Editorial
The Gist
- Consistency. The delivery of excellent customer service is reliant on providing a consistent experience that is in line with the expectations of the customer.
- Learning from feedback. Customer feedback gives you actionable insights into the experiences and expectations of your customers and is a very useful tool in auditing the quality of service.
- Putting customer feedback to work. Developing a strategy based on insights from customer feedback data enables data-driven decision-making and continuous application of feedback-based improvement in customer service.
Consistency is at the heart of successful businesses that place customer satisfaction as a priority. Consumers expect a consistent experience across all brand interactions, whether online, in-store or over the phone with customer service. Because it is the foremost point of contact between your consumers and your company, a consistently high standard for your customer service strategy is crucial. Approximately 59% of consumers state that they would leave a brand if they have an inconsistent experience with customer service.
The consumer public associates consistency with trustworthiness, reliability and positive assurance of quality standards. By continuously delivering on these standards and providing clear communication across the board through properly trained CS agents, your business will deliver a positive, high-quality customer experience.
If your business reliably meets the expectations of your customers by providing a service that can be counted on, you’ll be rewarded with loyalty, deepened trust and higher customer retention (it is between five and 25 times more costly to acquire new customers than it is to invest in holding on to existing ones) and, ultimately, the growth of your business.
Here's how to build a wining customer service strategy.
Building a Better Customer Service Strategy
Learning From Feedback: Listening to the Customer
A go-to for customers seeking to make an educated purchase is online customer reviews. They have taken up a position as highly valuable sources of feedback and insights, which your business can make use of to improve the customer relationship and optimize how your company is run.
With the popularity of online reviews, the way in which consumers voice their opinions and share experiences has been revolutionized. Through social platforms such as Twitter or Facebook, or review sites, customers have a place to speak their minds, talk of their experiences, share advice and give first-hand feedback about your business. Such review data is a wealth of grassroots insight that offers businesses an in-depth look into what is happening on the ground, so to speak, illuminating the pros and cons of your company customer service strategy from the perspective of your end user.
Online review statistics show that about 91% of consumers pay attention to both positive and negative experiences when reading online reviews. Taking the time to assess data gleaned from customer feedback will lead to a deeper, more comprehensive perception of your customers’ wants and needs. By identifying patterns in complaints, such as the recurrence of a specific issue, businesses will get a better understanding of where they excel and where they fall short. These testimonials of the customer experience can reveal blind spots and also patterns in negative feedback, and thereby identify areas that need working on to improve customer service outcomes.
This consumer feedback is a first-hand account of the customer experience, a journal of what your customers like about your business, what they appreciate and how they think your customer service strategy could be improved. It not only provides you with a wealth of useful data, but it also gives you an opportunity to engage with your customer base on a public platform, showcase great customer service for all to see, and broadcast how important customer satisfaction is to your business.
Related Article: Effective CX Strategies: Digging out of a CX Standstill
Using Data to Improve the Customer Experience
Applying such a data-driven customer service strategy will go a long way toward making sure that your customer service solutions match the actual needs of your customer, by enabling your company to direct its resources toward making improvements in the areas that your customers have told you are most important to them.
As an example, several reviews may talk about sluggish response times. Using this information, a company can be assertive in investing in its customer support team to address this pain point, as it is backed by actual data that shows it will make a positive difference. A customer service team furnished with such pertinent information will then be more proactive and confident in resolving customer quibbles.
Another benefit of harnessing feedback data is its continuous, up-to-date nature. In some cases, new reviews are delivered daily, providing a running commentary on the changes a business is implementing and their outcomes in the eyes of the consumer. This "live" feedback provides your company with a testing ground for operational changes and improvements and gives you the agility to quickly respond to emerging customer sentiments and demands.
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Feedback data can also provide you with a benchmark of how your company performs when compared with your competition. How do consumers rate and perceive the various businesses in your industry? How do you stack up? Analyzing such differences can uncover minor and major gaps and also shed light upon areas where a competitive advantage can be gained — What unique solutions can your company offer the consumer that is currently absent? Online reviews can reveal that consumers are crying out for a specific solution that no one is yet providing, presenting you with a perfect opportunity to excel, which you could seize upon and be the first to address.
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Consistency and Customer Feedback Is the Basis for Customer Service Improvement
Consistency and the use of feedback data are critical assets in providing excellent customer service. Consistency of service develops trust and loyalty and establishes a positive brand reputation. Through online feedback, your business has a direct line into the thoughts and feelings of your customers concerning how your company does business — priceless information that can springboard essential improvements and optimized service provision.
Utilizing data from customer feedback, employing a review management system, and applying strategic data-derived choices, your company will develop a deeper understanding of what your customer service strategy needs to achieve, clean up areas where service has been lacking and ultimately attain greater levels of customer satisfaction. Employing a customer-centered strategy that welcomes feedback and seeks continuous refinement is the sure-fire route to a positive, enduring customer relationship.
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