Customer Service Archives - Page 3 of 3

FCR- Are You Making It a Priority?

Where does FCR rank in your list of priorities? The role of the contact center is to offer customer services to their clients. The key is to exceed expectations and provide superior customer experiences at all times. There are no exceptions. If you don’t deliver then the client moves on to the next center and the customer moves on to the experience they are looking for. FCR is a critical measurement that gauges how well you are meeting your customers’ needs and how satisfied they are with the service you provide. The challenge for the contact center is to consistently maintain the high-quality standards of service that the client expects. Remember you represent their brand and so the experience you provide is a direct reflection of them. How can you ensure that you are among the top contact centers and what metrics should be your main focus? It has been my experience over the years that FCR, when analyzed well, will differentiate you from the competition. Look at is this way. It is an all-encompassing metric The digital advancement changed how call centers operate. It is not just about phone calls anymore. It is now about being where the customers are and social media will play a major role in how customers discuss your brand; they post, email, chat, and tweet. The definition of FCR has expanded over the years from First Call Resolution to First Contact Resolution. It includes all points of contact with the customer, and means that the customer’s issue will be resolved by the first person they contact no matter where that contact takes place. Think about it. If a customer with a billing problem chats with an agent via the website, they are looking for that agent to resolve their issue. We live in a fast paced, instant gratification society. Customers want a superior experience and expect that they will get it no matter where they are contacting the company. It measures quality standards FCR is a quality metric. It helps to measure the quality of services rendered to customers. Today’s customer have high expectations and they should. When asked, the customer states that getting a solution from the first person they contact tops the list. The connected customer has more options today than ever before when it comes to products and services. Your contact center needs to meet his or her expectations in the best, and fastest, way possible. At the end of the day when you offer superior customer experiences, you will have high customer satisfaction levels for your brand and the brand you are representing. It helps you identify training needs Training is a fundamental element for the success of your contact center because it improves agents’ performance. FCR provides you with information gaps that can help you streamline training. If you are measuring FCR properly you can identify the weak areas of your center and focus on providing the necessary knowledge and competencies to handle the customer issues you are missing. Monitoring FCR via your quality assurance team and calibration sessions will help you highlight the specific areas you must focus on. The sooner you identify those areas the quicker you can improve your agent’s knowledge base and close the gaps. It gives you a better understanding of your customers A contact center is a customer-centric company and having a good understanding of the customers you serve will help you provide the experience they are looking for. Using FCR, you gather vital information about your customer needs. Why did they call? What are their common issues with a product or service? Do they have common misconceptions that you can outline in your frequently asked questions page? This is all information that helps marketing, customer service, sales and leadership work to provide the experience that the customers want vs. what we think they want. It increases efficiency Inefficiency in a contact center will quickly eat away at profitability and your brand. When customers are dissatisfied with the service and employees frustrated with their jobs due to lack of knowledge you will lose them both. FCR data illuminates root-cause issues and provides the foundation for training, coaching and development to stop what is hindering an organization’s ability to provide the customer support necessary to maintain high customer satisfaction levels. So where do you stand with FCR? If it isn’t a priority today, you may want to start looking at how you are measuring the customer experience and if you are in line with what the customer is saying about the service they are receiving vs. the service they expect. Bottom line when you resolve customers issues at first contact you are leaving a customer with more time to promote you and the brands you represent! This blog was first published on LinkedIN

3 Tips To Help Create the Best Chat Experience

To stay on the cutting edge of customer service, you’ll want to offer your customers every available avenue to provide help and support. One of the newest, most innovative and customer-friendly methods is live chat support. Studies have shown that customers prefer this type of communication with companies over the phone or email. You might be surprised, in fact, to learn that customer satisfaction rates for live chat support are 73 percent. In comparison, email as a customer service route received 61 percent approval, while phone support only received 44 percent. Why wouldn’t customers pick online chatting over other avenues? For starters, with a live chat service, your customers are able to browse through your website at the same time they’re having their questions answered. This simplifies your ability to direct them through areas of the site where you’re helping them. Real-time chat sessions give your customers the best of all worlds here. How do you provide your clients the best possible live support experience? Take a look at the following three tips to keep your customer satisfaction rates at their peak. Train Your Team : “Chatting” with customers involves more than friendly banter. Your team will need to know how to understand the customer’s questions, accurately resolve problems and turn around dissatisfaction. Your chat team members will benefit by learning professional chat methodology principles and response tools, which will enable them to effectively communicate through a medium that might otherwise seem neutral or emotionless. Training courses are an invaluable element in keeping your chat team efficient, yet personable. Know Your Customer Demographic : With direct personal interactions, it is easy to adjust your style of speech and vernacular to match that of your customer, and therefore establish a rapport. However, you lack this type of face-to-face exchange in a chat session. It isn’t always possible to tell whether you’re chatting with a 20-something or a senior citizen. The issue goes beyond age – factors such as location, personality and background also apply. It can be challenging for chat personnel to discern these tidbits of information through a computer monitor. Even so, being able to identify with your customer by picking up on and matching his or her unique inflections is a valuable skill. Quantitative research studies can be vital in providing insight into your company’s particular demographic and average customer base. Understand Your Customers’ Needs : What exactly is it that your company provides, and what might they have issues with that prompt them to seek your help in a chat session? Being able to fully understand the help a customer may need, your particular services and your products is the golden ticket to providing stellar online chat support. You and your team might understand every aspect of your business inside and out, and that in itself makes a huge difference. However, you will get more in-depth, intuitive results by investing in objective research based on third-party interviews. In this way, you stand a much better chance of seeing your customers’ concerns through their eyes. Live chat support should be fun, engaging and thoroughly rewarding for your customers. These tips should help you elevate your team to chat superstars. This blog was first published on LinkedIN

