What Is Customer Service?

The basics

Simply put, customer service means providing added value to your clients and users so that they can make the most of a product or service. It is about providing support whether they buy or use your products or services, helping them to have an easy and enjoyable experience. Support is part of customer expectations, but it does not stop interacting with customers after you sell them your product.

A successful customer service policy is a system that provides employees with the tools they need to ensure excellent customer experience quality. This is the key component of the customer retention culture that, together with its processes, ensures the success of your business.

Most customers’ stories on the Internet are about bad experiences, so you don’t always hear from companies that actually do it right. That doesn’t mean brands should ignore customer satisfaction or simply try to avoid negative customer feedback.

One of the best things that a team can do when trying to improve the overall satisfaction levels of their customers is to learn from the good, and the bad. Don’t get discouraged if you are finding a lot of “what not to do” ideas when researching tactics and tips. These stories can help guide your team away from implementing faulty or inconsiderate policies.

But don’t worry, we aren’t here to just tell you about what won’t work. Let’s focus on what does work, and how your team can improve their processes today!

Providing the best support

Good customer service usually means providing clients with punctual, attentive, and supportive service, while ensuring that their needs are met in a way that has a positive impact on the business of the company. This sums up how important customer service is in the competitive landscape and how important it is to excel in it.

In customer support, the biggest frustration for users is not getting what they need. Customer frustration stems from a lack of understanding of what is actually delivered, not from the customer experience itself.

For this reason, customer service teams need to bring client interaction to a clear and tailored solution. When a potential customer has a question about a product, the Service Agent must be able to respond immediately with its omnichannel customer service software. The only time a present customer would contact customer service is if they have a problem with the product or service. For example, if you receive a damaged package, your customer will inform you in order to find a solution.

Whatever the issue, the role of customer satisfaction is to reassure the company’s clients and provide the information they request. Negativity can mean a faulty product or confusing instructions, but no matter, it is still worth hearing about it from your customers in order to improve the issue or fix the problem.

It is also important that customer service staff understand that it is their job to change the way the clients feel by listening to them. In general, the goal is to give help, advice, and service that a company offers immediately after purchase. Whether customer service is simply an information consultation or assistance request, support is a process that creates an emotional connection with clients.

Tips for successful customer experiences

1. Make sure that you are using the right tools to help your team support your customers. By giving your team access to smart business applications, you will be better positioned to give a positive experience. With Yodel on your side, you’re able to improve your ability to support your customers and your team through innovative features and smart integrations. By simply giving your team access to an improved phone communication process, their ability to successfully aid callers will improve tremendously.
2. Build a lasting relationship. When a customer needs help buying a product or is frustrated to the point where they leave the brand, the customer service representative must use the right skills to connect with them. If your business or customer service representative already has a lasting relationship, your customers are more likely to respond positively even when experiencing frustrations. Consider adding a designated team member who will be in charge of ensuring long standing, positive relationships such as a Customer Success Specialist.
3. Your tone is key in any communication. If your agents aren’t properly trained, they may start to react to frustrated callers and clients in an improper manner. Having the proper tone takes time to establish, and it can be helpful for new agents to learn directly from your more accomplished agents. Allow time for new agents to be brought up to speed developing this important customer service skill as they establish a calm, consistent, and positive tone across all interactions.
4. Take advantage of trusted models. For example, the CARP method has been a staple in customer success strategies. When responding to a complaint, make sure your agents are ready to: Control the situation, Acknowledge the dilemma, Refocus the conversation on solutions, and Problem-solve so that your client leaves the interaction feeling listened to and ready to succeed with a new solution.
5. Being accessible will help your business thrive. Think about how frustrating it would be for your client to have a problem, and to be unable to reach your team in a timely manner. Make sure that you are offering customer service channels that your team is able to respond to promptly. Whether this is social media, email, a chat box on your website, or your business phone, make sure your team is accessible when it matters most.
6. When you know what excellent customer service is all about, you can communicate it in the form of a positive experience. At any time, write down all the situations and their provided solutions that resulted from a really good customer experience. Explain to yourself what and how you have learned from that particular experience.

In the end…

Delivering high quality customer service is something that your business should be prioritizing. The best way to do this is by offering communication channels that help your customers find helpful resolutions. Phone communication gives your customers an accessible channel of communication that has been shown to be effective in resolving customer concerns.

With Yodel, you can take your business phone one step further with advanced collaboration and communication features that will help you improve upon your existing customer service experience. Get started with a free trial today, and see how Yodel can help you give your callers a positive customer experience.