Lite1.6 Blog

Have you heard of The Emperor’s New Clothes? The story’s protagonist strutted around in the world’s finest garments. As you may recall, he was completely naked. The public perception of his appearance was vastly different from his perceived public front.

Many businesses today are in the same boat. They believe their “super experiences” set them apart from their competitors. Them, however, And, like the deluded emperor of old, the naked truth is ugly: many companies’ experiences fall far short of customers’ expectations. In an era when most companies compete on customer experience, Salesforce reports that most consumers believe most companies fall short of delivering a great experience.

Great CX Communication

A ‘super experience’ shows a company cares about its customers and wants to meet their needs. But, perhaps more importantly, a great customer experience shows that the company values its clients.

How can businesses best express their gratitude? It is through communication. Communication is the cornerstone of a great customer experience.

Communication is a two-way street, but it is also a very broad avenue. Many modes of communication are suitable for that route. While many businesses still believe surveys are the only way to get customer feedbacks, modern technology has given us many options for communicating with customers, including chatbots, newsletters, and in-app feedback.

4 Customer Communication Best Practices

Regardless of the medium, CX professionals should know and use the following four best-practice strategies to maximize customer communication effectiveness:

1. Know your target market

Understand your target audience, their lifestyles, and their needs. Because, despite our best efforts, our customers aren’t going to be thinking about our brands and products 24/7/365. In light of this, it is critical that customer communications reflect their lifestyles. To achieve this goal, you must truly understand your customers. You gain invaluable insight into your customers. Solicit feedback from customers on their preferences.

2. Use diverse messaging in your communication strategies

If you use the same channel too often, your audience may tune you out. Customers should be notified of three things:

• The content sent
• The message’s priority
• Message volume

Remember that high-volume messaging should use low-priority notification methods (i.e. within the app or newsfeed). If you don’t, your customers will tire of you and start ignoring you.

3. Create useful personalized and relevant alerts

Each customer communication must be valuable. Fluff fails. Each message must add value to justify the customer’s time and attention. Following this rule is a best practice for every brand and situation. It’s a best practice that’s magnified when customers interact with your brand via multiple channels.

Ultimately, all communications should be relevant and personalized to justify the interruption to your customers’ lives.

4. Break down key messages

You can ensure users receive and comprehend important messages by making them easily consumable. Consider the difference between a text message and an email newsletter. Regardless of message length, highlighting key points is vital. Providing only one recommended option (among many available options) is a validated best practice for an omnichannel or digital strategy. After all, if nothing in your messaging stands out, then nothing stands out.

Making social media content is always fun, but it becomes tedious when you run out of ideas. But it happens to everyone, even long-time pros.

The next time you find yourself stumped on what to post on social media, don’t worry. There are numerous options for social media marketing content. Here are a few.

User-Generated Content

Your social media channels can benefit from user-generated content. Consumers trust user-generated content 2.4 times more than brand-created content, according to a Stackla survey.

You gain credibility by sharing user-generated content, and you get to post something on a day when you’re stuck for ideas. Of course, you must have the content owner’s permission before posting it.

Teasers

A new product or service is coming out in a few weeks or months. Tease the launch by posting teasers.

A simple blurb about your new offering is fine, but an image, or better yet, a video, can engage your followers even more.

Industry News

Whatever industry news comes out, your followers will want to hear about it. You can post a link to the news, then a one-liner (or more, if you’re feeling brave) expressing your views on the issue. You can be serious or clever.

Freebies!

There will never be a universe where people despise freebies.

That said, people love freebies, so give some away in a contest or a simple giveaway event. You can give away discounts or your products.

By giving away free stuff, you get to post something, increase engagement, and people will appreciate your generosity.

Welcome New Team Members

If someone has just joined your team, welcome them on your company’s social media accounts.

Your audience would love to meet the people who make your company tick, giving it a more human face.

Live streaming

This is why your audience needs live video. According to 99firms’ live streaming statistics, 80% of consumers would rather watch a live video than read a blog.

With live streaming, you can interact with your audience on a more personal level, as they can see your face and hear your voice.

Sharing of Funny Memes

The Internet is for memes, judging by the sheer number of funny memes online. Find funny memes and share them on social media. You can even make one using a meme generator.

Sharing of Quotes

Wait until you start looking up quotes online. There are quotes from almost anyone who was someone at some point in history.

