CRM PROCESS

Understanding Customer Relationship Management

What is Customer Relationship Management?

Did you know that according to a report by Microsoft about 90% of Americans use customer service as a decision-making tool to do business with a company? And according to another report by Microsoft about 58% of Americans tend to switch companies due to a lack of customer service. In the past few decades, customer service has not only become the backbone of many businesses but has also gained a reputation as a profit generation tool. 

Simply put Customer management for customer relationship management is all about handling help desk services and operations that a company offers to their customers. Having the best sales strategies and marketing strategies are not the only things that keep a business running. Customer service is also considered an integral part of business operations. Customer service is the most important tool that maintains a healthy bridge between businesses and consumers. One of the best ways businesses maintain customer relationships is through efficient customer relationship management technology like Kapture CRM.

What is a customer relationship management system? 

Customer relationship management tools or help desk management tools are nothing but tools that help businesses efficiently manage customer service operations like help desk ticket registration, etc. It is important for businesses to choose the right kind of customer relationship management systems as it not only helps them maintain a healthy bridge between the customers and themselves but also helps them increase their profitability at the same time. While choosing a help desk management system businesses have to make sure of many things. Below is a list of must-have help desk system features which help businesses choose the right CRM system for their business. Must have help desk features -

24/7 availability

Providing round-the-clock customer care support to customers is one of the best ways through which businesses can show that they truly value their customers' needs. Having customer service that is limited to office hours can act as a barrier when it comes to registering help desk tickets. Whenever there is a problem with a product or service being provided by the business, customers have to wait till office hours to register the ticket and in this process, a lot of them might end up not registering the ticket at all. But with 24 into 7 availability businesses can provide immediate and quick solutions to their customer's product or service issues. 

Knowledge Management System

Having a knowledge management system that keeps track of customer data and product or service-related data is extremely important and at the same time very useful. With an efficient knowledge management system businesses can easily collect customer-related information and also organize it in an efficient manner. Knowledge management systems are of great help to customer service agents. Main customer service agents have access to a centralized knowledge management system that contains information about your customer base and helps agents to gain more knowledge about the customer's situation or about the product itself. This helps them to better understand the tickets raised or the customer service issues expressed which will ultimately lead them to solve the issue immediately and successfully.

Omnichannel 

As a result of rapid digitization, customers have started to make use of various platforms to conduct businesses, do shopping, socialize, etc. This has provided many businesses an opportunity to increase their customer base and reach out to customers on various platforms. Having Omnichannel facility businesses connect and reach out to their customers through various touchpoints. Omnichannel helps businesses enforce their virtual presence and increase their customer base at the same time without any hassle. Reaching out to customers through a customer-preferred channel is also an excellent way to show that the business really cares about the customers’ product or service issues. Kapture's Omnichannel facilities help businesses integrate help desk operations across various platforms into a single screen.

AI chatbots 

Artificial intelligence chatbots are excellent service desk tools that help businesses in various ways. These artificial intelligence chatbots are driven by machine learning capabilities and natural language processing abilities that help them provide the most contextual responses to customers' help desk tickets. They are capable of registering and solving a huge number of customer care tickets within a matter of hours. This helps businesses easily solve help desk tickets in less time. Since these chatbots don't require infrastructural facilities for salaries they also act as cost-saving customer service tools. These bots also help businesses collect customer data which can then be used to gain valuable insights into customer trends and customer preferences. The collected data can also be used to build better marketing and sales strategies that will lead to better and profitable results.

Self-service

Not every customer loves the idea of calling up a customer care agent and registering a help desk ticket. A lot of customers these days prefer solving their queries or issues related to the products or services all by themselves. A lot of customers hesitate while registering a help desk ticket over a call or a text message and this is where self-service portals come into the picture. Self-service portal integration can be very beneficial to customer care operation teams. By setting up a self-service portal businesses help customers help themselves. These self-serve portals help customers become more independent and informed. They can also be used as new product/service promotion tools to inform customers. 

Automated ticket assignment 

In traditional customer service management, there is always a lack of efficient ticket assignment or agent assignment. This can cause a lot of issues and confusion among customer service agents and can also lead to higher levels of unproductivity and inefficiency among them. Having a CRM system like Kapture that helps businesses easily assign help desk tickets to their customer service agents through automation can be extremely helpful. Kapture's automated ticketing feature combined with a round-robin facility helps businesses resolve tickets in a timely manner. It also makes sure no tickets go unattended leading to better customer satisfaction levels. 

