Customer service is extremely important to every business because it is the way in which your business most comes into contact with your customers. It is, essentially, the face of your company. As a business owner, you want to make sure you are doing everything in your power to keep customers happy. A happy customer will come back for more and will refer you to their friends. Here are 4 tips to follow if you want to increase satisfaction with customer service.

1. Train representatives for speed

It is a big hassle for most people to take the time to contact a company, so when they do have to do it, speed is essential. They don’t want a customer service agent who is going to go on and on about personal stories while not resolving their concern. So, train your customer service representatives to stay on topic and to quickly help the customer resolve their issue. This will also make it easier to get on to the next call which will shorten hold times.

Another way to increase speed is to use two-way text communications. Automated text response uses artificial intelligence to determine the answer to a customer’s questions and automatically sends a response with the answer. This means your customers never have to wait on hold for a simple question.

2. Make sure your staff is knowledgeable

Customer service representatives should not be left in the dark and need to be trained to have all the information a customer might need when they call in. There’s nothing more frustrating to someone who is calling for help with their question than getting passed around from agent to agent hoping to find someone who knows the answer. This means there needs to be a lot of transparency in a company when new problems arise and that regular trainings with new information about your service or product should be held.

With automated texting, this is less of an issue because your artificial intelligence can be programmed with all the information needed to direct your customers to the right place.

3. Create a brand

The way your customer service representatives interact with your customers should be “branded” in a way. For example, every time I go to Chick Fil A, the employees are very polite and always say ,“It was a pleasure serving you today.” In fact, when I hear someone use the word pleasure at other fast food places, I am reminded of the service I got at Chick Fil A. This kind of branding (as long as it is positive) will make your customers happy and will market to them other times when they are reminded of the experience they had at your business.

4. Mobile app help

One of the greatest ways to interact with your customers when they are in your store is through mobile. This could mean being able to text in for a store map to find what they are looking for or the ability to scan the items from their phone to get a price. By offering mobile assistance to your customers, you are giving them a unique customer service experience that is efficient and clear.

Source: Huffington Post