While clever and even sarcastic quotes are fine, your audience will likely appreciate inspirational quotes more, especially given the current global pandemic.

These are some social media content ideas to use when you’re stuck for ideas. Once you get over your creative block, you can post them as usual. Reuse them as needed.

Unfortunate events occur such as flight delays, data breaches and negative press about companies. How you break bad news to customers can save or destroy the relationship. Here are some tips for navigating this delicate dance.

Speak quickly and clearly

Giving bad news to customers requires extra care. “Improper handling could worsen a situation,” said Mary York, CEO of York Public Relations, a financial services and crisis communications firm.

Data breaches require specific details and timeliness, York adds. “Mainly, be quick and clear. Regardless, all communication should follow these rules.”

According to Eric Fischgrund, CEO of FischTank PR, telling customers the bad news quickly is the best policy. “An email distribution should always be one of the first steps. This email should come from a named individual, not the company as a whole. The message should focus on a) what happened and why; b) how the customer is impacted; c) immediate and long-term solutions; and d) when the individual or brand will follow up with the customer.

According to Gregory Ng, CEO of Brooks Bell, transparency is essential when communicating bad news. In the travel industry, this is done by explaining the bad news.

“Don’t just tell the passenger their direct flight to Paris is now a two-leg connection through Atlanta,” Ng advised. “Explain why they had to make the change and what they are doing to prevent future ones. “Passengers are more forgiving when they understand the why, not just the what.”

Take the Blame

Even if it isn’t your fault, don’t blame others, says York. Occasionally, a problem arises that isn’t the organization’s fault. Following the 1982 Tylenol poisonings, this was the case. Instead of blaming, Johnson & Johnson took charge and communicated the bad news in a way that benefited its brand. It recalled products and issued national alerts. So Johnson & Johnson became a drug company that prioritized public health over profit.

Disclose Next Steps

Don’t forget to state your next steps, says York. Notifying a data breach or discrimination claim is difficult. You must address numerous customer queries. But they aren’t all urgent. Customers want to know what you’ll do to avoid this in the future. When communicating, organizations should outline next steps, reassuring customers that real action is being taken.

Trust your customers by avoiding spin

“No one likes to admit mistakes, but failing to share bad news with customers erodes trust,” said Ali Cudby, adjunct professor of entrepreneurship at Purdue and managing director of Alignmint Growth Strategies. “Betraying trust harms customer relationships. Because customer interactions reveal how customers feel. A McKinsey study found that 70% of customers buy based on how they feel treated.

Cudby adds that when customers doubt their relationship, a company loses long-term value. Relationships are vital to your company’s growth.

Transparency and honesty are the best ways to communicate bad news to customers, according to Fischgrund. The customer is used to spin, but with more information available than ever, it usually digs a corporate hole deeper. A company’s content should always be informative, genuine in its steps to correct or make it right, and consistent in its follow-up to reinforce both aspects. However, poorly spun bad news tells a customer you don’t care about them or anything else besides your own corporate goals.”

Customer service isn’t perfect. It happens,” Cudby said. “Communication is your best chance to fix mistakes quickly. In fact, when companies effectively resolve issues, customers often become more loyal.

Cudby echoed some of York’s communications advice:

• Be quick. Generally, you should be aware of a problem before your customers, allowing you to manage expectations and the narrative. Instead, companies tend to procrastinate to solve problems before customers see them. Customers will discover problems on their own if you wait too long, so they define the story, not you.
• Be clear. Explain the issue and its potential impact so customers know their options. Provide solutions when you can so customers know what to do next if they are affected. Not all bad news necessitates apologies. Having a designated area for customers to self-diagnose can be beneficial.
• Empathize. Empathy calms customer rage. While situations vary, including legal liability, a sincere apology for a customer’s inconvenience goes a long way. To keep a relationship going, you need to make customers feel valued as people.

Recognize the Media Need

The media may use sentences or fragments of messaging to support or position their journalism,” says Fischgrund. “This is part of running a business, but it should serve as a reminder to analyze each sentence out of context to get the most accurate representation. Remember that consumers have a short memory for incidents, but a long memory for individuals and organizations who have wronged them.”