5 Reasons why Customer Service is Incomplete without Live Chat

Exceptional customer service differentiates you from the other providers in the market. That differentiation is crucial because today’s customer is sophisticated and has more options than ever before. With the click of a button, they are out of your online shop and into the next. The secret is to offer them support and assistance that is relevant, timely and personal. One way to achieve this is through Live Chat Support. Live support is a web service that allows you to communicate with your customers in real time. Many companies have embraced the use of live chat software as more customer service channels arise in the market. Customers really appreciate it when you listen to them and meet them where and when they want. When you are able to do that, you guarantee increased satisfaction levels. Here are five critical reasons to invest in effective chat software for your customers. Live Chat Taps Into Customer Pain Points : Pain points are customer needs that have not yet been met. For example, a client will reach out to your company because he or she wants to ask a question pertaining to the performance of the product or just some clarifications. However, when the agent is alert, he or she will detect the customer’s mood and attitude, if there is something bothering them, the agent can inquire about underlying issues. These pain points, when effectively addressed, are great opportunities for brand positioning in the mind of the customer. You can leverage the interactions with the customer to discover which improvements are needed in your products or services. The essence of tapping into these pain points is to uncover critical areas of improvement, meeting the customers’ needs in the most direct way. The result will be higher customer satisfaction levels and incremental business growth. Live Chat is Convenient : Receiving support through live chat is very convenient. It provides your customer with immediate access to information. For example, when a customer is shopping online and he or she is having trouble with the purchase, while still on the page, they can chat with an agent who will resolve their issue on the spot. It is convenient also because you can speak with a customer service representative anytime and anywhere. If the customer is in traffic and there is a lot of noise, the live chat continues without any interruptions. How wonderful is that? Even when the customer has to wait in line for the next available agent to become available, the wait is not that long compared to waiting for a call to go through, because an agent can chat with more than one customer at any given time. Convenience is a win-win situation for the agents and customers. Live Chat Removes Language Barriers : Most companies reach, especially with online retail operations, extends beyond their borders and their customers are spread all over the globe. This can lead to communication challenges. Imagine having a phone conversation with an agent for whom English is their second language; you will run into language barriers because of the diverse accents and idioms. However, with live chat you will understand each other easily. As you type, words and sentences will be autocorrected, minimizing margins of error. A conversation that goes well, not only leads to customer satisfaction but also leads to employee satisfaction. Language can be vetted beforehand to present the most easily understood word choices. Live Chat is Versatile : Live chat is a great platform to attend to customers no matter the complexity of the issue presented. From a simple product question to a technical one, the tools and resources available through live chat can address a wide gamut of issues. Another critical quality component of the chat process is that, because all of the conversations are written, they are readily accessible by the performance management teams to review for quality assurance. The customer can also refer to it for directions in case they forget what you told them and an agent can evaluate their own performance on how well the conversation evolved. Live Chat Builds Strong Relationships : Strong and long-lasting relationships are worth building and fighting for, in order to grow your business. With live chat, you can introduce a human element into the online conversations with customers. Even though most companies have prepared their Frequently Asked Questions for access by website visitors, the FAQ’s are never enough to satisfy all of the questions asked by all of the customers. When customers are happy and satisfied, they will not only purchase more but also advocate for your brand to others, leading to higher conversion rates. Making yourself easily available to your customers when and where they want to have the conversation is powerful for your business. Live chat is critical to success platform in providing the unique opportunity to complete your customer service processes. Train and coach your agents in the best practices for live chat and you will see the improvement in customer satisfaction levels and healthy business growth.

How to Successfully Engage and Retain SaaS Customers

When your company provides software as a service, it’s important to constantly work toward a high level of engagement of your customers. Engaged customers are often more likely to be retained by your company. The software as a service customer has specific needs that need to be addressed effectively and in a timely manner by your company. Etech Global Services can give you ways to provide the best customer service through SaaS, integrating software and satisfaction solutions. Offer Consistent Support First and foremost, your SaaS must be backed by consistent technical support from your team. Retaining customers without proper support is something that isn’t realistically going to happen. When customers need help, make sure your team is up to the challenge. Make Things Easy and Convenient It’s also important for you to make things as easy and as convenient as possible for your customers in the software environment. If simple tasks are too difficult or convoluted, your customers won’t be happy. Have a Way to Get Feedback Another important way to keep your customers engaged is to have a way to get feedback that is incorporated into your software system. When there are questions or concerns, you want to make sure your customers are heard. Tie Business Practices Back to Customers With software subscription business models, every aspect of the company needs to be tied back to the customer. Your revenue is linked to creating a favorable experience for customers, so all product development, business management and financial departments need to be working toward the same customer satisfaction goal. Increase Employee Product Knowledge Keeping all employees updated with pertinent product knowledge is another useful way to keep your customers’ business. No matter what part of the company someone works for, everyone needs to know extensive knowledge about the most popular software offerings. Communicate With Different Teams Communication between departments is essential as well for best outcomes with customers. When customers are not happy with product quality, that information needs to be shared throughout the departments of your organization. Foster Community Within Your Product Having a designated place for software discussion or support online is a great way you can facilitate community among your various customers. When you provide this service, this shows optimum transparency and commitment to product improvement. Simulate the Customer Experience Knowing how things look through the customer’s eyes is an effective way to keep up with issues that may occasionally pop up. Be sure to run different simulations or tests that allow employees to get this experience. Take Effective Action When Needed No matter what is going on with your subscription software, you must know when it’s time to take action. Analyzing different issues as they come up can help you determine the appropriate course. Focus on Problem Solving Most of all, your company’s business model should stress problem solving. If subscription software becomes its own problem, you’ll lose your customer base. That’s why it’s important to create innovate solutions throughout the life of your organization. Maintaining customers and finding new ways to engage them with your subscription software can make a huge difference on the bottom line. Additionally, your company can continue to recruit new business while improving your routine practices. This blog was first published at LinkedIn

