Successful Customer Support Amidst COVID-19

As a result of the pandemic, a lot of businesses started switching to virtual spaces to conduct business and make.  During such unprecedented times, businesses tend to lose customers because of making the shift to virtual platforms. When businesses shut down physical doors customers no longer interacted the way they used to. In times like these, businesses have to work on various things like communicating clearly with their customers and informing them about their products and services, making attempts to better understand customer problems related to products or services being provided, making cancellations easy, educating customers about new product releases, making customer care support more accessible, etc.

How businesses are providing customer support amidst covid

Offering 24/7 help desk support

Offering round-the-clock help desk assistance brings a lot of advantages to businesses. 24/7 customer service availability helps businesses register more help desk tickets and also helps them in immediate ticket remediation. Unlike traditional customer service that is limited to office hours, 24/7 customer service availability helps businesses cater to their customers and their needs at any given time of the day. This not only showcases a positive commitment to their customers but also helps them increase their customer satisfaction levels.

Personalization 

When businesses shut doors due to the pandemic a lot of them saw a loss of customers-business bond. Situations like these lead to a lot of chaos and even now and then can result in customers switching to other businesses and brands. This not only brings down customer loyalty but also lowers profitability. In times like this adding a hint of personalization goes a long way. When customer service agents add a touch of personalization into their conversations it makes the customer feel special and valued. This helps businesses build back the lost connection with their customers. 

Omnichannel 

Did you know that according to a report by Aberdeen group businesses with extremely strong omnichannel customer engagement retain on average 89% of their customers, compared to 33% for companies with weak omnichannel customer engagement? This is the power of having omnichannel support. Having omnichannel facilitation not only helps businesses cater to a huge number of customers but also helps them maintain consistent customer engagement levels. During times like these when customers are switching to so many new platforms, it gives businesses an opportunity to increase their brand awareness on multiple platforms. 

Self-serve portals 

Another way businesses are able to provide efficient customer care support facilities to their customers amidst the covid-19 pandemic is through the integration of self-service portals with CRM systems. From password resets to finding information on how to use a specific product or service self-serve portals help customers help themselves out. As Self-service portals help customers solve a huge number of help desk tickets on their own it helps businesses reduce the number of customer service tickets being registered.

Feedback channels

Enabling feedback channels for customers and collecting feedback regularly has become necessary. With so many new things to learn due to the rapid digitization and virtual space adaption, there are chances of possible mismanagement or unsatisfactory purchases. In times like this collecting feedback becomes even more important. The collected data helps businesses structure their sales and marketing strategies in order to achieve the most optimal results. This will not only help businesses increase customer satisfaction rates but will also help them increase profitability due to efficient sales strategies. 

To know more about customer management systems like Kapture CRM click here for a demo. 

Principles of Good Customer Service

 

What is Good customer service? 

With great customer service comes great brand visibility. Having good customer service has become a necessity now. With hundreds of options for the same product, brands now have difficulty making sales, and the only thing that helps businesses gain a competitive edge over their computers is having the best and the most efficient customer service operations. Having great customer care teams helps businesses build a unique bond with their customers which in turn helps their customers trust the brand even more. Businesses invest and focus on improving their help desk management operations; it not only helps them increase sales but also helps increase profitability.

Here are 7 Commandments of Great Customer Service that will help your business stay on top of the game- 

Adding a hint of personalization 

From remembering last names to remembering their previous orders or complaints, adding a hint of personalization is one of the best ways to make a connection with your customers. When customer support agents add a hint of personalization in their customer interactions it helps them make the customers feel special and valued. 

Being empathetic

Forming a bond with customers is not always limited to adding personalizing elements. Sometimes it's also about putting yourselves in the shoes of your customers to get a better understanding of their needs or troubles. Customer care agents being empathetic takes them a long way. 

Sense of familiarisation 

It is important for help desk support agents to create a sense of familiarisation when interacting with their customers. This leads to customers believing that the agent truly understands their issue or problem with the product which in turn leads them to trust the brand even more. Creating a sense of familiarisation can not only make the customer feel understood but can also facilitate a fruitful solution to the help desk ticket.

Being a good listener

Listening is one of the most important skills that help desk support agents must possess. In addition to being a good listener, having an immense amount of patience also helps agents go a long way in the ticket remediation process. Carefully listening to what the customer has to say or express not only benefits the customer but also the agents themselves. It helps them better understand the ticket issue and helps them come up with efficient solutions.

Feedback 

Feedback is one of the key factors that show that businesses care about their customers. Receiving regular feedback from customers for products or services is essential. Implementation of suggestions from the feedback is also important. It not only showcases that the brand is trying to improve but also helps businesses keep their customers happy and satisfied at the same time.

Knowing your customer 

Having prior information about the customers is always helpful. It is crucial for agents to know their customers before an interaction. When help desk support agents keep an eye on information like the customer's previous purchases, order history, tickets, etc it helps the agents provide a better and more contextual understanding of the customer's ticket or issue. This not only helps them resolve the problem better but also helps them save time.

