Did you know that 95% of consumers say that customer service plays a significant role in their brand choices and loyalty?
If your customer service is not up to standard, you’re going to be losing business and giving market share away to the competition.
As it happens, customer service calls are one touchpoint where a lot of frustration can occur. If your customers are left hanging on the line or not dealt with courteously, this can be detrimental to their brand loyalty and trust.
However, if you decide to implement the correct best practices around customer services calls—you’ll impress customers and strengthen their trust and loyalty.
Ready to find out how to improve customer service over the phone? Keep reading for our top customer service call tips.
- Make sure you answer customer service calls promptly
Taking a long time to answer customer service calls is the quickest route to tarnishing your brand image. If customers are forced to hold the line for an extended period, they are likely to get frustrated.
Additionally, long holding periods make it seem like your business isn’t well run. It also gives the impression that you don’t have the capacity to handle customer service calls effectively.
Therefore, make sure that you reduce the waiting time for customer service calls as much as possible. This will go a long way towards experience and showing customers you respect their time.
- Observe good customer service call etiquette
Answering incoming calls quickly is considered good customer service call etiquette. Besides this, you should also focus on the other areas of customer service etiquette, which include:
- Reducing hold times
- Asking customers if you can transfer them
Initial wait times on customer service calls are frustrating enough. If customers get abruptly transferred and have to endure another long hold, only to be curtly transferred again—this can trigger feelings of anger and impatience.
To avoid this, take measures to reduce holding times. Also, ensure that all agents know the importance of asking the customer whether they are okay with being transferred to the applicable person/department.
- Smile when answering the phone
Do you want to optimise service and make your customers feel valued? If so, agents must start customer service calls off on a warm and friendly foot.
A great way to do this is by training agents to smile when answering calls. This automatically injects warmth into one’s voice, which will come through to the customer on the other end.
- Focus on clear, courteous communication
It’s essential that agents communicate clearly and courteously.
No matter how upset the customer may be, agents must not respond to these emotions and retaliate with coldness or indifference. By maintaining a courteous and helpful attitude, agents can often sway the tide of the interaction. This is especially true if they can immediately resolve the customer’s issue.
Besides being courteous, agents also need to focus on clarity. Along with speaking clearly and simply, agents should also double-check whether the customer has fully understood.
- Gain customer feedback
You should implement methods for customers to leave feedback. By gathering feedback, you can gauge how your customer service calls measure up in consumers’ eyes and where you can improve.
If you are wondering how to boost customer service calls, this is one of the most critical steps. Customer feedback can be a crucial resource for improving customer service calls as it allows you to hone in on specific friction points.
What’s more, it’s also a customer expectation. Research from Microsoft has revealed that 90% of consumers believe that organisations should provide customers with feedback.
- Invest in reliable communication systems
As well as improving your customer service call etiquette, you should also focus on optimising your communication systems. Even if your agents are answering calls fast and treating customers well, if the line is scratchy or soft, or customers get cut off, this can be very frustrating.
It also doesn’t give off the impression that your business is well run and worthy of trust.
When choosing a business phone system, there are a few key areas to consider. These include scalability, pricing, and whether to go for a traditional or virtual/VoIP phone system.
Virtual phone systems typically offer more flexibility and are cheaper. They are also well suited to small businesses without physical locations.
Virtual phone systems also allow businesses to completely streamline their communication if they choose to leverage unified communications. Unified communications integrate various communication channels, including phone, fax, SMS, email, and instant messaging for enhanced omnichannel customer contact.
- Make sure your representatives practice active listening
Along with being courteous and communicating clearly, it’s also vital that agents practice active listening. By really listening to customers and understanding their issues, agents are better able to assist them.
No consumer likes to call a business and feel like the person on the other end isn’t proactively listening. Prevent this from happening on your customer service calls. Remind your representatives of the importance of active listening.
- Emphasise the importance of empathy in customer service
Empathy is an essential skill that all agents need to leverage in customer service calls. If a customer deals with an empathetic agent, they are far more likely to feel heard. This assures customers that your company cares about them and values their business.
On the other hand, a disengaged agent who doesn’t have empathy is likely to leave customers with the impression that your business disregards its customers.
Are your customer service calls suffering from communication system issues?
The quality of your customer service calls is pivotal for improving UX. Good customer service on the phone can elevate your brand in consumers’ eyes and establish loyalty and trust.
Are you struggling with your current communication system? If so, this is one of the first things you need to change to upgrade your customer service calls.
Here at Dalycom, we specialise in unified communications systems that streamline all of your communication needs. We offer a variety of solutions tailored to your size, conditions, and industry.
For more information, call us on 01509 410 410!
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