How to Improve Your Online Customer Service
Providing excellent customer service is a goal that every business should strive for, but it’s especially important in today’s digital landscape. While the fundamentals have remained the same, an increasing range of online customer service tools and processes have been adopted by companies to enhance the digital experience of their audiences.
From emails to phone calls, live chat features to personalised user experiences - today’s top customer service providers leverage technology to enhance their offering, and keeping up has never been more vital. From perfecting the basics to exploring modern solutions that will set your business apart from the crowd - this article explains exactly how to improve your customer service for the online age.
Get in touch to learn more about how Red Letter Days Corporate can help your business attract loyal and satisfied customers.
Why is Customer Service Important?
Aside from boosting your brand’s reputation and nurturing its consumer relationships, there are plenty of bottom line benefits to improving your customer service offering. Data from McKinsey & Company shows that companies leading the way in customer service experience revenue growth at more than double the rate of those lagging behind.
On top of this, providing excellent customer service enables your business to retain the customers that matter most. Studies have shown that over 80% of a company’s total revenue comes from just 20% of its customers, highlighting the massive implicit value in prioritising customer loyalty. And with 97% of consumers stating that customer service interactions impact their likelihood of staying committed to a brand, it’s clear that putting your customers first comes with its own array of meaningful rewards.
What is Online Customer Service?
The benefits of adopting a dedicated and holistic approach to customer service speak for themselves, but what does this look like in an increasingly-online environment?
Online customer service refers to the digital processes and tools used by businesses to engage with customers and address their inquiries. This can involve responding to inquiries in real time via email, social media, video calls and live chat support - or developing self-service portals which allow customers to investigate their own queries using guides, FAQs and tutorials in written or video formats.
There are numerous advantages to making online customer service a priority for your business, many of which are just as beneficial to you as they will be to your valued consumers. Implementing an effective online customer service system enables your organisation to:
5 Ways to Improve Customer Service Online
1. Prioritise customer needs
While it may see like an obvious point to make, the importance of placing your customers’ needs at the centre of your approach to customer service can’t be overstated. Understanding who your customers are and what they need will make it far easier to identify their paint points and provide actionable solutions.
While issuing feedback forms and creating specialised focus groups are both tried and trusted methods of gauging what your customers want, there are lots of modern alternatives that can help to speed up the process. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems allow your business to administer data from customers at every touch point - providing valuable customer insights at every stage of the user journey.
2. Make interactions easier
When it comes to implementing an excellent online customer service strategy, few factors create impact like making life easier for your customers. Data from Linnworks suggests that convenience is the number one priority for a substantial 76% of shoppers - which presents a strong case for prioritising it in your business, too.
In the context of online customer service, convenience can mean everything from building a clear and simple website navigation to making e-commerce checkout processes as streamlined as possible. Customers naturally don’t want to feel confused or delayed when using a service, so put yourself in their shoes when planning every detail of your online customer’s journey.
3. Monitor your performance
Keeping a close eye on your users’ experiences is indispensable to any successful customer service strategy. From the point at which they first encounter your business to the moment they make a conversion, it’s important to ensure that every step of your customer’s journey is optimised for ease and efficiency.
Monitoring the performance of your online customer service can be as simple as conducting targeted feedback surveys or building a spreadsheet to manually track response times. However, larger organisations may benefit from using a modern CRM software that comes equipped with automated reporting tools to monitor performance.
4. Experiment with AI chatbots
Undoubtedly one of the most exciting customer service tools available today - AI chatbots have had a powerful impact on how businesses are structuring their interactions with users. The CEO of Klarna – currently one of the world's most recognised fintech companies - has lauded the performance of its recently-launched AI chatbot, claiming that it completes the work of an impressive 700 customer service workers.
Crucially, AI chatbots function best if your online customer service workers regularly encounter repetitive queries that don’t require a complex, human approach. Automated chatbots can be of endless benefit in this scenario - offering instant, 24/7 feedback across large volumes of customer queries. Many bots can even be programmed to escalate certain issues to human employees, ensuring that you have an empathetic, understanding touch on hand when needed.
5. Perfect your self-service portal
While providing excellent customer service might sound like you’ve always got to be present and guiding users through each step of their journey - it’s often the complete opposite. One recent report found that as many as 81% of customers want more self-service options when interacting with businesses online, so a hand-holding approach may not be your best option.
An effective self-service portal should be comprehensive and integrated, seeking to anticipate customer queries and providing the resources they’ll need to find answers themselves. Make sure that your online customer service offering includes an FAQ page, blog posts, video tutorials and detailed informational guides. Aside from catering to your customers’ wants and needs, you’ll be enabling your staff to focus on more complex customer service enquiries.
Start your journey towards a loyal and satisfied customer base
From focusing on customer experiences to keeping your finger on the pulse of your own performance, experimenting with AI technologies and more - there are plenty of ways to ensure that your business is excelling in every aspect of online customer service.
Providing a quality customer service experience at every available touch point is a top priority for any successful business, and brings a host of benefits - like engaging your ideal audience and fostering customer loyalty among your existing consumer base.
Get in touch today to find out how Red Letter Days Corporate can enhance customer loyalty and satisfaction for your business.