4 Easy Ways to Improve Customer Service Experience

In recent years, customer service has become one of the most important aspects of running a successful business. Many companies find themselves competing on the quality of customer service delivered. Businesses are always on the lookout for ideas to enhance the experience for customers, ensuring that the time spent interacting with the company is pleasant. Customer retention depends greatly on the quality of service delivered. According to research conducted by ‘Bain & Co’, a 10% increase in customer retention levels results in a 30% increase in the value of the company, which shows the importance of growth that can be achieved through enhanced customer service experience. Some of the ways through which this can be achieved are as follows:

Ensure Pleasant Waiting Time

High quality service experience constitutes ensuring a pleasant customer journey, throughout. Organizations need to determine the pain points and provide appropriate solutions related to waiting time and processing. Businesses should revamp the processing system to shorten the waiting time for customers – a token system can be effectively implemented to streamline how customer problems are dealt in an organized manner.

The waiting area ambiance should be comfortable, with ample seating arrangements. The waiting time can be made pleasant by having a welcoming and relaxed interior design. Ample reading material which is relevant to the business can be provided to customers while they wait. For a hospital or clinic, healthcare literature could be provided in the waiting area. Some businesses install vending machines in the waiting rooms, so that customers can help themselves to snacks and refreshments.

Assistance with Filling Forms

Customers often complain about incredibly confusing forms that they have to fill. In order to make the process simpler and easier, remove all unnecessary questions to reduce or eliminate redundancy. Forms should be designed in such a way that it asks for only the most relevant information, without any repetition or duplication. Customers often find the forms to be complicated; they are unable to determine which information goes where. CSRs’ could assist customers with the forms, guiding them through the questions they are having trouble with.

Focus on Skill Enhancement of Representatives

Companies should invest in their customer service staff in the form of training, education and enriching their skills to serve the customers better. Ideally, representatives should be able to divert the conversation away from a tussle or a distasteful conclusion. CSRs should be well-equipped to handle all kinds of queries and resolve any sort of problem a customer might be encountering. In order to ensure premium customer service experience, CSRs must learn to make customers feel welcomed through kind, cordial interactions. Moreover, CSRs must also be well-versed in the product/service knowledge so that they can answer even the most complicated questions regarding the offerings of the company.

Actionable Feedback

Companies should develop an effective feedback mechanism which not only encourages customers to provide honest feedback but based on this, actions can also be taken to enhance the quality of customer experience. According to research, on average a business receives feedback from only 4% of the dissatisfied customers, which reflects the failure of current feedback systems. Proactively seeking feedback from customers is paramount to the success of a company, since it reflects that the company actually cares about what customers have to say, and how they perceive the quality of service. Feedback is also important for developing a better understanding of the pain points, which in turn facilitates effective elimination of the said pain points.