As technology improves and becomes more accessible throughout the world, the face of customer service is changing too. The first interaction a customer has with your business is not through a person; instead, it is through technology. So to have a good first interaction, you need to focus more on improving the new face of customer service: mobile.

Ease-of-access

A big part of whether or not a customer will be satisfied with your business is based in how easy it is to access your company. If they find that it is difficult, even if it just means they have to use a form of communication they are uncomfortable with, then they are unsatisfied. However, if they know they can reach you through multiple formats, your business will  have laid down the stepping stones to building trust.

• • Social Media: Answering a complaint about your business over social media is shown to increase customer advocacy by 25%. Meanwhile, the amount of customer service interaction happening through Twitter has increased by 250%. This suggests that communicating with your customers through social media has a real impact on the success of your customer service agents. Make sure you are available on all social media channels and are not just responding to complaints but also interacting with your customers on a regular basis.
  • Texting: You already know how to handle customer service phone calls, but customer are actually beginning to prefer text communications over calls. 44% of survey respondents said texting a business is preferred because it takes less time than calling while 42% said they preferred it simply because it is more convenient. For a customer, being able to quickly send a text any time of the day is definitely preferred over having to set time aside for a phone call that could take a couple of minutes or hours. Customer service texting is definitely a powerful move for a business trying to make it easier on their customers.

• Email: Most people have email notifications on their phone and get a notice of an email almost as quickly as a text message. The nice thing about email is that you are able to go more in depth or add attachments to your message. It is a good way to get lengthy, important information to your customers.

• Review sites: Make sure you are checking the review sites for your business. Surprisingly, there are a lot of people who choose to rate your business on review sites instead of directly to you or on social media. That means it is your business’ job to find to those sites, check the reviews, and respond as much as possible.

Developing long-lasting relationships through computers

It may seem odd, but your business needs to shift gears and change the way you develop long-lasting relationships and trust with your consumers. Most of your customer base is going to be younger Millennials and Generation Z here soon, and they are more used to developing relationships through online interactions than in-person. And if they are more comfortable developing relationships with their peers through the internet, it stands to reason they will be more comfortable using technology to develop relationships with a business. Make sure you are prepared if you want to keep up with the competition and satisfy your buyers.