Have you noticed a shift in customer service standards, in this post-pandemic world?
Initially, COVID-19 brought undeniable challenges, leading to a dip in service quality.
People are moving homes, changing jobs, going through a lot of life transitions, and most of all, were confronted by one of life’s worst principles: mortality.
It was such a tough roller coaster. But we made it!
Now that businesses adapt back, I’m curious if some are still using the pandemic as a cover for subpar experiences, or are we witnessing a rebound in customer care?
Either way, here are some tips to get ahead:
- Coach for increased empathy for your reps – The pandemic generally increased people’s anxiety and uncertainty over things that used to be very basic. Coach your customer service reps to listen more, have more empathy, and most of all, assume the best from the customer, no matter how they sound. Take the “high road” all the time no matter how the conversation turns out. Training for upsells, accent, and new technology works, but you also have to remember that humans need to always be coached about how to deal with other humans better. An outsourcing company I know, Proximity Outsourcing, continuously invests in this, and bridging the gap between outsourced customer support (based outside USA) and clients who come from an entirely different country and culture.
- Automate for ease and customer empowerment – With AI and newer tools to help with automating processes for customer support, automate as much as you can, and empower the customer to solve their own problems. Instead of a call, maybe a well – done infographic, or a 50 second Loom video can help. Respecting your client’s time, and making space for their tech abilities (or lack thereof) always pays off. There’s so many companies that blew up through word of mouth because people described dealing with them as easy.One example we can think of is GoTyme Bank in the Philippines. During my visit there, they had kiosks in supermarkets, catching people at a good time when they meant to open their wallets. They bragged about how, with them, a client sign up for a new account only takes eight minutes. For a bank account! This was unheard of so my wife tried it out and guess what– I even used a stopwatch. And they were right. It took them eight minutes (or so) to do the whole thing. I was really impressed. Been a happy user of Gotyme for almost a year now.
- Be more open to feedback – Some companies invest in new tools, new staff, and even new platforms… but sometimes they invest on the wrong things because they weren’t given proper direction. And who’s the best person to give direction? The customer. There is no better time to consider their feedback than now. Whether it’s a quick form or a simple smiley face feedback process, the customer will always appreciate being heard.Check out Happy or Not, a solution I personally like when it comes to getting feedback for businesses with brick-and-mortar locations.
Get ahead of the competition by making customer experience exceptional.
People have gotten more savvy with their dollars due to the recession that followed the pandemic, so they’ll only invest in the companies that give them the best experience, and the company that makes them feel most valued.
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There’s money to be made from improving customer experience.
If you want to work on how to boost your revenue through customer success, book a call here.
