If you are a business owner or manager, you know just how important strong customer service can be. Customers expect a high level of service and friendliness, and not supplying them with it could cost you a lot of business. On the flip side, customer satisfaction can lead to a larger audience and more business for you, especially if those satisfied customers spread the word about your great service to their networks, either in person or online through social media. If you want your business to succeed, here are five ways to improve your call center so that your callers have a great experience.
1. Treat Your Customer Service Employees Well
If your call center agents are treated well in your business, their morale will be higher and they can provide better, friendlier service to your clients. A great way to boost employee morale is to offer a robust set of benefits, healthcare, and PTO, of course. Another way is to instill pride in the company they work for. Consider investing in some swag for your business, including pens, mugs, and custom printed folders. Custom folders especially instill confidence in your employees if they sport a sleek, professional look. Additionally, pocket folders allow employees to stay organized and focus on efficiency while they provide a great customer experience.
2. Know Your Customers Well
A great way to provide an excellent customer experience is to know your customers well. Knowing your customers’ habits, wants, and behaviors allows you to customize the premise you use to provide service. It can also be important to use customer data to know about their likes and dislikes in terms of the best communication channels to use to reach them, and making sure you match the right agent to the right type of customer.
3. Be Visible and Responsive on Social Media
Being visible and responsive on social media channels is huge for your business. Today, many consumers head to Twitter or Instagram to communicate with support teams about any issues or questions they may have. Consider hosting an online help desk social channel so that customers know exactly where to go for help. Being available online not only helps bridge the gap between generations of customers, some of which may be more apt to be on social media, but it also improves your business’s image of reliability.
4. Invest in a Robust Call Center Software
Your contact center software is the central hub for your customer service workflow, so it’s important that it is robust and functions well for your business. Consider a cloud based call center software that allows for omnichannel routing so that you can meet your customers where they are. That means you could start with SMS, move to live chat, and then, if the internet connection is faulty, you could hop on a phone call. All of these functions can happen seamlessly without interruption to customer interactions if you utilize an omnichannel solution for your contact center. Your employees will thank you for their new, optimized business day when they realize that they no longer need to deal with out of date call center software that complicates customer interactions, and can instead move seamlessly through their queue of inbound calls.
5. Make Sure the Contact Center Isn’t the Last Contact
The last tip to make sure your contact center stands out above the rest is to make sure that your customer support doesn’t end at the call center. Consider a call center solution with an integrated CRM such as Salesforce so that you can track and store customer information. The CRM integration will allow your sales team and support team to work together to improve efficiency and customer connection.