Advances in technology benefit small businesses, but this also means plenty of competition. Because of this, customer satisfaction no longer relies solely on excellent products and services at attractive prices.
Now, it is heavily influenced by the way organisations make customers feel valued and reduce their problems through quality customer service. Your small business can aim for this by simply following these steps.
Go paperless
Eliminate paper records where you could, such as adopting digital billing and payments for your customers, and they will appreciate the streamlined approach. If you are a service provider, for instance, give your customers access to digital formats of contracts, invoices and client records, so they can easily check them from their end. And if you have brick-and-mortar store, bring it online if you haven’t already, and allow digital payments inside your physical store.
As you shift to a paperless system, make sure that older paper file are also digitised. Scan your files with a reliable and easy-to-use scanner. This allows you to cut down on paper waste and space, and enables you to quickly and efficiently access files for your customers.
Once all the relevant files have been scanned, organise and back them up to a cloud-based drive, such as OneDrive, Google Drive and Dropbox. A cloud solution secures your data and allows your team to share files efficiently and collaborate on customer service requests.
Use socials to understand and engage with consumers
For a consumer-facing customer service, small businesses need to offer streamlined, engaged, and professional help directly from social media platforms. While phone calls and emails remain helpful, many customers, especially younger ones, prefer the speed and accessibility that social media provides.
Interactions via socials tremendously benefit small businesses, but they also come with accountability and responsibility in a public platform. Many customers reach out directly on social media channels with questions or feedback, and no matter the size or urgency of the issue, you need to respond quickly.
Dissatisfied customers often just want an explanation or acknowledgement, and a quick and genuine response can settle the issue and make the customer feel valued, even if it takes longer to come up with a complete solution.
Make support clear
Aside from having your contact details on your website and socials, having a separate page dedicated solely to your support mechanisms and services saves everyone time and trouble. Let your customers know how to get support, what times you offer support and the different channels you offer.
However, while it is great to offer your customers different support options, such as email support, live chat, phone support and social media, make sure that you take on a realistic amount of work.
It is better to offer brilliant support via one channel than be mediocre at several, so develop the channels that work for you and your customers. If they frequently use phone support, for example, hiring a call answering service will improve this channel. Your business will likely grow to favour one particular channel, anyway, so being known for providing excellent service in that area has great benefits for your brand.
The digital age is a great time to be a small business. The surge in technology brings with it plenty of resources to connect with customers, that even small businesses can use to provide outstanding customer service. Now, it is up to you to use these tools to your advantage and exponentially grow your business.
