Business

Redefining Customer Support for the New Year

The start of a new year is a time for hopeful reflection and ambitious resolutions. This year, make those resolutions count for your business with these practical tips to overhaul your customer support.

Brought to you by the award-winning team at supportyourapp.com, this article showcases the best practices industry leaders will implement moving into 2023. First, review your service delivery and see if you are meeting the mark. Then see how you measure up in the following areas.

Style

Businesses often state that employees must address clients professionally but must define what that means. Giving your support desk scripts as examples of answering clients ensures that you present a cohesive image when communicating with clients.

Voice and Tone

While this seems the same as style, there is a subtle difference. For example, will your employees speak in a more restrained, formal manner or be more relaxed and chatty? Should they jump on trends like using gifs and emojis? Can they change things up as necessary?

The key here is to give your employees some wiggle room to personalize conversations depending on the client. However, the overriding tone should be similar.

Quality

You must decide how in-depth your support will be. For example, will you offer a chatbot service for immediate answers or opt for human intervention? The modern response is to choose a combination of the two and allow clients to decide to deal with a human if they wish.

The key here is to review your processes and determine their impact on service delivery. If the protocols are too involved, service slows down. However, if the protocols go into enough depth, the client may feel satisfied.

Speed

Chatbots are getting better at interpreting natural language, but we’re still far away from them understanding complex queries. As a result, companies must decide where to draw the line between tools and human support to maximize productivity.

They should do so upon consultation with their target market. For example, do their clients expect an immediate response, or would they prefer a slightly delayed one if it meant dealing with a knowledgeable consultant?

When companies allow clients to wait, they must ensure that the service is of the highest possible level. Most clients will allow a company time to respond if they get the right solution. In addition, many firms opt for autoresponders to acknowledge the client’s query and let them know when to expect a response.

Coverage

When will you provide support? Will it be during regular business hours or 24/7? Again, consider what your target market expects, see what your competitors offer, and plan accordingly.

Language

How many languages will you support? The issue here is that each new language increases the cost of support. However, this expense may be worthwhile if you work with a global market.

There is nothing sweeter to someone than hearing their name pronounced correctly in their native tongue. Incorporating multi-lingual consultants may provide a competitive edge when expanding into a new market or even claiming a greater share of the current one.

Processes

Setting up workflows and processes gives your consultants clear guidelines for behaving in several situations. With a well-designed playbook, customer service becomes more effortless. While you should empower your consultants to work off-script if the situation demands it, most interactions will follow the same basic steps. Work out what these are and optimize them.

Conclusion

Redefining your customer support going forward means a careful review of your client’s expectations and how you currently meet them. In addition, companies must focus on improving the customer’s experience because today’s clients are more sophisticated than ever before.

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