When excellent service is at the heart of a company, it will succeed. Customer experience issues result from losing sight of this priority.
A company’s backbone is its customer service department. When customer experience issues are a big priority and service is at the heart of a company’s strategy, it will succeed.
If your company does not have a customer-centric emphasis, it is doomed to fail. With a customer-centric mindset, you’ll be able to appeal to customers and build trust. In addition, any service issues will be small.
According to recent research, customer-centric businesses are 60 percent more profitable.
Customers believe firms do not put enough emphasis on customer care, and sales are suffering more than ever. According to American Express, the majority of customers in the United States have backed out of a scheduled purchase due to bad customer service.
More than ever, consumers want exceptional customer service so badly that they are willing to cut ties over it. More than half of those polled in each market and country indicated they would try a new product or firm if the customer service was improved.
What major customer experience issues does your business have, and what can be done to prevent customers from abandoning ship?
Issue #1. Customer service is not a priority.
Many businesses claim to provide excellent customer service when they do anything but! Answer the following questions to see if your firm prioritizes customer service quality:
- Has your organization taken out restrictions that make it difficult for staff to reach out to customers and make compromises when there are customer experience issues?
- Are you investing money and time in training your personnel in customer service best practices and “soft skills” that aid in relationship building?
- Do your company’s leaders prioritize consumers and lead by example?
- Is customer service a profession for everyone, not just those on the front lines?
If you didn’t respond yes to all of these questions, your clients are most likely not receiving the best service.
Fix #1. Create a vision of an ideal customer experience.
Companies often don’t know where to start when they realize they aren’t as good at customer service as they once thought.
Though big changes may take time, having a customer-centric vision of what you and the organization want is a wonderful place to start.
Therefore, do some research, speak with workers, take a customer service quiz, and, most importantly, solicit feedback from consumers.
What sort of service do they have in mind? Once you have a strategy, start implementing it. Offer training to your personnel or hire an answering service.
Issue #2. Vague, Slow or Poor Communication
Many businesses are turning to tech tools to help them automate and grow their communication channels.
The difficulty with this method is that 90 percent of customers prefer to handle their difficulties by speaking with a live person, according to research.
There is no virtual chat, email system, or live chat that can completely meet the expectations of a consumer. Therefore, when they’re trying to solve a problem with your product or service, they need to hear a genuine person’s voice. Even above face-to-face interactions, people appreciate phone calls.
Fix #2. Call your customers.
Whether you hire someone to do it, make the calls yourself, or use an answering service. Speak with your customers. If this is your first time answering a customer’s call, keep in mind that the response time is critical.
You can’t keep customers on hold for an extended period of time especially if there are customer experience issues. Doing so will ruin your business.
Phone etiquette is extremely important. In addition, keep in mind that you may encounter irate customers. When dealing with an upset caller, fighting fire with fire is a sure method for losing consumers. Therefore, train your team not to take these calls as a personal attack.
In addition, make conflict resolution a priority in your training program. Further, teach them how to practice active listening. After one bad experience, 51% of customers say they will never do business with that company again. One customer’s experience is important.
It’s a fact that not all customers will be pleased with the goods or services you give. However, one way businesses fail is by failing to see that a single unpleasant experience can halt sales.
In addition, it has the potential to cost you business with a large number of additional clients. According to the Harvard Business Review, 65 percent of customers would tell numerous others about a terrible experience.
Fix #3. Make it right. Do it right away.
Do your best to please the customer.
Customer experience issues must be dealt with carefully and politely. It’s true that most customers are willing to tell others about their terrible customer service experiences. However, if they feel like someone was listening, they are less likely to do so.
Employees, therefore, should be taught to listen to consumers rather than shut them up. In addition, teach and empower them to respond to customer complaints quickly.
Make things right with the customer as soon as possible. Comp a dinner, give a discount, whatever it takes to ensure that they feel good following a negative experience.
Issue #4. You aren’t willing to go the extra mile.
According to recent research, the majority of American customers believe companies are achieving their expectations for outstanding customer service.
When asked for details, however, two-fifths of consumers said that while most businesses are “friendly,” few will go “above and beyond” to keep their business.
Fix #4. Put on your running shoes and lace them up.
Customers must be convinced that we will “go the extra mile” for them.
Clever campaign slogans are not enough. Nor are quick bursts of excellent customer service.
You must be resourceful. In addition, you must come up with ways to demonstrate to your consumers how valuable they are.
A simple method to start edging out ahead of the herd is to write a handwritten thank-you note and remember their names.