The Emerging Role of Social Customer Care in Business

The month of April was action packed, and among the most memorable things I did, was taking part as a speaker at the PACE Convention & Expo. The focus of the convention was creating an effortless customer experience and the emerging role of social customer care in business. Customers need engagement throughout the product life cycle, from their research to purchase to consumption and even after consumption. Unlike before, whereby, you only needed to engage the customer before and during the purchase. Social customer care should be a big part of your marketing strategy because more and more customers are going to social media to seek for answers. This trend has gained popularity among consumers because, They do not have time to pick up the phone and ask the customer care representatives. They are not sure how long it will take you to respond to the online contact form. They are aware of the “onlooker effect” whereby the potential reach is broader than just the dialogue between the consumer and the company. They want value for their time and money. How then, can you engage your customers on social media? Be proactively reactive. This means that you respond in a timely, personal and relevant manner. Timely Consider these statistics: In Twitter, there are approximately 5,000 tweets every second. 30% of the users expect a response within 30 minutes. One in five brands say they “rarely” respond to customer complaints made via social media, yet consumers who use social media expect a response within an hour According to Sprinklr 38% of consumers, feel “negative” about a brand who fails to meet their expectations for a timely social media response. Consumers expect instant feedback from you. When you make them happy, they will make you happy too. If you do not respond immediately, you lose the opportunity to please a customer and many others that follow you. Personal Social Media provides the window to personalize your message. As a brand, you need to take advantage of the issues raised; the social media channel preference, location and influence of the customer. For example, when a customer asks a question on your twitter handle, you need to answer them in the same channel, use their name in your response, be sympathetic with them and their concern and most importantly, offer them an appropriate solution. When you do not personalize your response, it leads to channel irritation, which easily spreads to other customers. Relevant When a customer raises a question, it is up to you to remain relevant. Relevance to the customer means that you help solve the particular problem. However, relevance to your organization means leveraging the data for future use, aligning your responses to other marketing initiatives and remember, what you say reflects on your brand. For example, if a customer wants to know when the new products will be available in the stores, do not start telling them about the production process and the numerous unforeseen challenges that can come up. Be precise with your answer, give the tentative dates and promise to keep him or her updated on the progress. The task of managing all your social media platforms concurrently may sound like a daunting task and you may shy away from trying it. At first, it will overwhelm you a little, but with practice, it becomes easier by the day. You can also outsource this part of your customer service to experts in contact centers who will give you all rounded social customer care. In conclusion, we have looked at the role of social customer care in business, and the best way to engage consumers; being proactively reactive by providing timely, personal and relevant responses. Are you engaging your customers online? What are some of the tricks that you have tried and tested and worked wonders for your company? Feel free to share with us. This blog first publish on LinkedIN

Strengthen Your Brand with 3 Seamless Customer Experience Tips

Your brand has made a mark in the noisy market-place and every day you need to ensure you maintain that position. Whether you stand for integrity or innovative products, one key aspect that will help you keep that standing is a seamless customer experience. Customer experiences are not only limited to the retail space but also in the online space, and today’s consumer has more options than one could ever imagine possible. By a click of a button, they have walked out of your store, and into that of your competition. A seamless customer experience means that you are customer centric, and you fully develop all your channels. This makes it easier for customers to navigate to the information they need on whichever channel they prefer and still get the same brand experience across channels. Follow these three basic steps to improve your customer experience and elevate your brand relevance. Simplify the Buying Process : In the online retail space, simplicity is king. Once the customer is online, they want to view the products and with a click, make the purchase. However, when they have to scroll through several pages to make the purchase, they are frustrated and abandon the cart. According to a study carried out by American Express Survey, 78% of customers have bailed out on a transaction or not made an intended purchase because of poor customer experience. When customers are happy with the services they receive, they will tell others about it, and that increases your sales. However, when they are dissatisfied, they abandon your brand together with their friends. With a myriad of options available, the most hassle free and direct outlet wins. Efficiency : Efficiency goes beyond the service delivery to operating costs. When your team offers a flawless experience, they spend less time per client. They become so good at their duties because there is consistency in what they do. Leveraging technology also helps your entire organization to become efficient because the same standards are applied. Especially when you have an offline and online retail space, it increases your output while reducing your operating costs. Remember, to meet the high expectations of today’s empowered customer you need to improve your efficiency. Pleasing the Customer : Your organization exists to meet a particular customer need, and when that happens, the customers are satisfied. When you improve your services by offering a personalized and seamless experience, you leave your customers feeling special and valued, which leads to brand loyalty. Loyal customers are an asset to your company because they advocate for your brand to their friends and family. There is no better way of marketing yourself than through your satisfied customers, who willingly talk about you on their social media platforms. News of bad customer service reaches more than twice as many people as praise for an excellent service experience. Therefore, only superior experiences can grow your brand. In summary, the pendulum has shifted, and your consumers define your brand image based on their experiences. Do everything in your power to ensure that you offer superior experiences to your customers for a healthy brand. If you can provide a simple buying process, efficiency and make your customers feel valued, your company will have a good handle on the importance of seamless experiences to your brand.

Four Ways to Boost Customer Experience

Customer care representatives are a necessity to any company offering customer experiences. Because they are at the forefront, they determine the kind of service customers enjoy or otherwise. Best-In-Class organizations realize this fact and work to turn this service resource into a critical asset. This is done most effectively through engaging and empowering the customer care representatives. An empowered employee will be motivated to deal with any obstacle as long as they resolve customers’ issues and protect the company image. He or she will strike a balance in the service delivery because they understand the organization’s standards as well as the needs and expectations of the customers. Here are tips and practices that will help boost front-line performance leading to excellent customer experiences. Measure Current Performance : It is essential to know your current performance situation. What are your front-line employees doing to deliver exceptional customer experiences? Someone once wrote, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” You need to know where you are going and where you are, for success path mapping. Most companies have customer service goals and measuring tools in place. However, you need to align the metrics to the brand standards for exceptional experiences. Utilize all the available resources to ensure that you measure the essential performance metrics. Give Individual Feedback : For the highest impact, you need to monitor each employee and how he or she interacts with the customers. You may have a script and have trained them on call and chat etiquette, but subsequent to training, you need to monitor each employee and give feedback accordingly. Acknowledge and reward the agents that are doing well and encourage and train those who are lagging behind. Constant monitoring allows you to notice low-quality interactions and therefore, react before it gets out of hand. When you correct an employee immediately, it helps him or her to change and act in line with the corporate standards. In a large contact center, this might be a challenge given the high number of agents. You can overcome it by holding calibration sessions and group coaching with a few agents at a time. Encourage Accountability : Accountability stems from taking responsibility. When an agent understands and owns his or her role in the customer experience chain, then they will be accountable not only to themselves but also to the company. You can know whether your employees are responsible during individual coaching sessions. A responsible agent will acknowledge their errors and suggest behavior changes that would ensure it does not happen again faced with similar circumstances. However, if an agent cannot see where they went wrong, they have yet to embrace accountability. Another great way to check for accountability is through customer surveys. After every interaction, the agents should administer the short survey to get customer feedback. When you use the above sources of information well, you will know the areas that require enhancement measured against performance metrics. Incorporate Supporting Teams : Front-line employees do not work alone; a variety of teams support their efforts. For example, the technical team is a crucial part of the customer experience process in a product oriented contact center. Analyze the performance of all the supporting departments to know the weak and strong links. Strengthening all teams will ensure that customers experience the company as “one” not departments. Free knowledge sharing and working together to achieve organizational goals as far as customer service is concerned will keep you ahead of the competition. The aim is offer consistent experiences to the customer. In summary, when you measure employees’ current performance state, individualize feedback, encourage accountability and incorporate the supporting teams in the process, you will be on the right track to higher-quality customer experiences. Your goal should be to measure, review and refine agents’ performance. This blog was first published on LinkedIN

