The way your customers feel about your company will play a huge role in the success of your business. It’s no wonder then why customer service is such a crucial element of how you run things, and needs more attention than it typically gets.
Here are a few tips to help you provide an amazing experience to your customers, improve their satisfaction, build loyalty and grow your business.
Understand Your Customers
Making the time and effort to deep-dive and grasp your customer’s needs and wants is a first and very important step. Consider what you already know about your client base and target audience and figure out ways in which you could ensure you’re really catering to them personally.
This will vary depending on the industry you work in, but you should be able to assess what your customers value most and find ways to make sure you’re meeting their needs in whichever ways possible.
Remain Positive
Using positive and friendly language when dealing with customers is another crucial step. Even when (or especially when) dealing with customer complaints or issues, displaying positivity and a good attitude is key in how they will experience the issue they have.
Remember that the customer is always right, and if you want to make a good impression, an apology for the inconvenience is always a good place to start. Whether or not the issue is within your hands to resolve, ensure that they understand you will take responsibility and compensate them however you can.
Try not to let pressure or a negative, angry customer bring out a negative attitude in you.
Ask For Feedback and Use It
If you really want to know how you could improve your business in the eyes of those who matter most – your client base – one of the best ways is to ask them directly. Asking for feedback is an easy and affordable way to assess how your customers really think you’re doing.
You could send out an email with a survey or even use physical feedback cards to ask for an assessment – the trick is to really use the information you’re getting to improve in areas where you seem to be lacking. Take the feedback seriously and if you notice a pattern in any particular area, take the time to address it.
Under Promise and Over Deliver
A sneaky trick to impress your customers is to always lead them to underestimate what you can do for them. A good example of this is to promise a 5-7 day delivery when you know for a fact that you can have their products at their door within 3 days.
The opposite of this could leave a bad taste in your customer’s mouths. Promising to have things done, products ready to services delivered within a certain amount of time and failing to meet that expectation could result in serious disappointment and a loss of future sales. This is why it’s important to be certain of your capabilities before setting expectations.