Improving customer care: Do you have the basics covered?

Customer care is a key element for businesses that plan to build a reputation and work long-term in the industry.

Customer care is a key element for businesses that plan to build a reputation and work long-term in the industry.

This applies to both B2B and B2C concerns, so if you have just launched a new venture or want to improve the quality of your current customer support, we advise covering your bases first.

Make Sure It’s Easy for Customers to Contact the Company

Unless you are a shady organization operating from an unknown location, it should be fairly easy for customers to contact you, whenever they need to. The more methods a business offers its customers to contact them, the better. Check the following to see if you have that part well covered.

Phone

Irrespective of the importance of social media and the impact of the digital world, rest assured that toll-free numbers for business contact are a must.

Customers should be able to call up your customer care unit whenever they need to, and preferably, they shouldn’t have to pay for that. You can buy toll-free numbers for business purposes from Avoxiwithout installation/setup charges, and enjoy instant activation.

Social Media

To put it simply, at the very least, you need to have a regularly updated page on Facebook, and employees who are ready to address problems from the messages or comments the page’s posts receive from customers. Even if they cannot address them on their own, they should be able to connect a customer to the proper department.

Email

Email is still a preferred mode of contact for a lot of customers, as it allows them to present their problems in a more organized manner.

From the point of view of the business, relevant responses should be provided within 12 – 24 hours, not just automated acknowledgments.

Chat

The latest addition is arguably the second best option for customers. Excepting voice calls, chatting is the fastest way to get most matters resolved. It’s a resource-intensive process though, as you will need more employees, but it is definitely worth considering.

Training Should be Proper and Adaptive

First and foremost, a customer care executive needs to be knowledgeable. Each and every employee working in the department should be trained adequately to handle the regular issues on their own, as well as knowing when to divert the call to a relevant department.

Proper customer service training goes beyond the technical, informational and formal details. Modern customer service implemented by MNCs such as Amazonis designed to be empathetic towards the customers.

It is important that during training, employees are taught to be patient, professional, and well-behaved. If a customer is rude or irritated, it is necessary that the executive doesn’t respond in a similar manner, to protect the reputation of the company.

This might seem impossible in the beginning, but down the line, it is quite easy to forget about the satisfaction of your customers. That, however, can be a ruinous move for any company’s reputation, as made evident by the likes of United Airlines and Electronic Arts.

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