Are you wondering ‘how to make my customer service better online’?
Whether online or in-person, excellent customer service is key to building your business and getting return customers. But in this digital age, it can be hard to make things personal and forge relationships.
Don’t worry, we’re here to help! Read on for our seven top digital customer service tips to keep your clients happy and coming back for more.
- Always Accept Enquiries
It’s ok if your business isn’t able to have 24/7 support staff, your inboxes are always open. But one of the most important customer service tips is to be available. Make sure you have automated responses to let people know you’ve received their query.
Give them an idea of when they should expect a response, and stick to it! You can turn a customer from angry to calm fast if you let them know you hear them and value them reaching out.
- Optimize For Mobile
One of the most important online customer service tips is regarding mobile optimization. Around 52.2{e68b7490c33b031e176c2bf33b49addad56d24bced82f0be9f22b910d6b7f66c} of all web traffic comes from mobile devices. It’s important that you optimize your customer service for mobile. Customers should be able to access your customer service with ease from a mobile or a desktop.
As an example, consider setting up a “click to text” button for the mobile version of your website.
Make it easy for your customers to get in touch, whatever platform they’re browsing from. If you want to learn more about optimizing your digital customer experience, take a peek.
- Check Your Social Media More Than Once a Day
Your marketing strategy should have at least one social media account. So many people are using social media these days, that you could be missing out on customers if you don’t.
You have to do more than activate it though, you need to be an active presence for your customers to engage with. And this includes providing customer service.
Make sure you’re checking your social media more than once a day, so you’re ready for any new queries. A lot of customers will prefer to write to you there.
If you’re not checking it enough, queries and requests could get lost, or sit there unanswered for ages. Nothing turns people off more than feeling ignored, so make sure this doesn’t happen.
Be quick to respond, make them feel valued and heard. Remember, people expect almost instant replies on social media. Provide fast, helpful responses to boost your customer relationship and reputation.
- Supplement Your ChatBots and Auto Responses with Digital Resources
Digital resources help the customer help themselves, so they can feel proactive. One easy way to figure out and solve customer needs is to use your FAQ’s. What are customers asking about? How can you stay one step ahead of them?
You can turn these FAQs into evergreen blog posts. This is helpful, useful content that’s always relevant. You can keep directing customers back to it when they need that helping hand.
A lot of people will prefer one on one support, but most will appreciate the chance to try and fix it themselves. Make sure you ask for user feedback on your solutions to connect with customers. It’ll also help you stay on top of their issues and produce more useful content in the future.
- Send Customers Information to Address And Upcoming Changes or Additions
Your digital customer services platforms are what you’ll use to build rapport. It’s where you’ll build that relationship with your customers. To do this, you need to be proactive, not only reactive.
Send out messages to let customers know of upcoming changes or maintenance. If they later run into slow loading times or a website crash, they’ll be thankful you let them know already.
You can also let customers know of any additions or new features you’re bringing in. It’s a great way to keep them in the loop, make them feel included and part of the company family.
Remember not to overdo it with the messages though. They don’t need to know every minute change. Too many emails can be a turn-off and will put customers off wanting to interact with you.
- Do Your Customer Follow-Ups
When you think about how to improve customer service, you need to think about making the customer feel valued. When a customer comes to you with an issue or question, make sure you do your follow-ups.
You want to check that they found their answers or got the help they needed. And they weren’t made to wait.
You should do a follow-up within a week of them contacting you. It’s especially important to follow-up with customers who have had a bad experience.
Let them know you listened and what you plan to do to do better next time. Asking for and listening to their feedback shows you care and view them as an individual.
- Build Up Your Customer Service Team
We’ve all felt that frustration when you talk to a customer service rep who isn’t enabled. They’re limited, and following a strict script. You get that feeling this is more for the company’s benefit and not yours.
It’s important you don’t recreate this in your business. This is another surefire way to get success when it comes to how to improve customer service online
Customer-facing roles should have the ability to take most of the decisions to get things done. The focus should always be on making sure the customers leave happy.
You want to keep your customers happy and enabling your customer service reps is the key. Repeat customers will often buy more than first-timers, so you want to keep their business. So, give your staff the ability to solve customer issues on the spot.
Digital Customer Service to Be Proud of
So, there you have it! Now you know these top seven digital customer service tips, you’re well on your way to a better customer experience.
The key to great customer service is to create informed customers. Let your support team have the tools and freedom they need to solve customers’ issues while creating a personal connection. Be present, be active and be there when your customers need you the most.
If you found this article helpful, be sure to check out our other blog posts today!