Customer Service Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Successful businesses believe that it is better to engage in effective customer retention activities than acquire new customers.

Bain & Company says that increasing customer retention by five percent can increase the return on investment by 300 percent. That is why leading companies always emphasize top-notch customer service as one of their cornerstones.

Unfortunately, there are no golden rules for effective customer service because consumers have unique needs and requirements. Mistakes happen. Your business can improve its customer service by avoiding the following customer service mistakes and learning how to fix them.

Not Being There When Customers Need You To

There is nothing that a customer hates more than waiting for several minutes on the line for a human voice to take their call.

In 2014, American Express found out that customers were willing to wait on the phone line for 13 minutes. Three years later, Arise determined that two-thirds of callers wait for no more than two minutes. The more glaring figure is the 34% of customers who bring their business elsewhere after experiencing a dramatic customer-put-on-hold scenario.

You can fix this issue by using remote or virtual agents supporting your team, allowing them to respond to customer issues wherever they are and whenever they want to. Croo Talk lets your team handle customer calls wherever they are worldwide. They can use up to five devices to increase their customer relationship-building effectiveness.

Some organizations also use voicemail services to prevent any customer message from slipping through the cracks. It would be best to treat all calls as legitimate. Every unanswered call is a missed opportunity. Providing customers multiple communication channels, live chat, and a click-to-call button also helps.

Adhering to a Reactive Approach

Most businesses expect customers to call only when they have a problem. Companies do not go out of their way to address potential product or service issues before a customer requires their attention. Many organizations adhere to a reactive approach instead of being proactive.

Unfortunately, a reactive approach goes against modern customer expectations. More than 87% of customers expect companies to be proactive by reaching out to them even when there are no problems or issues with their products.

You can ensure more proactive customer service by using a co-browsing feature on your website. These are pop-up elements that provide real-time assistance and support to anyone navigating your website.

Chatbots are also a proactive way of engaging customers. These automated programs provide answers to queries when agents are unavailable. Video chats are always ideal because they make conversations more personalized and interactive. They also provide real-time responses to customer queries.

Disregarding Data

Businesses use metrics to monitor and evaluate their performance, ensuring they meet their strategic objectives. While data collection is a straightforward process, data analysis is not. It is a time-consuming and complex process that prompts some companies to disregard the data altogether.

One way to fix this issue is by developing a few key performance indicators for customer service. You can then determine the different parameters necessary for evaluating the metrics. For example, you can look at missed call rates, average wait times, and first-call resolution as essential metrics for customer services.

Fortunately, you can rely on our Croo Talk to provide you with these call parameters and other call data. Your team will feel more empowered in addressing customer issues because the data are at their fingertips.

Failure to Empower Employees

Some companies think that employees can interact effectively with customers without training. After all, we are all social beings. Unfortunately, not everyone has the customer’s needs as their priorities. People can also have differing views on what good customer service is.

Start by hiring people who are a perfect fit for your organization’s vision. It would be best to hire people with exceptional people skills, compassion, empathy, and understanding if you want exemplary customer service.

mployee training is a must because it gives your staff a clear picture of what the company expects of them. It also standardizes customer-centric approaches, strengthening your customer service initiatives.

Empowering your staff to fix customer issues on their own can also help. It would be wise to support them with the resources necessary to solve customer problems without elevating the concern to the management.

Conclusion

There are many more customer service mistakes that companies make. However, the above-mentioned issues are the most prevalent. The good news is that these are not challenging to fix.

You can use modern technology, such as Croo Talk, to improve your customer service initiatives. Adhering to a proactive approach and training your staff in the art of customer service can also go a long way towards retaining your customers and growing the business.