Principles of good customer service to keep in mind 

Maintaining a polite attitude 

A good way to start a customer interaction and also end one is by maintaining a polite attitude. No matter what the customer sounds like it is always expected of the agent to keep his/her calm. Failing to do so will not only lead to unhappy customers but might also significantly impact a company’s CSAT scores. In addition to this, it might also lead to increased help desk tickets being raised due to unsuccessful remediation of the previous ticket. Maintaining a polite attitude goes a long way in solving help desk tickets. 

Speed

Everyone wants to save time. Customers get agitated and even display a lack of patience when customer care assistance is being delayed. Delaying customer service can also lead to other problems like negative brand image, lower customer retention, decreased customer onboarding, etc. Doing everything in the agent's capacity to speed up the ticket remediation process not only aids in immediate remediation but also improves the customers’ satisfaction levels. 

Doing research on your customers 

It always benefits customer service agents to have information on their customers. Having knowledge of customer data like previous tickets raised, products purchased, etc. helps agents get a better hang on the customer's current product issue and also helps them understand what exactly the customer is expecting out of that customer interaction. This not only helps them solve customer issues but also helps them do it quickly. 

Customer service response time 

Customers not only appreciate but also expect quick responses to their help desk tickets. This can easily be achieved through efficient customer relationship management systems like Kapture. Kapture's automated customer relationship management tool helps help desk agents work effectively which leads to quick responses. Immediate remediation and quick responses increase customer satisfaction levels. In addition to this lower response times also increases positive brand image. 

Personalization 

One of the best ways to get through a customer's heart is by adding a hint of personalization. From last names to purchase history various little pieces of information can help customers feel valued and special. Customizing customer interactions is one of the best ways businesses can make their customers feel like they are receiving special treatment. Adding hints of personalized touches here and there normally makes the interaction fruitful but also increases brand positivity. 

Connecting with customers on various platforms 

Thanks to rapid digitization customers are now making use of various platforms to conduct business. This can be seen as a great opportunity for businesses to reach out to various prospects and work towards building bigger customer bases. But for this businesses need to have an omnichannel approach. Having an Omnichannel strategy helps businesses build a bridge between themselves and customers across multiple platforms or channels.

How having an efficient CRM like Kapture helps 

Increased efficiency 

By facilitating features like that of round-Robin ticketing management and hassle-free lead categorization that help customer care agents handle and resolve help desk tickets easily Kapture helps businesses increase the efficiency of their customer care support teams in no time. The system also enables a better contextual solution to all the customers' tickets leading to not only higher efficiency levels but also higher customer satisfaction rates.

Increases productivity 

With the help of Kapture's customer relationship management systems businesses are able to easily automate all customer care support operations leading to higher levels of productivity. From increased registration of help desk tickets to lower first call resolution time Kapture's customer management tools help businesses conduct help desk services in a smooth manner that ultimately lead to better productivity levels. 

Helps in making better decisions 

When businesses don't take advantage of efficient technologies making better decisions that result in profitable results can be challenging. Kapture's efficient data collection and data management allow customers care agents to get a better understanding of a help desk ticket. This not only helps them gain knowledge but also helps them make better decisions when it comes to resolving customer complaints. 

Helps you increase customer onboarding and customer retention

For businesses to stay on top of their games it is important to retain customers and at the same time onboard new customers. With the help of Kapture's efficient ticket management tools, customer retention and customer onboarding not only becomes easy but also significantly brings down customer service operation costs. 

Helps you increase customer satisfaction

Quick help desk assistance and immediate remediation are the two most important things that customers value the most. Kapture's CRM not only helps you step up your first call resolution game but also helps your customer care support agents provide the most contextual responses resulting in efficient solutions for your customers’ problems. 

Helps you build a bigger customer base

One of the best ways businesses can show that they value customers is by enforcing their presence where the customers are and this means having to connect with customers across various touchpoints. Kapture's omnichannel facilities make this not only possible but also a hassle-free process. Having an omnichannel strategy helps businesses get in touch with more customers which ultimately leads to a bigger customer base. 

Better first-call resolution

By automating various customer care operations and by providing easily accessible knowledge management systems Kapture enables customer service agents to function to the best of their capabilities. This not only leads to higher efficiency levels among customer care agents but also improves first call resolution times which in turn results in better CSAT scores.

Better customer service

Customers no longer have to wait for agents to help them resolve their product-related problems. In addition to this customer service becomes more accessible to customers as a result of an omnichannel strategy. With tools like self-service and omnichannel, Kapture's CRM helps businesses provide the best customer experience possible. 

Handling customer care support operations can be very challenging especially if there is a lack of efficient technology. But with the right customer relationship management tools handling customer tickets and other help desk support operations can become smooth and easy. To know more about efficient customer relationship management tools like Kapture CRM click here for a demo.