Customer service is one of the most important and effective ways of assuring customer satisfaction.
“When I think about great service, it’s about how you take every interaction you have with the customer and use that as a way to improve their perception of your organization.” – Jon Herstein, SVP of Customer Service at Box
No matter the size of your business, it’s important to have some sort of customer service infrastructure in place. With that said, as you’re brainstorming customer service for your business, you’ll want to keep the following things in mind:
- Who will be servicing the customer? How will they accomplish it?
- How will you offer your customer service?
- Will it come via email? Phone? Website chat?
- What types of services will you provide? Many customer service managers pride themselves on availability and the speed of their answer.
- You should also consider policies for returns and refunds.
If you’re going to be responsible for customer service, you’ll want to be sure that you have the necessary amount of time and effort (and, if applicable, language skills) available. After all, the only thing worse than no customer service is bad customer service. Regardless of your final decision, it’s important to appear professional at all times. This will start with your customer service landing page, which should provide a clear contact point for your customers. Hiding this information could make you “untrustworthy,” which is something you’ll surely want to avoid.
Furthermore, be wary of offering a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Your goal is to still make money, and you never want to pay more than you earn. You can set the right expectations for your business’s customer service team by creating clear and concise policies. Ultimately, it’s going to take some time to truly gauge the proper customer service route for your specific business.
However, don’t forget how important this can be; if done right, you can transform a disgruntled customer into a loyal customer. And keep in mind that our customer service is always here to work out solutions for you and your customers. Contact us!