The scenario of
business world is going to change drastically with more than half of
consumer products and services research and development focusing on
improving customer experience by 2017. Social media has brought about
a revolutionary change in emphasising the need for excellent customer
service.
Consumers are
willing to only choose those products or services that offers the
best experience. This has led to an increased market competition and
have substantially raised the bar in current customer care scenario.
Real-time customer care is crucial to this trend, as nobody has the
patience to wait for answers. Maximum businesses have still not
mastered the art of real-time customer service. These are few handy
tips using which you can improve Real-time customer service at your
organisation:
1.) Concentrate on your customer database
Treating customer
like kings and queens starts with personalization, and this comes
from having all customer related data in one place so customer care
executives can pick up from where the last conversation ended and see
the previous history of interactions. This creates positive customer
experience and generates brand loyalty.
2.) Predict requirements using Analytics
Predictive
analytics is touted to be one of the top customer service trends for
2015. By suggesting the next best alternative or proactively engaging
in trending customer service, is sure to reap huge dividends.
Analytics also helps in pacing up customer service in real time
environment, by helping the customer care executive understand the
customer and his needs in a jiffy.
3.) It’s okay to be human(and make mistakes)
Customers prefer
talking to human than to a robot any day. Therefore, an efficient
real-time customer service ensures that there is a steady brand voice
dealing with all customer interactions. Transparency and genuineness
is the key to connect with customers on a whole new level. They do
not expect perfection and accuracy at all times, but they do expect
honesty. So it’s fine to make mistakes once in a while, but not
apologising for it, is definitely not okay.
4). Enable customer service on smartphones
With the ever
growing demand and usage of mobile phones it has been predicted that
mobile search will generate 28 billion more queries than desktop
search by 2016, and it will just keep on growing by the numbers.
Therefore, mobile applications (apps) should connect well with
real-time customer service. Websites that have an app version should
make it convenient for the customers to interact with the customer
care executive as well.
5.) Be customer ready 24/7
Prompt response
and quick actions for resolving issues are extremely crucial for
effective customer service. It is not called “Real-Time” for
nothing, it literally means the same. It could mean a difficult feat
for businesses which are not used to effective customer service, but
it sure gives them an opportunity to buckle up and work on building
customer loyalty.
In a nutshell,
real-time customer service involves potential as well as peril, but
if done the right way, your business can reach the pinnacle of
success and popularity.