Communication is key to any business. At the end of the day, you have to convince someone somewhere that your business is essential to their everyday lives. This might be by sparking a desire within them or by painlessly solving a problem for them. Part of this process is customer service. If they have questions, concerns, or any other reason to get in touch with you, then your business better have a robust system in place and allow them to get in touch with you and see a response from every communication channel.
This means phone calls, emails, DMs, comments, and even improving the information on your own website:
Improve Your Phone Calls
Though phone calls have certainly died down in popularity, you always, always need to have a great system in place for when people do call. It is important to remember that people often call when they want a problem or question solved immediately. Train whoever is taking your calls, invest in cheap toll-free numbers and services to track and analyze these calls, and of course, open up new reports for every customer so that you can track their issue and give them better service next time.
Improve Your Emails
Many customers feel more comfortable with email correspondence because they don’t need to wait on hold, and their messages are more likely to be answered via email than they are if they tried to use your direct messaging feature on your website out of office hours.
Set up an automated messaging system so that if you are out of office hours, they get a reply letting them know when to expect a response. Setting the right expectation early on is essential to keep your customers happy.
Improve Direct Messaging
Direct messaging comes in two forms; on social media, and if you have a chatbox, on your website. The last thing you want to do is to keep harassing your customers with a chatbox, and you definitely don’t want to allow messages to get lost on social media.
Use the right tools, and a non-invasive interface to give your customers a quality service regardless of how they decide to get in touch with you. In general, try to check for direct messages on social media at least three times a day. By keeping up to date, you can address concerns fast and in a timely manner.
Improve Website Information
Finally, remember that there will be customers that do not want to talk to you. They want to find the information themselves and will do so directly on your site, but if they cannot, they will move on to a competitor. This isn’t because you failed to be informative and to deal with their query in a simple manner.
By creating detailed guides, FAQ pages, and more, you can help them find all the information that they need. Not only is it great for your communication strategy, it’s actually fantastic for your SEO as well, making it a great win-win effort on your part.