Email is a vital marketing tool for many companies. While a single email may go unnoticed due to busyness or neglect, sending too many will result in the message being ignored, marked as spam, or blocked. So what?

Let your emails be brief and direct

According to Wilderness Times founder Mike Miller, if the emails add value, they can be sent three to four times a week.

“Most emails are drab and nauseating, with no clear takeaways,” Miller said. “Now that I think about it, most marketing emails I receive are just advertisements or coupon codes. Rather, write something your readers will enjoy. Make them eager to open your emails. Always include a CTA or pitch, but keep it lighthearted.”

Miller sees email as a happy medium between a tweet and a blog — short enough to read on the train, but long enough to effectively deliver a message.

No Email Frequency Formula

““There is no ideal email sending frequency or cadence,” said Sam Rexford, Chillreptile’s content manager. Various websites offer marketing frequency benchmarks, which Rexford dismisses.

“If you know your audience well, why they subscribe to your content, and what they expect from it, you can start testing frequency to find the right cadence for your brand “Rexford “I know marketers who email their lists daily, or even twice or three times per day, and their audiences love it. Why? They will stick around as long as the content they subscribed to is valuable to them.

The key is to add value with amazing content, but not constantly sell to your audience, but rather provide them with insights, education, and information that will truly benefit them and help them overcome the major issues they face.

“If you can position yourself as an authority in your field that can help your audience level up,” Rexford said.

Let Your Customers Lead

According to David LaVine, founder of RocLogic Marketing, LLC, the prospect’s journey state determines the optimal email frequency.

“When they’re in learning mode, they’re more likely to want to consume information quickly than when they’ve just made a large purchase or when they have years to make a decision,” LaVine explains. “Also, some people prefer to seek out information, while others prefer to be informed. If you send too many irrelevant emails mixed in with relevant emails, your audience will eventually unsubscribe.”

LaVine suggests incorporating a flexible and personalized frequency based on potential customers’ interests and engagement. “Your main objective is to let your potential customer set the pace.”

Put the Power in Your Prospect’s Inboxes

Marketers agree that prospects and customers’ reactions to emails will vary. While some people appreciate valuable emails, others find that a brand’s email frequency is either too much or too little.

According to Jeff Moriarty, marketing manager for Moriarty’s Gem Art, the key to frequency is to make sure the subscriber is expecting it.

“When they subscribe, give them options. “Like a weekly or daily deal newsletter,” Moriarity says. “They know how many emails they will receive if they subscribe to either. They will remove you if you send more than they expected. So, if they unsubscribe, give them options like less frequency, but specify the number of emails they will receive.”

Instagram is a powerful marketing tool for ecommerce businesses. Instagram attracts a young audience that is increasingly willing to engage with brands and even buy products directly from Instagram.

90% of Instagram users follow a business, and two-thirds say Instagram allows them to interact with brands.

While there are numerous post formats to try, these are the best Instagram posts for brand engagement (and not just mere double taps).

Ask a Question

You can easily increase engagement by simply asking questions in your captions or in the visual itself.

When you ask open-ended questions like “What is your favorite ?” or “What is your best recommendation?”, you create a two-way conversation that helps your followers connect with you.

So, use this simple trick to increase engagement on Instagram posts.

Show Behind the Scenes

Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are ideal for showcasing your company’s “human side.” Giving your followers a peek behind the brand’s curtain is a great way to do so.

So, if you sell customized sneakers on ecommerce, your followers already know how awesome your sneakers look thanks to your product-focused Instagram posts and stories.

But do they realize how much work goes into making them? A quick Instagram Reels video shows your team’s behind-the-scenes work.

Similarly, a simple “day in the life” clip can effectively convey your company’s culture and values, your life as a business owner, the technology used to manufacture your products, your team’s efforts, etc.

And you don’t need to plan or edit extensively. A raw, uncut backstage pass is highly valued.

Backstage content helps your audience empathize with your brand. Ultimately, it’s a neat way to improve your brand’s overall customer experience.

Share Creative Memes

Memes are popular. Instagram is a great place to entertain your followers (and get more likes, comments, and shares).

Share creative and relatable memes to delight your followers.

It’s possible that the memes you want to post aren’t available in high resolution (important for visual-first platforms like Instagram) or are already old and seen by your audience.

