Innovative Approaches to Improve Customer Service
Every company wants the wheel of its profitability and growth to keep rolling. To achieve this, it has to extensively focus on Customer Service, as it is one of the most important cogs in the wheel. When you think of customer service, one of the essential things to be considered is the interaction between a company and its customers. There has been a constant innovation in the mode and type of communication channels. Thus, the ways customers interacted with the companies has undergone an unprecedented change.
Traditionally, the focus was always on engagement and most of the communication was based on marketing strategy. This has now changed, as today the focus is on service and businesses are looking out for innovative ways to address the needs of the customers and respond to their queries. Discussed below are some of the novel ways companies are using to boost the quality of their customer service.
Direct Messaging
The growth of social media applications which allow consumers to interact with the brands directly has prompted them to think in terms of Point of Service. When brands are able to communicate directly with their target audience, they understand their specific needs in a much better way. Brands can more efficiently manage the wait times and cater to the specific demands of their potential customers while keeping the communication much more personalized.
Live Video
Most of the modern brands have already started using the live video features offered by various social media channels to provide live content to their customers. This is one of the inventive ways through which customers can reach out to the brands and post comments or questions. This has prompted the companies to have customer service represented in their live events. Through this, companies can make sure the consumers are receiving the answers to their questions instantly.
Content Marketing
Most consumers are influenced by the products or services about which they have heard positively from their friends. They are also biased if they have read something positive about them online, and here is where content marketing can make a great difference when it comes delivering better customer service and also increasing the retention. Brands can reach out to a wider audience and can remain on top of their minds, which can play a vital role in building emotional value for the brand. When consumers are steadily exposed to the products or service from a brand, it can make a huge difference, as they will begin to have an emotional connect with them. This can also improve the engagement, and brands must be focused in responding to the queries initiated by the audience.
24/7 Support
Most customers believe that companies must be open to addressing their issues whenever they approach them. Even if very few of the customers would end up calling for support at odd times of the day, the mere notion that company is always there to help them gives the customers a sense of reassurance. Brands that do not have 24/7 support are assumed as ‘not so customer-friendly’ by the consumers and their creditability is always lesser when compared to their competitors who offer round the clock customer support.
Integrating Channels
Most companies are motivated by the idea of being proactive, which is to be able to predict the different types of issues a customer could face and be ready with solutions. Using the advanced technology currently, it is now possible for brands to tackle each customer’s issue individually and provide a personalized solution. By blending the data from various online channels like social media and offline modes like the point of sale interactions, brands can develop a more in-depth perspective of their customer behavior. This data can then be utilized by traditional CRM systems to derive useful insights on preferences. Also, creating an efficient system for customers to give feedback will make the brands more accessible. These opinions and responses can then be integrated into the CRM to deliver a more holistic consumer experience.
By utilizing the technology to empower customers with more choices and focusing on interactive methods of communication, brands are now geared up to deliver the core customer services like never before. By letting the customer know them better and trading their knowledge with the customers, modern brands are using these innovative methods to deliver proactive customer service to next-generation customers.
Key Takeaways
- Customer Service is one of the most important cogs in the wheel of profitability.
- The growth of social media applications, which allow consumers to interact with the brands directly, has led the brands to think in terms of Point of Service.
- Most of the modern brands have already started to use the live video features to provide live content to their customers.