Management

Get Your Customer Service Basics Right

Last updated by

July 20, 2021

Does customer service matter as much now your business is mostly online? Customer service has evolved; now, online shopping is preferred. However, it’s still important and can always be improved.

Do you remember how you used to get ready to greet customers as they entered your store?

The first impressions of that warm and friendly greeting converted to more sales. Equally, when your store was busy or your staff preoccupied with tasks and the initial greeting of customers absent, sales were not as good.

Now we mostly shop online; the customer greeting is present, but it’s not a person. It’s a chatbot.

Shoppers still want to know their custom is appreciated and that you’re there for them when they have questions.

Early on, when eCommerce stores were a new way to shop, online retailers needed real people answering customer telephone calls, emails, and the first versions of live chat.

Table of Contents

Chatbots

Now, chatbots rule first-line support, and they are capable of answering more complex queries due to the software using AI and machine learning. Soon a real person may never be required in customer support, but your business shouldn’t do away with its human customer service focus altogether.

Human Customer Support Team

Rather than eliminate your customer support team, evolve their role, so they’re interacting with customers when and where it matters most.

Here are some examples of when a human customer services representative is vital to your online business:

Customer Grievances

Let’s start with customer grievances and how they are resolved. Using a chatbot to deal with customer complaints is not wise. Shoppers are fine with getting their product queries answered by a chatbot. However, when they have made a purchase and they need assistance with it, a real person dealing with them is not only preferred; it’s a must.

A business is judged on how well it responds to complaints. If your business is dropping its guard and not dealing with customer complaints in a speedy efficient, and professional way, then you will have disgruntled customers, and they will find avenues to share their negative experiences with their followers.

Brand Reputation

Protect your brand with a team of customer service professionals trained in customer complaint resolution. This is a step up for your team from being the first line of support for product enquiries. You’ve now repurposed their role within your business.

Your ‘human’ customer support team are now more critical in their role of protecting your brand.

Brands can be made and destroyed in a heartbeat due to customer reach online.

All businesses need to be wary of how quickly their brand reputation can go from hero to zero. Disgruntled customers dissatisfied with how a business has treated them will share their grievances with their followers on social media.

What’s more, you can expect an unhappy customer to talk up their experience, so they get the feedback they need from their community of followers, and this is no good for your business.

Compliant Resolution Tips

Your human customer support team will need to know how to respond to negative feedback they find online. Here’s what you can do to make their job easier and more rewarding:

Education and training

Set them up to succeed with higher-level education in psychology and on the job training, so they know how to deal with difficult people.

Template responses

Your human support team will have good and bad days, so when some communication becomes too challenging, they can refer to templated responses that will also include escalating the call or ticket to a senior customer support representative.