It’s best to make your own original memes and watermark them. Making memes may not seem like a business task, but it is a fun and quick activity (only a pinch of wit). When done correctly, it can help your brand go viral, increasing engagement, followers, and traffic.

Create memes with free online tools like Imgflip or Meme Creator.

Repost User-Generated Content

You can use Instagram to boost your brand’s authenticity, despite its reputation for “faking it until you make it.” People follow you to learn more about your brand and connect with it.

Authenticity is a key factor for Millennials and Generation Z when deciding which brands to support, and they will only engage with authentic branded content.

User-generated content (UGC) is another tried-and-true method to improve authenticity.

So you’ll get quality content from real customers that you can repost to show off your business’s genuine quality.

In Conclusion

The last thing you want to do is keep wasting money and resources on Instagram posts that fail to engage (two-way interaction, click-throughs, social shares, etc.). Start focusing your Instagram efforts on the above-mentioned posts and watch your brand engagement skyrocket.

Social media is a wonderful thing. On Facebook, you can organize get-togethers with your friends. Instagram is a great platform for sharing road trip experiences with friends. It is possible to increase the visibility of your company on Twitter. The possibilities are virtually limitless.

Unfortunately, when it comes to social media interactions, it’s easy to go overboard, especially if you’re in the marketing industry. Burnout is caused by spending too much time in front of a screen. According to Psychology Today, it is a condition that is characterized by a state of chronic stress. Burnout develops gradually, and many people are unaware that they are suffering from it until it is too late.

Do you have any doubts about whether or not you are already experiencing burnout? Keep an eye out for the following signs and symptoms:

• An overwhelming desire to check social media on a regular basis
• Difficulty focusing one’s attention
• Disinterest in activities that are normally enjoyable
• Emotional exhaustion
• Insomnia
• Anxiety, both mental and physical

Learning to recognize the signs of digital fatigue is a good first step, but it is not sufficient. Take a step back and employ the strategies listed below to avoid becoming overwhelmed by social media.

Establish a set of ground rules for yourself

Limit your use of social media to a few hours per day. These restrictions can differ from person to person, depending on your individual requirements and habits. For the average person, one hour per day could be a good starting point. A marketer, on the other hand, may find that a longer timeframe is more realistic for the purposes of their business.

Remove a few of the least active accounts from your social media accounts if it takes a long time to cycle through all of your accounts. Another option is to find someone to share the workload with you if you are a marketer who can’t afford to lose any platforms. For example, you could delegate the management of your Twitter and Facebook accounts to a partner while you concentrate on your Instagram posts. Coordination of your daily posts will help you to present a more professional social media presence.

Reduce the accessibility of social media

How do you proceed after you have exhausted your allotted social media time? That’s all there is to it. For the rest of the day, stay away from the apps. Turning off unnecessary notifications on your phone may be a good idea if you want to better resist any temptations.

You can also download apps or browser plugins that block specific websites if turning off notifications isn’t enough of a deterrent. From Offtime and SelfControl to AppBlock and Cold Turkey, you have a wide range of options at your disposal. Consider enlisting the help of friends or business associates for referrals.

Fill in the Blanks with the appropriate information

You might notice a void in your schedule now that you’re spending less time on social media. If so, you’re not alone. What are you going to do with all of this extra free time? It is inevitable that you will be drawn back into social media if you do not fill that void with something productive. Take a look at the following suggestions, which are particularly useful for online marketers who are looking for some downtime.

Go For a Walk in the Outdoors

This can be especially important for those who spend the majority of their working day in front of a computer or other electronic device. Walking is a great way to de-stress your mind while also providing a light workout for your body.

Keep a Book Close at Hands

Reading, whether it’s fiction or nonfiction, is a great way to stimulate your creative juices without having to stare at a screen all day.

Get (really) Social

These days, it’s easy to forget that social media isn’t the only tool available for disseminating information about your company. Face-to-face communication with coworkers and potential customers is recommended. Participate in local events and activities. You’ll be able to reach a large number of people without relying on the internet.

Just because your job is heavily reliant on social media does not imply that you will experience burnout. Make sure to incorporate these strategies into your daily routine in order to stay sharp and healthy while promoting your expanding business.

In a world where smartphones are ubiquitous and 76 percent of adults in advanced economies have access to unlimited information, it is no surprise that the future of marketing is online.

