Customer satisfaction plays a key role in the success of any business. Lower customer satisfaction will only lower your customer loyalty and retention rates, hinting at enormous shortcomings in your customer service. In fact, businesses lose billions of dollars each year in sales due to bad customer service.
If you don’t have a customer service strategy, you should make it a top priority and act fast. Over the past few years, we’ve witnessed tremendous transformation in customer care, evolving beyond one-on-one phone call interactions.
Today, social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook lead the charge by enabling consumers to almost instantly engage with their favorite brands.
If you’ve noticed a decline in your online sales, you should focus on improving your eCommerce customer service to improve customer experience and, ultimately, drive sales. Below are some ways you can streamline your customer service and drive up sales:
1. Solicit Customers’ Feedback
Customer feedback should be one of your most strategic business assets since it is the most reliable indicator of customer satisfaction with your services, products, and overall brand.
Customer feedback can go a long way in helping you identify the necessary product or service improvements. Considering customer feedback also shows your consumers just how valuable their opinions are to your business.
Try to come up with ways to solicit feedback from your customers. For instance, you can conduct email or text surveys. Regardless of your approach, the crucial objective is to determine whether your business is exceeding or downplaying your customer’s expectations.
2. Provide Fast, Convenient Customer Support
Whenever consumers encounter issues with your services or need guidance in using your product, they expect you to offer a decent and fast response. Delayed customer support can negatively affect your customer satisfaction levels.
According to a recent study, more than 68% of American adults claim that the availability of great customer support is the best thing they can expect from their favorite brand.
With the growing importance of fast customer support, it’s quite clear that having a 24/7 dedicated support department is the way to go, especially for a business experiencing exponential growth.
The best approach would be to hire customer reps who work in shifts. If you are working on a tight budget, consider hiring freelancers. While chatbots can also help, live chat comes in handy by allowing your customer reps to remain available remotely for issues that can’t be resolved by a bot.
3. Offer Loyalty Programs
Every loyal customer appreciates discounts and free stuff. Loyalty programs are a major booster for increasing sales and customer retention. This is because repeat customers typically trust your business already. Loyalty programs will surely keep your customers coming back for more.
Endnote
High-quality customer service is more important in today’s competitive environment than ever before. The quality of your customer support service can be the key to enhancing your brand’s image. The tips outlined above can help you achieve your customer support goals.
By cultivating strong customer relations, your brand can achieve greater exposure and boost sales. Focus on training your workforce to prepare them for competent and competitive customer service. Remember that your customer relationships are the basis for the long-term success of your company.