Why Live Chat Is the Perfect Tool for Help on Demand

E-Commerce and Internet marketing are standard in the digital age. Nearly every successful business, retail or otherwise, uses some form of web-based sales or information distribution. However, although many customers are happy to do business online, at times Internet-based companies seem to lose the human touch. Offering a live chat service on your website can help you make more sales and provide instant customer support. Customer Convenience Having a 24-hour help desk available via telephone is beneficial, but your clients may be shopping online precisely because they do not want to make a phone call. Also factor in the time and pain factor of dealing with automated menus and waiting for a representative to answer a call. With a live chat tool, on the other hand, it is easy for your customers to continue whatever they were doing while they wait for a representative. The written word may be easier for some customers to understand and respond to, and the option to receive an emailed transcript of a chat after the fact is invaluable. Technical Support Providing technical support via chat can make the difference between keeping and losing a customer. If there is a problem with a client account or with the shopping experience, many people are likely to navigate away from your site and onto a competitor’s site. Live chat, however, may be able to solve a problem instantly, thus winning back your customer and increasing his or her satisfaction with your brand. Being able to instantly assist users with account updates puts your company in the position of providing excellent customer service and possibly closing more sales. Having live chat operators on hand to solve your clients’ technical problems on the spot can have an enormous impact on customer retention. Shopping Assistance If you run an e-commerce site, live chat is indispensable. You may have shoppers visiting your site at any time of the day or night, from all over the world. If no one is available to answer visitor questions regarding product choices, customization, lead times and so on, your site’s bounce rate may be high, and you may be leaving money on the table. In addition to answering product questions, your live chat operators should be prepared to respond to questions about shipping. This includes tracking items that have already shipped and helping customers decide whether or not your standard or expedited shipping will best meet their needs. Other shipping-related questions to anticipate include what gift wrap options are available and whether or not packages arrive with their contents visible. Benefits to You Providing a live chat option enhances the customer experience and provides a valuable service to your clientele. It also helps you run your business more efficiently. In addition to potentially increasing customer retention, live chat may cost your company less than telephone customer service. Your well-trained chat employees may be able to help more people in a shorter amount of time than they would be able to do on the phone. Text-based customer service, such as live chat, has many benefits. It gives your clients instant access to support and provides your company with multiple upselling, customer care and lead-generation opportunities.

Transforming Customer Care with Four C’s

Many components must be carefully orchestrated for business success, none of which is more critical than Customer Service. Customer care has evolved over the last couple of years primarily due to digital advancements. To set yourself apart, you need to incorporate the 4C’s, which stand for customer experience, conversation, content, and collaboration. Look at them as pillars that hold your client service together. Working on these components in unison and actively managing them will transform your business. Let us examine these four elements and the ways you can use them as a competitive advantage. Customer Experience Customer experience is the product of interaction between a customer and an organization over the duration of the relationship. It reflects how the customer feels about the company and its products. Customer experiences are conversation starters because customers will talk about your products and the customer service they receive from you. If they are happy, they will talk positively about you and thus, build your business. If they are dissatisfied, they do not talk about it, and when they do, it will damage your business. Therefore, giving your customers great experiences is an investment to the company. To transform your business, generate positives conversations with customers by offering superior products and excellent customer service. Bring the same offerings you are giving offline to your online platforms. Social media is a powerful tool for reaching all your customers at once. Drive positive conversations with your customers by managing their customer experiences. Happy and satisfied customers grow from being loyal to becoming brand advocates. Conversation Conversation is the exchange of ideas between people. Customers have discussions with employees via the various platforms from phone to social media. Conversations build on customer experiences and go the extra mile observing, facilitating and participating in the discussions. Real and meaningful conversations take place when the employees are helpful to the customers. They seek to understand better their issues as well as offering them solutions. Actively participating in discussions on social media brings you closer to the customers and gives you a human face. Begin by listening to your customers – what are they asking? What tone are they using? What matters more to them? – And respond appropriately. Following these conversations will help you understand customers better and thus direct your product development and content strategy. Content Content is the information and communication you present to your customers. It should be relevant, fresh, reliable and accurate. You can orchestrate your content to generate conversations in the direction you want it to go. You cannot afford to leave the course of conversations with your customers; create a content sharing strategy. The content you share determines customer perception towards your organization. Do you position yourself as an expert in your field? Does your content help customers understand you and your products? Does it create value? Your content should accomplish these tasks and much more. Have a dedicated team to develop and implement a content sharing strategy. They should monitor social media conversation 24/7, and answer customers in a timely and relevant way. Remember, great content will grow your reach. Collaborations Collaboration is working together to achieve a common business objective. The goal, in this case, it exceptional customer service thus the company and customers should work together. When you loop in customers, they will freely offer their assistance to grow your business. The involvement helps them feel important, valued and appreciated, which will increase their commitment to the organization. A customer will be proud to be associated with a great company and will spread the positive word around as well as defend you where necessary. Create communities on social media and let customers interact with each other in a safe and controlled environment. That sense of belonging will go a long way to transforming your business into a success story. In summary, these four components – customer experience, conversation, content, and collaboration – intertwine to utilize the power of the people and social media. You cannot have one without the other. Follow these Best Practices today and avoid gaps in your customer service strategy.

