Jared Atchison May 4, 2021 When you sell your product to a customer, you want them to feel confident in their purchase and come back for repeat orders. Creating a great product is the first step in this process, but it’s far from the last. Your support channels play a crucial role in providing a top-notch experience for your customers.
We’ve all needed support after buying something online. And odds are, you’ve had at least one bad experience that turned you away from a company forever. You want to avoid putting your customers in this situation. Instead of feeling confused and frustrated, users contacting your support channel should feel confident and informed when they are done talking to your team or interacting with your website.
Today, we will show you several tips that will help you streamline your customer service channels. Use our advice to shape your strategy and develop a support platform that will make it easy for users to get fast, concise answers to all of their questions.
Let’s dive in!
Use Automation to Resolve Common Issues
The first topic we want to cover is automation. Not only will automating specific parts of your support strategy save your team time, but it will also improve overall customer satisfaction.
When we say automation, we mean chatbots. Chatbot technology has advanced far beyond our expectations over the last decade. Now, business owners across all industries can use this tool to build a stronger support system.
The best way to use chatbots is to resolve common questions and concerns. For example, if a user wants to change their password, you can train your chatbot to walk users through this process. Similarly, suppose a customer has a common question about your product or service. In that case, your bot can direct them to your knowledge database, which could consist of blog posts, eBooks, and tutorials.
Your team will also have an easier time managing the queue and helping customers with complicated or unique issues. Consequently, they can spend more time with each customer and ensure that they resolve their query and provide a stellar experience.
The key to making chatbots work for your site is to start out slow. Once you have the program added to your online store, train it to help with one specific issue. As you get more comfortable with the software, you can find plenty of common questions that can be resolved through automation.
Hold Monthly Support Training Sessions
Next, let’s talk about the importance of training your customer service team. Most business owners make the mistake of training their support members once when they are hired. If you want to build a confident, skilled team, we suggest having monthly training sessions with everyone in a group setting.
Use this opportunity to go over trends, announce new products, and set performance expectations.
For example, if you notice that most customer questions are about one specific product in your line-up, you could give your team an in-depth training session on that item. This will allow them to freshen up their product knowledge and be better prepared to help users in a live chat setting.
You’ll have some months where there is a lot to talk about and other times when your meetings are short and sweet. It’s still crucial that you meet up and deliver any updates and feedback so your entire support team is on the same page.
Diversify Your Support Channels
Did you know that 51% of the global population uses social media? In other words, if you haven’t expanded your support channels to websites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, you’re missing out on an opportunity to help more customers, generate leads, and grow your brand.
Let’s take a look at Twitter. On this social media platform, conversations about customer support among consumers are up a staggering 250%. Businesses and marketing teams quickly caught on to this trend and started setting up support channels through their Twitter accounts.
Due to this change, consumers were able to get answers to their questions without leaving Twitter. If someone is on the fence about your product or service, they likely won’t click through to your website. However, if they can ask a question directly through the social media channel of their choice, you can persuade them to click through and visit your site.
You can even add automation elements to your social media chatbots, which makes it easy to connect with first-time visitors and loyal customers. We suggest reviewing your social media analytics and prioritizing support channels based on your existing followers and potential market penetration.
Gather and Implement Feedback
Finally, if you hope to strengthen your customer service team, it’s always good to gather feedback from existing customers. The only way to improve is to know what kind of experience users had when they reached out to your support staff.
There are several ways you can implement this strategy on your site. You could create a simple contact form that pops up at the end of each chat experience. This opportunity allows users to answer questions about their experience while it’s fresh in their minds.
If you plan on using this strategy, make sure you optimize your forms and support for mobile customers. Globally, over 5.16 billion people use mobile devices. Many of these people will use their smartphones to talk to your support team and fill out their feedback form. If your survey isn’t optimized for their device, you could miss out on valuable input.
Another way to find out what your audience thinks is simply asking them for their thoughts at the end of the chat session. You don’t have to include a long list of questions. Simply ask them if you were able to address their concern and if there’s anything you can improve on in the future.
In order to get value from this data, you have to start implementing what you learned across your website and support channels. For example, if users say they want an easier way to talk to a live agent, make sure to include that feature in your next update.
Back to You
As you can see, there are plenty of moving parts in every customer support strategy. If you want to continuously improve and meet the needs of your audience, the tips outlined here will help. When you start using these strategies on your site, measure your results so you can maximize the value of your support channels and help as many visitors as possible.
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