A brand’s presence across multiple online and offline channels is essential for modern businesses. But many businesses aren’t taking advantage of it.

Without cohesive multichannel marketing, companies risk alienating a large portion of their customer base.

Despite acknowledging the value of multichannel marketing, many ecommerce businesses admit their efforts are ineffective. Only 11% of brands felt their multichannel marketing was effective in the CMO Council’s 2019 study.

Success in multichannel marketing requires a thorough understanding of the customer’s habits, including their reliance on mobile devices, online channels, and preference for personalized service. Simple to implement, these seven suggestions can boost online sales.

1. Define your target market

Modern shoppers expect a multichannel shopping experience. But who is today’s consumer?

The ‘modern customer’ must first be identified. You are not marketing to everyone on the internet, and some channels will work better than others.

He is connected, adaptable and fickle. They have an average of 5.54 social media accounts and shop on at least two of them. Fortunately, brands can collect data from existing customers to create a persona.

After that, the brand can tailor advertisements to the customer’s preferences and leisure time. Companies that prioritize customer service are more profitable.

2. Choose your target channels

It’s pointless identifying your target demographic if you’re not going to market to them. Identifying your target audience includes knowing their preferred channels and which ones they trust.

If you want to market to older customers, use email and Facebook. Teenagers may prefer Snapchat (41% of 18-35 year olds use it daily) or TikTok.

Similarly, older shoppers trust personalized emails more, whereas younger shoppers relate to TikTok stars more.

AR is increasingly used by consumers to guide purchases. In a world where physical stores are dwindling, AR offers both in-store and online shopping convenience.

3. Make use of cloud-based software

Using a digital operations management platform simplifies multichannel marketing. Digital operations platforms can implement all of these suggestions by centralizing data and creating a brand-specific marketing strategy.

Vendor-specific digital operations platforms (DOPs) allow customers to synchronize marketing across multiple channels.

DOPs make data collection and collation simple, allowing for a holistic business approach where data is shared across channels. A good DOP can influence production, supply chains, customer expectations, pricing models, automation, and AI.

4. Be Consistent—this builds customer trust

A customer immersed in the online experience may lose trust in companies that appear to be scams. When a competitor’s website is just a click away, a customer is unlikely to invest time and money in a company with sloppy social media.

All logos, tones, chat services, and content should be consistent. Mobile bots can help maintain this consistency: A mobile app compiles and syncs the data they collect, reducing human error.

5. Use dynamic remarketing

This is where your brand reappears on the customer’s device after they have left one marketing channel. An ad targeted to them on Facebook after they leave your website, or a personalized discount code in their inbox for items they saw on a promoter’s Instagram story.

Dynamic remarketing includes event-triggered marketing, which can reduce cart abandonment rates by identifying customers who leave a website without purchasing and retargeting them. These incentives may include discounts or promotions, and may be time-sensitive to entice customers to make an immediate purchase.

6. Engage influencers

This strategy works well with both audience identification and dynamic remarketing. People who know their customers and their social media habits can identify influencers who can significantly increase product exposure.

Non-targeted customers will do their utmost to avoid your ads. They are more likely to keep watching if your product appears on a channel they already follow.

Influencers with established fan bases have a loyal following of potential customers. Instagram is a great tool for this and is expected to grow in popularity.

Giveaways or other customer incentives can encourage UGC, as can sponsorships or sponsored reviews in industry publications. Influencer partnerships can also help.

7. Track your campaigns

The data you collect from each set of ads can be invaluable when creating the next set.

Compare the results of each campaign: If one channel receives less traffic than another, it may be worth reducing the budget for that channel while increasing the budget for the others.

Customer experience data allows brands to optimize search results, navigation paths, seasonality, and SEO for maximum campaign efficiency.

Some DOPs, like Shopify, offer reports, analysis, and business planning advice as part of their plans. Brands can edit tags, meta tags, collections, products, and descriptions in the browser of a flexible site like a Shopify ecommerce store.

In Conclusion

Multichannel marketing increases sales significantly, and successful ecommerce businesses use it. Consistency across channels is achieved with DOPs, dynamic remarketing, UGC, and campaign trackers. With customer service and targeted advertising, your ecommerce multichannel marketing will be unstoppable.

It is a business tool that allows companies to hire amazing offshore staff at a low cost. You treat the staff like your own, except that the legal, back-office, and infrastructure are all taken care of. Businesses have been doing this since the 1960s.