2 Ways Live Chat Services Can Improve Online Customer Experience

Customers everywhere are starting to turn to the internet to conduct their business and shop. Website owners are scrambling to implement tools that will enable them to meet the needs of their customers without investing too much time, money and resources. As more customers start to increase their expectations to improve their experiences, many online businesses are finding it challenging to meet this demand without making some changes to the way they enable customers to contact and interact with them. By adding online customer services, you can improve your business’ efficiency and productivity. Here are some ways that you can enhance customer experience with online customer support. Encourage Feedback Customers are notoriously picky about the way they’ve been treated by a business. When they purchase products and services that don’t live up to their expectations, they are not necessarily going to return to your company to purchase or use those products and services again in the future. To help reduce the rate of unsatisfied customers, you need to implement a system that encourages all customers to leave feedback about their experiences. You need to know how your customers feel about your company and the products and services it offers. Don’t rely solely on surveys, they only tell half of the story. There are far too many factors that can affect the validity and truthfulness of survey results, such as customers rushing, not paying attention and more. Surveys are also far too limited in their scope for you to use to determine how your customers really feel. A more useful approach would be to use qualitative research and analysis to learn more about your customers. This will provide you with in-depth information about your customer’s behavior, attitudes, and experiences so you can make the necessary changes to improve customer experience and satisfaction. Use Live Chat Services to Promote Your Brand Customers are always looking for the latest and greatest customer service experience available. Fine tune your online chat support so that it represents your brand in the most amazing light possible. Every second that customers are on your website is an opportunity to promote your brand. Train your agents to provide exceptional customer service and support to each website visitor they encounter and increase brand recognition and reputation. Online customer support services should include : Agents who are ready and able to answer customer questions. Agents who can correctly identify customer concerns to provide the correct guidance, support, and resolution. Perfection is a hard thing to achieve, but it should always be your goal, especially when fine tuning your online chat support system. There are far too many businesses and options available for customers to choose from. Don’t give them a reason to seek them out. If there are on your sites, then they have chosen your company or brand for a reason. So be prepared to take advantage of the opportunity by doing everything possible to win them over as a customer. Any online chat program that you implement needs to be a good one. Along with researching different chat programs, be sure to look for other ways to enhance overall customer experience to encourage repeat customers and loyalty. This blog was first published on LinkedIn.

5 Challenges in Deploying a Multi-channel Call Center

To satisfy the connected customer, you need to interact with them through their preferred mode of communication. Some customers want to reach out via phone, email, live chat or social media. Whichever channel they contact you on, you need to be present lest you lose them. A multi-channel communication goes beyond the traditional hotline to include social media platforms, email, text messaging, live chat and self-service options. Your ability to stretch your call center to include the above will ensure that you provide a seamless and consistent customer service experience. Transitioning your call center to a multi-channel call center is the key to your business growth and could be the most challenging venture you will embark on as an organization. Among the challenges that you need to overcome, the below five top the list. Determining the right channels for your customers A successful multi-channel strategy is one that deploys the right channels for your customers, not just any channel. Customers are satisfied when you meet their needs when and where they want. Therefore, you need to determine which channels your customers are at and develop those first. As you think about the right channels for your customers, you need to consider their alignment to your business. They need to make business sense regarding capital requirements but also serve the customers well. You have the capacity to direct customers to the channels that will work for you. Failure to do this will lead to business revenue losses and dissatisfied customers. Technology Advancement Rate You need computers, internet, and software to provide quality customer service. Technology is advancing at a fast rate as every waking moment new technology is birthed that is meant to make things easy and fast. The challenge then is acquiring the best technology to fit your needs and your customers’ needs without having to do a complete overhaul to upgrade your systems. You don’t want to purchase outdated machines because that is what you can afford. You need to keep up with the latest technology. It will cost you if you don’t have the right technology for the job because, you will have spent a lot of money to upgrade your systems and at the same time, stop business operations as that happens. High Start Up Cost Like starting any other business, the start up costs is a huge challenge. You need ample capital to finance the expansion. You require facilities to house the call center, equipment, customer care agents and managers, and day-to-day operations kitty. The size of your operations will determine your capital needs, if you call center is already big, your other channels need to be big as well, and this increases your capital needs. Human Resource Needs Call centers have huge demands for customer care agents because they operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They also have the highest employee turnover worldwide. When you expand you call center to be multi-channel, you will need to hire agents who can handle those channels. The challenge then is finding the right agents, who will stick around for a long time and see that business function grow. Under no circumstance should your multi-channel call center be understaffed. Training Needs In line with the human resource needs, it is not enough to get the right people for the job; you need to train them well. A customer does not care whether the agent on the other side is a newbie or experienced; their concern is getting assistance. Your training and development program should ensure that customers get superior customer experiences. Your trainers also need to be experts in the multi-channel deployment for them to train well. With a well-trained team, your transition into a multi-channel call center will be easier. To satisfy the diverse needs of customers, you need to operate in a multi-channel environment. As you plan to transition into one, consider these five challenges; determining the right channels for your customers, technology advancement rate, high start up costs, human resource needs and training needs. When you overcome them, your journey to run a multi-channel call center will be easier, and the destination will be highly satisfied employees and customers.

