{"id":18969,"date":"2019-06-12T23:55:44","date_gmt":"2019-06-13T03:55:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/promotelabs.com\/blog\/?p=18969"},"modified":"2020-07-31T17:07:08","modified_gmt":"2020-07-31T21:07:08","slug":"unforgettable-customer-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/promotelabs.com\/blog\/unforgettable-customer-service\/","title":{"rendered":"The 7 Keys for Providing Unforgettable Customer Service"},"content":{"rendered":"

You\u2019ll want to check out these seven keys<\/strong> for providing an unforgettable and outstanding customer service experience because the best product in the world won\u2019t save your business if your customer service stinks.<\/p>\n

It’s true!<\/strong> You do not need to be a mad scientist to figure out that good customer service is one of the most important parts of any successful business.<\/p>\n

There are plenty of people who love a product but still won\u2019t do business with the vendor\u2026 all because of one<\/u> poor customer service experience.<\/p>\n

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Chances are, you have experienced disappointing customer service. So, you will know that one bad experience can wipe out weeks, months or more of good experiences that you have had with that company.  That\u2019s why your customer service needs to be outstanding – Unforgettable (in a good way<\/em>) and beyond reproach.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s why you\u2019ll want to check out these seven keys<\/strong> for providing an unforgettable and outstanding customer service experience\u2026<\/p>\n

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1. Respond Promptly and Professionally<\/h1>\n

When a prospect or customer contacts your customer support team, their inquiry is the most important thing going on in their lives right at that moment. They may be sitting right on the edge of making a major purchase decision. Or perhaps they already made a purchase, in which case your response is going to determine whether this person remains a customer.<\/p>\n

If<\/strong><\/u> you don\u2019t respond promptly, a prospect is going to wander off to see what your competitors are offering.<\/strong> You\u2019ll lose the sale. And if you don\u2019t respond promptly to a customer, they\u2019re not going to remain a customer for very long. In other words, you\u2019ll lose the customer.<\/p>\n

The second issue is responding professionally. If you\u2019re outsourcing your customer service (and you should be), then be sure you recruit experienced reps and train them to provide great service for your prospects and customers.<\/p>\n

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2. Reflect the Customer\u2019s Concerns<\/h1>\n

One key issue that tends to further upset customers who are already upset is to have an interaction with a customer service rep who doesn\u2019t seem to truly understand the problem and, worse yet, doesn\u2019t seem to care.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the key: <\/strong>a little empathy can go a long way.<\/em><\/p>\n

What you\u2019ll want to do is train your customer service reps to reflect back your customer\u2019s concerns (so that they feel heard) and to then show some empathy.<\/p>\n

E.G., \u201cI understand that being unable to access your new membership must be very frustrating for you\u2026<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

After your customer service reps have shown understanding and empathy, they can then apologize for the customer\u2019s problem (where appropriate) and set about immediately fixing it.<\/p>\n

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3. Be Proactive<\/h1>\n

Sometimes in your business unexpected, unpleasant things are going to happen.  And if you want to salvage your relationship with your prospects and customers, then you need to be proactive and fix things before the complaints start coming in.<\/p>\n

For example, let\u2019s suppose you sell access to a web-based app. And let\u2019s suppose something happens (malware or something else) that takes your app offline for several hours, a day, or more.<\/p>\n

You know that this is going to greatly inconvenience your users \u2013 and depending on what the app does, it may even affect their livelihoods.<\/p>\n

Your first step is to immediately let users know that you\u2019re aware of the problem, you\u2019re aware of the inconvenience (or worse) to users, and your team is working to fix it as quickly as possible. If you have an estimated time of when the app will be back up and running, let your users know. Then keep them updated throughout the process.<\/p>\n

Once you\u2019ve fixed the problem, then be proactive about compensating users for whatever inconvenience they experienced. For example, give all users a free month\u2019s worth of access to the app as an apology for the downtime.<\/p>\n

Point is, when problems arise (and they will), stay ahead of them, keep customers informed of what\u2019s going on, and then compensate users for their trouble.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the next idea for providing a great customer service experience\u2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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4. Design a User-Friendly Website<\/h1>\n

The customer service experience begins the moment your visitor first clicks on your website. If your site isn\u2019t user-friendly, your visitor is going to get frustrated, they\u2019re going to leave with a bad impression of your business, and they\u2019re unlikely to come back.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why you\u2019ll want to be sure your website not only looks professional, but it\u2019s also user friendly as well. It\u2019s a good idea to do some usability testing with members of your target market<\/strong> to check that they\u2019re able to perform common tasks on your site (such as ordering a product) with ease.<\/p>\n

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5. Create a Customer Onboarding Process<\/h1>\n

Sometimes customers pay their money for a product or service\u2026 and then the business seems to forget about them (except to ask for more money from them). This leaves customers feeling neglected and unsatisfied. They may even feel confused and overwhelmed about the product itself.<\/p>\n

End result:<\/strong> the customer doesn\u2019t remain a customer.<\/em><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why you need to snap in place an effective customer onboarding process.<\/p>\n

This is a series of emails or other contacts where you accomplish the following:<\/strong><\/p>\n