Outsourcing changes the foundation of employment norms. Offshoring, distributed workforce, call centers, staff leasing, and remote working are all synonyms. Processes are streamlined, workflow becomes shorter and more precise, and outcomes are improved.

Offshore staffing can change the game. Even if you don’t use it in your company, it’s important to understand how it works. “If you don’t outsource and your competitors don’t, you’re out of business,” said Singapore’s late Prime Minister and founding father.

But outsourcing isn’t a panacea. It has drawbacks, and many businesses abandon it due to disappointing results. To learn more about outsourcing and how to make it work for your company, read on.

Benefits of Outsourcing

1. It saves you money

Outsourcing is done to save money. While hiring people is always expensive, I’ve found that using offshore staffing can help companies save up to 70% on total staffing costs.

Outsourcing eliminates some of the complexities and costs associated with employment, such as legal, recruitment, compliance, taxation, health care, and office management. Outsourcing allows for extreme job flexibility.

2. You get more qualified candidates

With offshore staffing, you aren’t limited to local candidates. Every company struggles to find great employees, so why limit your search to your local market or geography? Global employment opens up incredible job opportunities.

Recruiting is normally time consuming and costly for businesses. When outsourcing, the outsourcing company will usually handle the screening, hiring, and onboarding.

3. Doubling your workforce

Outsourcing saves money. If you could double — or triple — your workforce for the same cost, what would you be able to achieve? Outsourcing allows for this.

Doubling your workforce means doubling your resources to expand your company, clients, and products.

Challenges of Outsourcing

1. It’s remote

Some people love remote work, while others despise it. No choice with outsourcing. Your offshore team will be located elsewhere. The default remote tools and remote work must be accepted for outsourcing to work. True, remote work — and thus outsourcing isn’t for everyone.

2. It may be difficult to communicate

Managing a remote team is unique. Culture and communication have many subtle nuances that can impact quality and deliverables. An employer must have an open mind, a beginner’s mindset, and be willing to relearn some management fundamentals.

3. It’s very process-oriented

Offshore teams can be very methodical. They may be less innovative or agile than an onshore team. They thrive when processes are defined. This means investing in training, standard operating procedures, process mapping, and defining metrics and KPIs ahead of time.

Conclusion

Outsourcing is a tricky skill to learn. Like running a business, outsourcing is a skill that can never be perfected.

In reality, learning and exploring outsourcing can take time. Finding the right outsourcing partner and assembling a team takes time. But having an offshore team can be a huge advantage.

Outsourcing can benefit many businesses in many sectors, but it may not be right for you and your company right now. No harm in looking into it. If you want to learn more about outsourcing, you can start right now. After all, now is the time.

Happy customers buy more. They come back for more, write nice reviews, and refer you to their friends.

If you’re one of the lucky online retailers who has seen sales increase over the last year, you probably have more than ever, which is great.

But new customers bring new challenges. For example, your customer support team may be overwhelmed by new customer requests.

With more customers, it may be difficult to provide the personalized service your company values. Keeping customers happy is difficult when your customer support team is overwhelmed!

So, how do you keep great customer service without hiring a new team? Get customers to help themselves. That is, self-service help.

What is self-service support?

It’s like going shopping. Customers can self-checkout and pick and choose what they need.

Customer service has come a long way since the days of a simple helpdesk. New technology has opened up new channels for connecting with consumers.

Customers should be able to find information on your website without having to contact you.

Self-service support is popular because it alleviates one of today’s major customer annoyances: Most don’t want to wait in line or on hold. They expect immediate service and response.

In fact, according to a Forbes survey, more than half of customers expect a response within an hour, even on weekends.

It’s not just about speed. Informed customers prefer self-service to aided. They want to learn and discover. They don’t want to have to explain their situation to your support staff. They’d rather solve it themselves.

Self-service is also great for businesses, allowing smaller support teams to help more customers.

Now is the time to use this smart and efficient technology. Ensure your customer service team knows how to leave a pre-recorded voicemail, for example.

How to create a successful self-service portal?

Before we look at how to create a self-service portal, consider what makes great customer service. It’s all about the basics. Effective customer service includes: ease of access, effective resolution and great communication.

