According to our research, exceptional customer service may persuade even the most apathetic customers to change their minds. Hence, it is very important to prioritise customer service.
Every customer would be completely satisfied with every purchase in an ideal world. Shipments would come ahead of time, items or services would exceed expectations, and the terms “return” and “refund” would be eternally banished from our daily vocabulary.
While there is no magic formula for ensuring customer satisfaction, recent research highlights the critical role support agents play. According to a 2022 survey, just one terrible experience will drive over 60% of customers away. Make up for it by providing exceptional customer service, and 74% of consumers will forgive and forget.
It’s a compelling argument for businesses to invest more in their customer service teams. However, how to prioritise tickets and deal with irate consumers are issues that every business must address. Nobody is perfect, and no one gets everything just right. This means that we should all be on the lookout for opportunities to improve. We use data at RisePath to better understand our customers as well as our own performance indicators. This helps us try to create better experiences for all involved.
Developing a business case for world-class customer service
Can agents truly help to improve a terrible situation? Or are dissatisfied customers more inclined to submit negative reviews regardless of the level of service they receive?
We looked at several of our own tickets from the previous year via chat, email, and web forms to evaluate how much influence agents may have on customer satisfaction.
We assessed how customers felt when they first contacted us using AI-powered sentiment analysis (rated as either positive or negative). Then we matched our findings to each ticket’s ensuing customer satisfaction (CSAT) score.
What is the significance of this? Companies may be tempted to rethink how they deal with consumers if CSAT is a sort of predetermined outcome—that unhappy customers are more inclined to offer negative feedback. Worse, they may completely disregard your input.
Here’s what we discovered:
A positive or negative experience can influence a customer’s decision.
We found no compelling link between a customer’s initial dissatisfaction and how they feel after talking with a support representative. What exactly does this imply? Support staff are what determine a customer’s lasting opinion of any firm, regardless of what happened before they reached out.
It puts a lot of responsibility in the hands of the agents. They are a direct reflection of the organisation and, ultimately, how positive people feel about it.
A favourable interaction might save a product that isn’t performing well, simplify a complicated purchase process, or even smooth over a shipment problem. In one research, it was discovered that unhappy consumers only left 20 more negative CSAT ratings for every 1,000 tickets. This is very similar to those who began with a higher sentiment score.
Agents can help or hurt, depending on the situation.
Across all types of tickets, from account difficulties to product questions and everything in between, we observed similar findings. Customers departed with equal satisfaction percentages on more sensitive topics like billing, no matter how upset they were, to begin with.
For all the good that a wonderful event might provide, a negative experience can be just as damaging. Customers who used more pleasant or welcoming wording at the start were just as likely to leave a negative review. What exactly does this imply? You should never take a client for granted.
Poor customer service can damage a company’s reputation and sabotage an otherwise excellent product.
Agents have the ability to make a happy customer mad, or a crazy customer pleased, and there’s a lot we can do to assist agents to prepare for all types of eventualities.
Excellent customer service begins with agents.
Customer service has only gotten more crucial in the last year. Customers are concerned, and businesses are paying attention. More than 60% of customers believe they now have greater requirements. In fact, 64% of worldwide organisations anticipate more CX expenditure in the coming year.
Digital adoption is already accelerating as a result of seismic shifts in how we work and do business. 66 percent of businesses say the epidemic has accelerated their digital transformation, from finding new ways to engage with customers to managing remote workforces.
Customers looked to support teams for guidance and assistance throughout the epidemic, and those teams delivered. The data demonstrates the importance of providing support personnel with the tools and resources they require to fix customer issues swiftly and with minimal user effort. It’s critical for a pleasant consumer experience overall.
These digital technologies, in the hands of operators, mean seamless online experiences and speedier responses for clients. However, investing in customer experience isn’t only about technology. It’s also about putting money into people.
Customers don’t think about what’s going on behind the scenes when they have a good or negative experience. Technology that is truly seamless should be imperceptible. In most circumstances, the employee who assisted the consumer will leave a lasting impression.
Hiring amazing employees is the first step toward great experiences. Here are some steps you can take to guarantee that your agents (and your business!) are on the right track:
4 customer service suggestions to help your company succeed
Hiring amazing employees is the first step toward great experiences. Here are some actions you can take right now to prioritise your agents and improve client experiences.
1. Employ the appropriate personnel
Building relationships is at the heart of customer service. Your agents are going to be bringing consumers through what is likely to be their most frustrating time using your company’s products. They are frequently the only person with whom this customer will interact at your business. Patience, sensitivity, and a desire to assist others are all essential qualities for success. You want them to make a positive first impression.
2. Enhance mentorship and coaching services
Onboarding new agents is only the beginning; continuing investments in your staff should be made. People are more important than methods and technologies. You get teams that care about your business and the customer at the same time by investing and reinvesting in your CX personnel.
3. Define your procedure precisely.
Every customer should feel equally valued, regardless of how your firm prioritises tickets. And a lot of it boils down to having well-defined processes and structures in place so that agents don’t have to worry about making judgments on their own. How you set up your teams is unimportant. As long as it’s incorporated into the workflow, it may be product specialisation, revenue, or what the client pays.
4. Track your progress
Companies are frequently laser-focused on CSAT or other customer-based metrics when measuring success. However, they may be missing out if they aren’t also speaking with their representatives. Employee satisfaction (ESAT) is often the best bang for the buck. A consumer communicates with you on their terms, but an agent can turn their input into useful information for internal teams.
A lifetime dedication to client service
Customer service may be either your company’s greatest advantage or its greatest liability, so every firm should be looking for methods to improve it. Look no farther than your frontline crew if you don’t know where to begin.
According to research, agents have a significant impact on how a client thinks about a company and whether or not they return. We can all aim to give better experiences by regularly assessing and responding to agent feedback, creating better training opportunities, and thinking about ways to minimise annoying or cumbersome internal processes.
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