The Social Media Customer Service Revolution

Don’t let the name fool you—social media is about much more than sharing vacation pictures and catching up with old friends. Twitter, Facebook, and social media platforms throughout the Internet are being utilized as broad communication tools, by individuals as well as organizations. So what exactly does this mean for your customer service campaign? Social customer services take support matters out of the shadows and into the public eye. In addition to free exposure, it provides another avenue by which customers can build their relationship with your brand. It shows current and prospective clients that you care about your customers and can also help to clear up common problems or confusion proactively through public responses. Employ these tips to make sure you’re getting the most out of your social campaign. Keep in Touch Social networking rule number one: stay connected. Make sure to monitor your social customer service accounts regularly in order to respond quickly to inquiries. Prioritizing your responses through these channels makes your business appear bigger, more organized, and makes it clear that you value customer satisfaction. Turn Negatives Into Positives Social media users are known for making their feelings known, often with blunt honesty. When you receive strongly-worded complaints, don’t give in to the temptation to erase them. Responding effectively and winning over that type of customer is an excellent way to instill confidence in the public, while also avoiding the tricky minefield which occurs when a user cries censorship. Organize Your Communications Just as you likely have separate e-mail addresses or phone numbers for general inquiries and customer service, you should consider opening separate social media accounts: one for general business needs and one exclusively for social customer services. This is especially true for larger companies which elicit large volumes of communications. Make sure that both accounts are actively maintained by qualified people in your organization. Learn the Tools of the Trade Social networks are constantly evolving, shifting to meet the needs of its constantly-expanding user base. It’s vital that you and/or your social media representatives keep tabs on changes and updates, maintaining a clear understanding of various platforms and how best to exploit them. Facebook in particular is known for making sweeping changes, often without much advance warning, so always ensure that your organization is up to speed. Good Will: The Great Equalizer You’ve probably heard the phrase “kill them with kindness,” advice routinely given when someone is confronted with a difficult person who they must cooperate with nonetheless. Complaints can be tough to deal with at times, whether due to the volume, the tone, or a combination of both. Your goal is to take it all in stride, just as you would in person or over the phone. Communicating over the Internet is like driving a car: people are much more inclined to shout things they’d never say in a civilized conversation. Don’t sink to that level—keep your attitude upbeat, positive, and unflappably polite. When the public observes a hot-headed customer that is treated with kindness and grace, you win and so does your brand. In Summary Social media services can open all new lines of communication for your business, helping you reach expanded customer segments and allowing you to promote your brand with an investment of just a little time and energy. Effective utilization is one of the most powerful and affordable tools at your disposal; an inability to adapt, however, might just leave your business in the dark. Here more about it at the iARE Annual Conference : Etechgs Events This blog was first post on LinkedIN

Affordable Strategy and Techniques to Improve Customer Service

Offering excellent customer service has tremendous benefit to any organization, and it is one of the top priorities for every employee. The top management assigns a team to develop strategies and then train the employees for a seamless implementation. Poor customer service hurts your business by driving away customers, who spread the bad news to others, thereby, killing your business. However, when you provide superior customer service the payoffs are enormous, from high sales, satisfied clients who become your brand advocates, increased profitability to happy employees. For your business to grow steadily, you need to increase cash flow as you lower operating expenses. Therefore, you cannot afford to have none or a poor strategy to improve your customer service. Have the following tips in mind when you are formulating the strategies and techniques to improve customer service, they are affordable too. Carry out a situation analysis The step is to understand where you are now. Approach it from the customers and employees point of view. Carry out a customer survey to get satisfaction scores. Compile the data and work with an average of the total. For the employees, use data from quality metrics like First Contact Resolution and service metrics like average speed of answer. It will help you understand internal problems that may be hindering superior service delivery. You also need to know how your employees define their roles at the contact center. Does an agent say, “I answer calls and respond to live chat inquiries?” or does he or she say, “I resolve customers issues the best way possible?” How an agent understand their role influence how they perform. Put all the above information together to get a clear picture of where you are. These will be your objectives as your progress with the strategy formulation. Scrutinize your Procedures and Processes Employees are not the only factor that can affect customer service; the contact center systems and processes can. What is the procedure for agents to resolve issues? Do they have to escalate all issues to the manager or are they empowered to handle the issues? Are your systems user-friendly? For example, when a customer logs into your website and wants to interact with an agent online, do they have to spend several minutes locating the live chat icon. You need to make your services accessible and available. Today’s customer expects instant gratification, or else they shop elsewhere. The procedures and processes should make it easy for the employees to meet customers’ needs. Work on the Improvement Areas You now have data on customers, employees, procedures, and processes. Now, look into the areas that need immediate action and start with them, and roll out the rest with time. With improvement, the focus on the employees and processes, and the changes will affect the customer. Take your employees through thorough refresher training, and focus on the weak areas. For example, if you found out that the call transfer rate was high, the training should emphasize on product knowledge. Loop in the line managers The best people to oversee the implementation of the strategy are the line managers because they spend most of their time on the floor with agents. Ensure they know and understand the strategy and the value it brings to the contact center. You can train them on a separate day, to empower them further and thus give them the right tools and information to make the strategy work. Line managers go beyond overseeing the implementation. For example, after the training, they can coach the employees to greater performance improvements. Effective line managers lead their teams to success. Monitor and Review After equipping everyone with the correct information and tools, you need to monitor their progress. How are the employees performing in light of the set objectives? For example, if they were to improve the FCR, has the rate increased or decreased? After gathering the data, conduct review meeting with line managers and selected employees. At the core of the monitoring and reviewing is to check whether the implemented strategies had financial implications to the contact center. They should not increase your operations cost but lower them. In summary, when you carry out a situation analysis, scrutinize your procedures and processes, work on the improvement areas, loop in the line managers, and monitor and review the strategies and techniques, you will improve your customer service. Be patient in the process as it takes some time to change from one policy to another.

