Your customers are your lifeblood. You need satisfied, loyal customers to see long-term revenue growth. One way to keep your customers coming back is to speed up your customer service.
Customers do not want to wait for help. According to a 2020 study, 89% of customers said a quick response to an inquiry was important in choosing who to do business with.
So, how do you respond quickly and offer fast customer service? We are going to show you 7 methods you can use to boost your customer service and improve customer satisfaction.
Key Takeaways
- Offer customers plenty of self-service options that give them access to instant customer service.
- Overestimating wait times can help manage customer expectations and usually results in improved customer satisfaction.
- Outsourcing customer service gives your business access to experienced service representatives who deliver professional, fast results.
Speed Up Your Customer Service with These 7 Strategies
Fast customer service can help keep your customers happy. Use these 7 strategies to exceed your customers’ expectations.
1. Offer Self-Service Options
Modern customers are not afraid to help themselves. Many customers prefer to find answers on their own instead of waiting in long phone queues. Self-service options have numerous benefits in addition to being faster. These include the following:
- Lightens the load for customer service representatives.
- Builds trust for customers.
- Provides instant customer service at any time of day.
- Improves accessibility.
- Offers cost-effective solutions.
- Minimizes human error.
According to a 2020 study from McKinsey, businesses that use automated self-service options can see up to a 40% reduction in customer service costs.
When a customer has a problem with a product, they want to quickly turn to your resources to find the solution. These self-service solutions can come in many forms. Here are some of the most popular options:
- Company website (blog, FAQ, product pages)
- Social media
- Live chatbots
- SMS
- Interactive voice response (IVR) phone systems
Most of these self-service options are a form of automated technology. They remove the need for another human to solve the customer’s problem. Self-service options give power to the consumer. It makes them feel confident in their choices and ability to solve their own problems.
2. Create Different Service Lines
With a single line for every type of customer need, your customers will have to wait a long time to get the help they need. Instead, create multiple lines for different types of requests. For example, your phone menu could include options for technical support, help making payments, or customers needing general information. This sends customers to agents who will best be able to answer their questions.
3. Keep the Customer Informed
Knowing how long you will wait can make waiting easier and more manageable. This is known as the psychology of waiting and shows that expected wait times feel shorter than unexpected wait times, even if they are the same. If your customers are calling in, you can add an automated message that tells them how many customers are ahead of them or an approximate wait time. You can also do this with a virtual queue for some online systems.
4. Manage Customer Expectations
This strategy is related to the previous point. Customers feel better about waiting when you under-promise and then overdeliver. For example, if a customer hears that they will need to wait for 20 minutes, but then their call is answered in 10, they will be pleasantly surprised. However, if you tell them 10 minutes, and it turns out to be 10 minutes, the experience feels ordinary.
In one study, which surveyed 100,000 calls at a call center, shorter than expected wait times gave a small boost to the overall customer experience. The study concluded that it is better to be more pessimistic about wait times. However, you should still try to be realistic. Don’t give the customer an estimated wait time of 20 minutes if you expect it will really only be 5 minutes.
5. Let Customers Stay Busy
Customers who have something to do while they wait experience wait times differently than those who do not. This psychological difference is why doctor’s offices usually offer magazines in their waiting rooms or access to free Wi-Fi. If your customer support is done through the phone, you can offer a call-back option. This allows customers to confirm their phone number and receive a call back without losing their place in line. Customers carry on with their day while they wait for your call.
In this video, customer service expert Shep Hyken, shares some tips on how to improve the overall customer experience including eliminating long wait times and responding quickly to customer issues.
6. Have Multiple Contact Channels
Use an omnichannel support strategy so customers can contact you using their preferred method. While some customers may still prefer making a call, others prefer digital options like email or chat. If you maintain any social media accounts, you should also monitor customer interactions there too.
An important factor with this strategy is to make sure your contact channels are connected. If a customer contacts you on social media and then calls your support center, your customer service representatives should have a history of all customer contacts.
7. Outsource Your Customer Service
No matter your intentions or how hard you try, sometimes your business just does not have the time or resources required to offer the best customer service. In these situations, outsourcing your customer service may be the ideal solution.
Outsourcing has some distinct benefits:
- Cost-effective
- Scalable
- Specialized workforce
- Advanced industry technology
- Improved customer satisfaction and loyalty
Televerde Can Speed Up Your Customer Service with Inbound Customer Support
Even with all these suggestions, ramping up your customer service routine can feel overwhelming. Perhaps you have tried, but you still have not found the success you need. This is where Televerde can help.
You can outsource your customer service to us. Our expertly trained service representatives offer speed, agility, and knowledge to efficiently manage your customer service. We understand the importance of a quality customer experience and want to keep your customers satisfied.
We offer inbound customer support for order processing, general customer service, after-hours support, and even lead qualification.
Want to see how Televerde can increase the speed of your customer service? Contact us today to set up a free consultation.
