When your customers reach out to you on matters pertaining to your brand, what do you do? How do you handle them?
Customers have more options than ever before. It will be wise for you to ensure that they perceive your brand positively so that they can continue buying from you. You should be especially careful when dealing with customers who reach out to your business for any reason. If you mishandle them, they will end up with a negative perception of your business based on the customer care services alone. And you will end up not just losing them but other customers in their social circle.
So how should you improve customers’ perception of your business? What strategies should you implement when dealing with existing and potential customers?
1. When customers are dealing with complications, they need a real person to talk to
Studies show that 40% of customers prefer talking to a real person on the phone when dealing witng the laptop complicated interactions such as payment disputes. Other complicated interactions include troubleshooting issues that can be difficult to solve.
There is only so much you can do when communicating with customers via email. And the FAQ section of your business website can only answer standard questions on common problems. That’s because some issues that customers face are quite complicated. And they can be quite frustrating for the customer to deal with if they are not getting the help that they need.
Some solutions are dependent on what customers say. And those things might be unique to that customer. The only way to know what they need is to communicate via the phone and get the information required step by step.
For those reasons, you need to have real-life agents talking to your customers. That way, when complications arise, your customers can get the help that they need for their unique problems.
2. You need to be open to customer feedback
What customers say about your products and services can hurt you at a personal level. After all, you have invested time and energy in building your business. And yet, you need to be open about what your customers say.
According to a 2017 report by Microsoft, 77% of customers have a more favorable view of businesses that invite and accept feedback about their brands. That’s because it shows that you care about your customers and their needs, and you are willing to solve the problems that they have. Such actions speak well of your brand.
3. Your business needs to be available to customers across multiple channels
When customers want their queries answered, they will reach out to your business multiple times across many platforms. They can raise the issue on one platform and then repeat the question on the other as they demand answers. It’s for that reason that 50% of companies consider providing a seamless experience across multiple channels as their most critical customer experience design issue.
You cannot afford to ignore your customers’ convenience. Even though some of their feedback can hurt you, you need to provide them with multiple platforms to air out their grievances. So offering your business across various platforms is essential to ensuring that your customers perceive your brand in a positive light.
Being able to provide solutions to your customers across multiple channels is tough. For that reason, you have to consider getting professional answering services. That way, you can have issues professionally tackled by real people all the time.