Maintaining a positive attitude

Maintaining a positive attitude helps customer service agents solve queries or tickets in a much more efficient manner. Having the right mindset and a positive attitude is extremely important for help desk support agents. When agents fail to maintain a positive attitude during customer interactions not only decreases customer satisfaction levels but also drinks in a negative brand image for the business itself. 

To know more about effective customer relationship management systems like Kapture that can help you serve your customers better click here for a demo.

Top 4 Must-Have Qualities Of A Skilled Customer Support Agent

 Who is a Customer Support Agent? And What does a Customer Support Agent Do?

One of the most efficient ways through which businesses can keep increasing profitability is by making sure that their customers are happy and satisfied. Happy and satisfied customers equal an increase in sales, which means there will be an increase in profits. One of the best ways businesses can keep their customers happy is by providing the best customer care support assistance that they can.

Customer care support agents or help desk support agents are representatives who help businesses provide customer care assistance to their customers. They make sure that the customers are satisfied with the products and services provided by the company.   Customer care support agents help provide support and assistance to existing as well as prospective customers. The answer customer questions reply to their emails regarding the services or products being offered by the company. 

Top 4 Qualities of a Customer Support Agent 

Tech-Savvy

A good customer service agent is tech-savvy and is always adapting to new and advanced technological changes. They know their way around efficient customer relationship management systems like Kapture CRM. They make use of all the features and facilities of the customer management tool in order to provide customers the best help desk support service that there is. When they are tech-savvy they are capable of using up all facilities like redirecting customers to self-service portals, making use of Omnichannel support, etc. It helps them serve customers and resolve their tickets in a much more efficient manner. 

Good Listener 

Another most important skill that a customer support agent must have is good listening skills. The best way businesses show their customers that they really care about them is through good agents who are great listeners. Helpdesk support agents need to have an incredible amount of patience when they are trying to attend or resolve a ticket. Customer care agents have to be extremely involved and focused on hearing what exactly the customer is trying to express. This not only helps them better understand what exactly the customer is experiencing with respect to the ticket raised but also helps them show that they really care for the customer's well-being.

Efficient Time Management

With the influx of customer service tickets, most of the time properly managing time becomes crucial for customer service agents. When help desk agents are trained to manage time in an efficient manner it not only improves that time management skills but also improves the overall productivity of the business itself. Being tech-savvy here also plays a huge role. When agents are tech-savvy it helps them utilize the necessary and available tools in order to save and manage time. Failing to manage time not only reflects poorly on the company's customer care services but also brings down customer satisfaction levels.

Communication Skills

Being tech-savvy and having great time management skills are of no use when the customer care agent has poor communication skills. Help desk agents should be able to communicate efficiently to customers. Being able to convey what exactly the problem is can be extremely important and poor communication skills not only put a halt to ticket remediation but also builds on a negative brand image. Great communication skills are a must-have for customer care agents. It not only helps them create a good impression on the customer itself but also helps them increase customer satisfaction levels. 

What Makes a Good Customer Support Agent? 

• They use the right technology like efficient customer relationship management tools to cater to help desk tickets which helps decrease wait time. 

• They tend to spend time analyzing the ticket efficiently in order to provide contextual responses.

• They add a hint of personalization and should possess the ability to step into customer’s shoes and show empathy. 

Making sure customers are given enough care and assistance can be challenging. It is essential for businesses to make sure that they provide customer service agents with the right tools that will help them provide the best customer care experience possible. To know more about efficient customer management tools click here for a demo.

Understanding the Common Customer Service Problems and Solutions

 

Why providing superior customer service is important.

Did you know that according to a report by Glance it is said that about 78% of customers tend to back out from making a purchase due to a negative customer experience? Customers are seen as the most important elements of a business. To run a successful and profitable business it is important for organizations to prioritize the customer experience. When businesses adapt to more customer-centric approaches it not only keeps customers’ satisfaction rates up but also improves the profitability of the business itself. It is essential for businesses to take up steps to improve problem-solving skills in customer service because with increasing virtual facilities there is also an increase in customer service challenges. In a time like this if businesses fail to take steps towards fixing customer service issues businesses will not only encounter losses but also experience low customer satisfaction and customer retention rates.

Common Customer Service problems and how to resolve it

1. Not having a customer-centric approach

When businesses lean too much towards profits and expansion it can lead to a less customer-centric approach. Not having a customer-centric approach can also stem from other reasons like weak and inefficiently trained help desk agents who don’t meet customer service expectations. To create a more consumer-centric approach business should work towards proving efficient customer service training to help desk management agents along with creating a more holistic picture of your customer service needs. It is also necessary for businesses to take customer feedback into consideration and make necessary adjustments with respect to evolving customer needs. This will not only increase customer satisfaction rates but will also enable superior customer service.