Know your customer and what they want, whether it’s an omnichannel customer experience or video tutorials. Determine your target audience’s needs. What are their demographics, skill levels, and preferred methods of communication?

1. Identify recurrent needs

Support teams spend a lot of time repeating themselves because common requests are cancellations, address changes, returns, etc.

A personalized dashboard, whether a widget or a page on your website, can eliminate repetitive requests. Customized workflows enable customers to solve their own issues.

2. Create a custom help desk

Each business is unique, so create your own support panel with a Q&A format for customers.

Amazon and WordPress have used self-service support for years. Their websites have entire pages of frequently asked questions and answers.

3. Use the latest technology

Intelligent OCR allows for 24/7 unstaffed customer support. If your live chat team is out of the office, you can call them back or respond later with this bot.

All support channels should have one shared inbox. Be sure your phone system is responsive, whether you’re debating between traditional PBX and VoIP or have already chosen the best option for your company.

Tips for seamless customer self-service

Update your content frequently. Learn from how-to videos, screenshots, and tutorials. Make your products as simple to understand as possible. Show them where to click to update, edit, or change their settings.

Make a good search field. Use keywords to tag pages and tags so that when a customer searches for help resetting their password, the right information comes up.

Adapt self-service to mobile and desktop. Providing consistent service across all channels is critical. Make it simple for customers using a smartphone.

Customers today, especially those who used to shop in stores, expect self-service capabilities at every stage of the purchasing process. It’s important to have reliable communication systems that work around the clock. No call goes unanswered.

In Conclusion

It not only meets customer expectations but also saves you money. Automation and self-service reduce the need for new hires, according to The Service Desk Institute.

This reduces the number of calls, emails, and support tickets your staff has to deal with.

Unhappy customers will not hesitate to vent their ire on Twitter or Facebook. So they can solve problems without using social media.

In the end, it’s all about keeping your customers happy!

A healthy business prioritizes customer service. Unfortunately, it’s often overlooked in favor of marketing, branding, sales, and innovation. But adding value to your customer service will benefit your company.

4 Tips to Improve Customer Service

Your customer base determines your success. The best products in the world won’t matter unless your customers like them (and the company that makes them).

Customer service has traditionally been overlooked in favor of marketing, sales, innovation, and logistics. It’s a modern brand’s defining pillar. It’s either that or miss an opportunity to take your company to new heights.

A good team starts with good customer service. A few key ways to improve customer service and get more from your team are as follows:

1. Train Customer Service Employees

It’s impossible for those outside your organization to truly understand your products and services, which is why outsourcing customer service isn’t recommended for small businesses. You may be able to impart a superficial understanding, but not much more.

Having an in-house customer service team allows you to train them on how to serve customers. What matters is that you do it. Mandate customer service training for all. They should know everything about the goods you sell. Adding value and answering questions (rather than being totally reliant on scripts).

2. Teach Your Team Soft Skills

Good customer service begins with technical knowledge of the company’s products. But it doesn’t end there. You must also train your team in soft skills. Work on:

• Empathy: Teach your team to treat customers like family. How would they treat their mother or best friend if they called with the same issue? Teach your customer service agents to empathize. Companionship can de-escalate conflict and foster healthier interactions.
• Active listening: As a customer service representative, you know how frustrating it is to talk to someone who doesn’t seem to be listening. Encourage your team to actively listen, clarify, and engage with customers.
• Positivity: Teach your customer service reps to be happy. If you can’t refund your money, say “We’d be happy to exchange the product for something else.”

Good things happen when you have a technically proficient team that also has empathy and positivity. That doesn’t mean customers won’t be annoyed, but you’ll have a plan for dealing with the underlying issues.

3. Ask, Listen, and Act

Asking for feedback shows your team you care. An employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) survey is a good place to start. Find out how your team views your company and analyze the results. Take positive action based on the results.

4. Be Willing to Accept Criticisms

Even if the customer is always “right,” you shouldn’t abuse your team. When your team members are having a bad day, it’s okay to step in and help ease the tension.

Assume a customer is berating one of your employees. They keep putting the customer on hold to get your approval. You can’t do much about it, so the employee must endure verbal abuse.

Eventually, the employee breaks down in tears. Then you could “take the bullet” for them instead of telling them to suck it up and do their job. Your employee will feel valued instead of degraded.