4 Ways to Deliver better Customer Support utilizing Chat

If you look at monthly satisfaction rates for chats and tickets, satisfaction for a regular customer service chat is typically much higher than for a support ticket. This anomaly has a rather clear cause: When clients’ cases are pushed to support tickets, they are usually already dissatisfied with the service they have received. Why? Support ticket cases are the ones that can’t be handled easily, are hard to crack and require quite a bit more time to resolve. This longer wait time does little to calm upset clients. How do you take a disappointed client and, in the end, turn them into a satisfied customer? Although not every case can be expedited, there are certain shortcuts you can use to deliver better service to your ticket customers. Give Tickets to Those Who Can Resolve Them : Although this may seem like an obvious statement, it is a vital part of keeping customers happy that many companies might inadvertently ignore. If you know that the person who initially responds to a support ticket is going to pass it along to someone who actually possesses the knowledge and skills necessary to resolve it, there is a serious problem. The ticket should go directly to someone who can take care of it immediately to increase customer satisfaction. In some cases, there might be a difficult ticket that no one wants to pick up. Support teams should be encouraged in these situations to see finding a solution as a challenge that needs to be overcome. Utilize Tiered Support : Different cases require different levels of expert knowledge to handle. This makes a tiered support system crucial in efficiently handling cases after live chat fails. A basic tiered support setup involves two separate groups of agents: those who receive incoming cases from customers and the experts who actively deal with the cases. The receivers are the first to pick up the ticket, then they escalate it to the experts, who deal with it depending on the case type. One expert could deal with managing payments. Another could handle returns. This allows experts in certain areas to handle the cases that they have been so thoroughly trained on. It makes little sense to have experts in one area handling matters from other areas. This assures that the workers with the highest credentials are immediately assigned the cases that only they can handle. Keep Track of Tickets : One of the easiest ways to further anger an already bothered customer is to lose their ticket. Tickets are commonly lost when they are assigned to a person who is out of the office for more than a day or so. It is completely avoidable and should never happen. Only actively working individuals should receive new tickets. Provide the Details : If a ticket is passed to another worker, it is vital that all the ticket’s details are provided. Without that information, resolving the issue can be greatly prolonged. Any missing information will have to be filled in a second time by the requestor, which will lead to a longer case resolution and an overall poorer experience. For the cases that cannot be resolved via live chat support, tickets are unavoidable. However, the customer experience can be positively affected if support technicians simply follow these four steps.

How to Create An Exceptional Customer Service Experience

Offering exceptional customer service experience will win you some loyal customers. A string of loyal customers who rave about your brand is one of the key things you need to beat the competition. Exceptional customer service is making the customer feel they are the most important for the few minutes you are attending to them. You assure them that you will do that you can to make their day better. As a leader in charge of customer service, you want your team to deliver nothing short of exceptional customer service. However, as the days progress, you realize that new challenges arise. You have the perfect strategy and your customer service representatives are well trained and equipped but still you are not hitting the exceptional levels. Here are four steps that can help you craft a strategy always to offer exceptional customer service, Ask Ask your customers what they need. Asking is the fastest way of getting an answer. You may think that you know what customers need, but the answers they provide may surprise you. Most people ask through research when developing new products only. However, you will realize that customers will have feedback all the time. Ask your customers after a conversation for their honest feedback about your products and services. Do not forget to ask them how best they think you can serve them better. By asking your customers for feedback, they also feel you are you value their opinion, and that increases their satisfaction levels. Listen Asking without listening will be a waste of time. I advocate for active listening because after the conversation, you will remember all the points. Have you ever had a conversation with someone, and at the end you could tell they were not listening to you? Customers are like that too; they can tell when you are actively listening to them and when you are not. Another way of listening to your customers is through call monitoring. You can pick up information that will help you evaluate your current delivery and areas that need improvement. Develop policies You have asked your customers for feedback and actively listened to them. Now it’s time to develop procedures and policies in line with the information gathered. Your customers will respond warmly to you once they realize that you are implementing their suggestions. Policies and procedure help you to provide uniform services, and that consistency is important customers. Centre your procedures on what will drive the exceptional customer experience. Remain flexible As stated before, challenges arise when least expected. Do not be a stickler of policies and procedures. Some situations call for a different approach to resolving a customer’s problem. For instance, when an angry customer calls, the agent can figure out the best way to calm them down then resolve their issues Empower your agents to make decisions on the move. Evolve with your customers. In conclusion, asking customers what they need, actively listening to them, and developing procedures in line with the feedback gathered and remaining flexible will help you give exceptional experiences. Crafting is a continuous process, when you reach the third step, you are still working out the first two. You will provide exceptional customer service experiences by implementing these four tips.

Live Chat: How Long Can You Keep Customers Waiting?

Online shoppers have proven time and again that they’re not the most patient group, and it’s tough to blame them. With so many alternatives just a click away, it’s crucial to ensure that your web site’s support tools are both accessible and responsive at all times. This ranges from e-mail and phone communication to your live chat software, a sales tool which is becoming both common in its applications and more trustworthy in the eyes of consumers. The Clock is Ticking While particular industries and companies will notice varied results, most studies tend to show that individuals shopping online are willing to wait approximately one minute for a customer support chat to initiate. After this period, they’re more likely to move on to another web site in search of their purchase. Regardless of each shopper’s specific patience threshold, one of the key strategies is to ensure that your live chat service is prepared to handle spikes in customer volume. Even the largest company can only staff so many customer service agents at any given time, and there’s no guarantee that your forecasted schedule will line up with real-world demand. That’s why it’s vital to set up an effective queue for your chat system. Give a Number At a busy deli, you might take a slip of paper with a number on it to enter into the waiting list. Online, your live chat software should be able to perform similar functions in order to keep shoppers informed. If there is not an available service representative to accommodate a new chat request, the customer should immediately be notified of where they stand in the virtual line. While a numbered deli queue rarely runs into technical glitches, Internet applications are understandably more complex. This is why it’s also important to make sure your chat software allows for a variable to be set which will disconnect users after a defined interval. By ensuring that “dead” sessions are reset, there is a lesser chance that users will find themselves in a live chat limbo. Maximizing via Metrics One of the foremost considerations to make when implementing a support chat system is the software’s capability when it comes to analytics. It’s critical to review your live chat performance regularly to determine where your web site’s opportunities lie. Some of the most invaluable statistics can include: Average duration before chat request is initiated Length of average customer support conversation Number of missed or dropped chat requests Once you start connecting the dots, you should be much better prepared to address the particular needs of your business. By taking an informed approach to staffing, while offering proactive communication when customers will be made to wait, you’ll be much more likely to skew performance metrics in a favorable direction. Etech Global Services has been developing and implementing solutions for over 17 years and we’re no strangers when it comes to live chat support. Click here to read more about the services we provide and how we can help your business take the next step toward growth and greater success. Original Source: LinkedIn