2. Increased customer service response time

Did you know that according to a report by Superoffice about 88% of consumers expect a response to their customer care complaints within an hour? Not providing immediate responses can lead to a delayed ticket response which can make customers impatient. Good customer service practices are driven by small elements like less customer service response time. Increasing response time will also lead to a decrease in customer satisfaction levels and this will affect the profitability generated in the long run. To tackle such issues businesses need to use the right customer service tool like CRM systems that facilitate round-robin scheduling. Kapture’s CRM system not only helps improve customer responsiveness but also increases customer retention rates.

3. Not having answers to customer questions

Customers hopefully reach out to help desk systems to find answers to their queries and questions that they are not able to find by themselves and when help desk support agents don’t have answers to these questions it not only upsets customers but also reflects poorly on the organization itself. It creates a negative brand image and shows how poorly organized and uninformed the company is. This happens due to reasons such as service agents not being trained properly or poor data organization due to which service agents are not able to find answers to a customer’s question. Having a CRM like Kapture helps agents stay informed because of the organized data and will also enable them to use that information in an efficient manner.

4. Not having an omnichannel

Not having a customer relationship management system that integrates all the service channels on one platform can make the agent’s job a little chaotic and challenging due to which the agent’s performance might be hampered. Integrating an omnichannel setup in your help desk will enable your agents to handle queries from various channels all in one screen. It will also reduce ticket piling and help in lead generation as well. This will also improve the agent’s first call resolution and decrease customer waiting time. Having an omnichannel not only paves way for excellent customer service but also increases agent productivity and efficiency in the long run.

To learn more about how you can increase your company’s customer experience by using the right customer relationship management system click here for a demo.

Top 5 Customer Support Practices That Guarantee Increased CSAT Scores

 

What is CSAT ?

Customer satisfaction is the key to keep any business running. Improving customer service and customer satisfaction should be made a priority as it not only retains customers but also increases profitability for the business itself. CSAT is one way of measuring satisfaction rates in consumers. In simple words CSAT is a measuring tool used by businesses to measure a product’s customer satisfaction rates. Using CSAT helps businesses in understanding different Ways to improve customer satisfaction and boost loyalty. 

How to improve customer satisfaction in 2021?

Below are 5 Customer Service Tips to improve customer satisfaction -

Provide omnichannel support 

One of the best ways to increase satisfaction is by being available for your customers on multiple platforms they use. Integrating an omnichannel support service helps businesses bring conversations happening on different platforms all on one platform. It helps businesses streamline their conversations and helps them seamlessly engage customers. This helps companies to reach out to customers even better as it is the customer’s preferred channel. And this leads to a unified brand experience which also brings in a positive brand image. Apart from streamlining it omnichannel also helps in increasing first call resolution rates of customer service agents.

Facilitate 24/7 chatbot assistance

Customers prefer round the clock assistance. When customer care is limited to office hours it might lead to less tickets being raised. This means that customers have to wait till the office hours to seek assistance and a lot of them might opt out of it or have a negative brand impression due to lack of all time customer care service. Having a help desk management system 24/7 can be very expensive and time consuming. But a one-stop solution to this problem is having a chatbot facility through which customers can seek product assistance at any time. Apart from 24/7 assistance Chatbots like Kapture chat also collect customer information that can be later used to structure marketing strategies.

Assess customer satisfaction rates regularly

Did you know that according to a report by McKinsey about 70% of the purchases are based on how the customer feels they are being treated? Assessing customer satisfaction rates regularly is considered as one of the best CSAT practices. This helps them identify any loopholes in their marketing strategies. Measuring satisfaction rates provides businesses valuable insights that helps them understand their overall business performance. It tells businesses how and where exactly they have to be improving. This helps businesses rectify faulty strategies and helps them increase their profitability in the long run while keeping their customers happy and satisfied.

Take customer complaints and  negative reviews seriously

Did you know that according to Hostingtribunal about 89% of consumers don’t take action until they read customer reviews?. Negative reviews and complaints are a form of communication. It showcases errors or loopholes in the services being provided. Analyzing such negative reviews is very important for businesses. Analyzing and understanding negative customer feedback helps brands bridge the gap between them and their customers. This also showcases respect that the brand has for their customers. Customers feel valued when their reviews or feedback are taken seriously and this ultimately leads to an increase in satisfaction levels.

Provide self-service facilities for customers 

Help customers help themselves. Most of the time customers prefer solving issues on their own. Facilitating a self-service portal will not only help customers solve problems on their own but also reduce help desk agent time.  Self service support is an efficient  alternative to increase customer care support. will also help businesses build more independent and smart customers. Since Self-service systems are round the clock facilities they will help customers to educate themselves at any given time. Apart from being used as quick assistance tools Kapture’s self-serve tool can also be used as data collecting tools that collect data related to  customer needs.

To know more about how businesses can improve their CSAT scores by using best customer relationship management tools click here for a demo.