do not feel shy about responding to comments from users as well, especially if they are negative. In this manner, you will be able to turn negative experiences into positive ones when you are interacting with customers.

5. Make use of push notifications to your advantage

It is sometimes necessary to be proactive in informing your customers about what you have to offer in order to keep them interested. There are several ways to do that, such as sending them push notifications that informing them about special offers, product releases, and more. It is a great thing that because your customers must opt-in to receive such emails, they have already agreed to engage with you. As long as your notifications are persuasive enough, this will be a success. For this to happen, you need to nail your segmentation, your content, and your timing.

You must, however, be careful not to overburden your customers with too many notifications. You don't want them to get annoyed by too many notifications.

6. Be sure to personalize, personalize, personalize

There are many ways to personalize a product or service. In order to create personalized recommendations based on past behaviors, companies such as Netflix and Amazon are utilizing algorithmic technology. Even though this is an extremely effective approach, you do not have to rely on complex technology to personalize the customer's experience.

Despite the fact that it's always possible to proactively ask customers at the very beginning of their customer journey what they are interested in so you will be able to adjust the content, products, and offers they are exposed to accordingly. The simplest methods, such as using customer names in emails, can help increase customer engagement.

7. Offer omnichannel customer service to our customers

It is a vital part of keeping customers engaged that you are always available to them, wherever and whenever they need you. Nonetheless, if you want to make sure that your customers are satisfied, by going one step further you are essentially creating a consistent, holistic, and continuous conversation. This will enable you to efficiently create a true omnichannel customer experience. You will need to create a centralized repository of data, which will provide a single customer view, in order to achieve this goal. In this way, customers are able to pick up where they left off, no matter what channels they are using, saving them from having to repeat themselves over and over again.

8. Make sure you know how engaged your audience is

As obvious as it might sound to some people, if you want to improve your customer engagement levels, you are going to need to know exactly how engaged your customers are. You will have to take measures to determine exactly how engaged your customers are. Fortunately, there is a profusion of customer engagement metrics out there that can be found for precisely this purpose.

There will be a number of factors that determine the exact metrics you use, such as the channel(s) by which you want to measure engagement (e.g. social media, website, email). It is important for you to keep in mind that engagement metrics may involve looking at a wide range of interactions with your brand, regardless of their precise scope. For example, in the case of emails, the open rate may be the factor, or in social media likes and comments could be the factor.

9. Request feedback from your audience

Providing your customers with a voice is one of the best ways to foster engagement with your company. For this to occur, you must collect feedback from your customers. When customers feel that their voices are being heard, they are more likely to believe they are part of your business and that their opinion matters. You just have to make sure you put these ideas into practice.

Your ability to collect information is crucial in helping you identify areas of improvement and in getting a handle on the pain points that your customers are experiencing. Taking feedback effectively can be achieved, for instance, by using comment boxes, sending out questionnaires, and asking in live chat, among other methods.

10. Be a great content creator

It is awash with information on the internet. In order to stand out against all of this noise, you must make sure that the content you provide is of the highest quality, as well as useful to your clients. As part of this content, customers can learn how to better do things, solve problems they come across or solve some of the problems they come across.

You can help ensure that your users stay on your website for longer by offering them video tutorials, self-service knowledge bases, interactive assessments and the like. Content geared towards B2C audiences is mostly concerned with generating awareness, whereas content for B2B audiences is more concerned about providing consumers with straightforward solutions that will also build trust.

11. Set up a loyalty program based on your customers' preferences

I believe that keeping your existing customers rather than attempting to acquire new ones will be more cost-effective in the long run. A loyalty program that is well thought out can help you in this regard in a big way.

What structure is most relevant to your business will be determined by the way the business operates and by the industry in which it operates. You could reward your customers with a simple point system that rewards them for every purchase they make, which can then be redeemed at a later date.

The different types of customer engagements that exist

Customer engagement encompasses a wide range of activities. To begin with, there are a few different types of interactions depending on what is happening:

Engagement of customers across multiple touchpoints. There can be any point where a customer comes into direct contact with your company, for example your website.

Engagement with the product. In other words, the actual experience of using the product itself.

Engagement with the agent. A customer's experience when dealing with customer service representatives.

Engaging with a brand. As a result of the overall customer experience, there develops an emotional attachment between a customer and the brand.

It is also important to keep in mind that from the customer's perspective, the exact psychological reason for engagement varies. There are several ways in which customers can engage with your brand through the following different lenses:

Engaging in a context-specific manner

In order for engagement to be meaningful, it must take place in context. It is true that people aren't interested in something unless it is relevant to them. Using technology to help you understand an individual's behavior and what it says about their needs and desires can be very effective in helping you make this happen. Utilizing behavioral data in combination with other factors such as location, time, and so on, you can create a far more engaging and personalized experience for your customers.

Engagement at your convenience

Convenience is a very important aspect of life for many people. So, there is no doubt that you can increase customer engagement by making your customers' lives easier. There are several examples of this, one of which is Amazon's Dash, a feature that makes it easy to order products that are frequently ordered at the touch of a button. This leads to Amazon delivering the product they need directly to their door. Keeping the effort to a minimum will ensure that customers will be able to return to your business again and again.

Engagement on an emotional level

Human behavior is heavily influenced by emotion, which is the key driver of human behavior. In addition, there are a whole host of factors that influence decisions making that occur under the surface. This includes the way people feel about owning a product.

The ability to measure or manipulate emotion has traditionally been very difficult, but as customer experience management technology has improved, brands now have direct access to a vast array of data that can help them build this kind of understanding at an individual level.

Engaging in ethical behavior

The consumer has moved well beyond a materialist view of the world and is now much more aware of ethics than he or she has ever been. In our increasingly connected world, it looks like there's no place to hide. There are billions of social media users around the world who can expose poor practices simply by clicking a button. I think it is important for businesses to make their operating processes and manufacturing procedures transparent as much as possible.

Engagement with society

Customers who are deeply engaged may become advocates for your company. If someone has a positive experience with your brand, they share it through their social media channels, which influences others to seek out the brand as well. Engaging customers in this way is the real pinnacle since it breeds further engagement organically without requiring extra time and resources.

Engagement means committing to something

Engaging customers involves more than just improving what you already do. In order to deliver what resonates with your customers, you must understand how to make it accessible. You will only be able to maintain long-lasting customer relationships if you do this.

by Costi