Learn to Be More Social When It Comes to Customer Service

Mobile technology and social media have completely revamped how we communicate not only with each other, but with the companies and businesses from which we buy products and services. Customers aren’t shy when it comes to leaving praise or a complaint on a company’s Facebook wall or Twitter page. To show your business is on the forefront of technological trends and the newest methods of communication, learn the nuances of social customer services. Realize That You No Longer Have All of the Control Before social media and mobile technology, businesses could control when customers could shop. With online shopping and social media profiles, consumers can shop and comment whenever they like. What this means for you is that you should take a more customer-focused approach to the way you run your business and make it easy for customers to shop, interact and get help whenever and however they need it. Stick With Your Customers Make yourself aware of the latest social media juggernauts, such as Facebook and Twitter, and make sure your business has a presence on them. Learn how to use these sites to their fullest potential, and don’t use them in a way in which they aren’t intended. For instance, YouTube and Instagram are geared toward visuals, so refrain from having text-heavy posts on them. Taking this idea one step further, make sure you engage with your customers on whichever social media platforms you have. Respond to Tweets and posts directed at your company, and make sure it’s quick and easy for customers to interact with you and your business, no matter what kind of device they might be using. Keep Up and Keep It Constant With the ease and convenience of modern technology, speed is an essential component of social customer services. More than half of customers on Twitter who post a complaint expect a response within an hour. In addition to responding quickly to comments, no matter if they’re complaints or compliments, make your responses personal. Nothing can frustrate a customer more than receiving an automated response that does more to make the situation worse than improve it. Have the Right Technology Make sure your customer services representatives have the technology and tools they need to quickly and easily juggle a variety of interactions on a variety of social media platforms and mobile devices. Specifically, it’s a good idea to invest in software that can handle incoming inquiries and complaints. Ask your customers which ways they prefer to contact your company so you have an idea of where and how to focus your time and resources. For those customers who prefer the “old fashioned” method of calling for customer service, find a way to keep them from being put on hold for longer than absolutely necessary. If your company has a call center, consider implementing software technology that allows your agents to use a variety of channels simultaneously to interact with your customers. The advantage of this technology is that customers can speak with your agents on the phone and send them an image if necessary, which helps to eliminate confusion and speeds things up. While running a business is hard enough without having to learn the ins and outs of the most current social media platforms and mobile technology, going where your customers are and making it easy to communicate with them will most certainly prove to be a solid business investment. This blog was written by Jim Iyoob, EVP Customer Experience for Etech Global Services. If you would like to learn more about Etech, please contact us at info@etechgs.com.

Ecommerce Customer Service Make Customers Feel Valued

With many businesses taking the Ecommerce route, it is essential to provide Ecommerce customer service during and after a sale. Efficient Ecommerce customer service ensures satisfaction, customer loyalty towards the business, and increases the chances of a customer reverting or referring the services to others. Since direct conversation is less in the online environment, providing Ecommerce customer service during the sales process builds long-term relationships and credibility of the business. Absence or poor Ecommerce customer service can be detrimental to the growth of business. Efficient customer service is realized by providing the following: Accurate Purchasing Information Providing clear and precise information about purchasing a product makes the entire purchasing process easier for the customer. The customer feels more comfortable with the quality of Ecommerce customer service provided and ends up making a purchase. Providing accurate customer service on purchasing can be ensured through online chat customer service, email, or phone based support. Providing the correct information on shipping, return policy and other charges goes a long way in creating a positive customer impression. Email Communication Sending an email after the customer makes a purchase ensures that the customer builds a positive reputation about the business and feels that they have made the right purchase. Getting in touch with customers provides an opportunity to create a positive image of your business and increases the chances of making a sale. Emails notifying the customer that a product is out of stock should include recommendations about other similar products that the customer might be interested in purchasing. Sending emails containing flyers, promotional events, online sales, and discount coupons help in building customer loyalty. Provide Help Desk Facility An Ecommerce customer service fulfilling the post-sales queries of the customers helps in customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and retention. Assisting customers even after they have purchased a product makes them feel that the company cares about their customers. Providing Ecommerce customer service through online chat customer service, email, or phone based support builds a satisfied customer. Ecommerce customer service makes customers feel recognized and valued and makes them loyal to business. You might like this: Shopping Cart Abandonment: How Online Chat Can Help

Building Positive Customer Experiences through Online Chat

As more companies turn to online to carry out their business, the online chat channel has proved to be a cost-effective, fast, easy, and efficient way to provide quality chat customer service. With many advantages such as increased FCR, higher CSAT, reduced cost-per-contact and more, the online chat is being actively incorporated by businesses as a primary channel for carrying out sales and customer service interactions. Controlling customer experiences Today, customers spend more time online hovering on social networking sites or tweeting. Internet accessibility through mobile applications on smart phones and tablet PCs has further extended the scope of customers sharing their bad experiences over the Internet. Customers can easily use these places to share their bad experiences of customer service, information unavailability on a website and more. To reign in the probability of customers going viral with bad experiences, businesses can effectively leverage online chat to deliver positive experiences to customers. Proactive chat is the solution Contact centers use various predictive tools that analyze the online customer behavior to provide crucial insights. The predictive tools help to initiate a proactive customer service chat when certain parameters indicate that the consumer is likely to have a bad experience. A proactive chat at this instance provides instant redressal of customer grievances with no hold-times or long call queues. This results in customers creating a higher positive experience framework about the business. The data and information that is captured during customer interactions are crucial and reveal significant results. These analytical results and inferences from previous customer interactions can be effectively leveraged to add an element of surprise while interacting with customers. The customers can be provided with probable solutions derived from predictive tools just as they begin their interaction. Positive customer experience is further achieved through various features like push-URL, screen sharing, and co-browsing enabling early resolution of customer problems.

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