6 Tips for Improving Online Customer Support
Customers today have fast paced lives and find it more convenient to contact a company through their website or social media page than visiting the store or office. Providing online customer support has become necessary as it enables the customers to interact with representatives of the company using social media, email or through the website while on the go. Taking this into account, your business needs to offer multi-channel online customer support service so that your customers’ needs, questions and concerns are addressed efficiently and effectively.
Here are some tips on how you can improve your online customer support service.
Use FAQs
Frequently asked questions (FAQs) is an important feature of your website because it gives you the ability to eliminate commonly asked questions related to your product or service, asked by your customers. FAQs include information about what you sell, your exchange and return policies and product warranty. Your FAQ page should be organized in such a way that it first shows product features and answers to most regularly asked questions, followed by complex questions. Even if you have an FAQ page, you still need to update it on the basis of customers who ask you repetitive questions that have not been included on your FAQ page.
Improve Your Reaction Time
When using an online support service, customers expect quick responses. No one wants to wait for 12 or 24 hours to get answers to their questions. Train your staff to respond to queries in a timely manner. Make information easily available to representatives by enriching your knowledgebase so that they can quickly respond to common questions. Constant training is one of the methods for improving reaction time. When customers get in touch, representatives need to immediately identify the need, the course of action and ensure effective delivery of services which will satisfy the customer.
Try Not To Get Technical
Avoid making clients go through long and difficult processes especially when providing online support because this can be frustrating for them. Also, be clear by using simple and easy-to-understand language when guiding them because technical words can confuse customers. Listen for the terms and words they are comfortable using. For instance, a survey by ContactCenterWorld shows that financial companies must use simple language because 60% of people who took part in the survey said that they will not use the services of a bank which uses difficult language to explain things. Hence, keeping everything simple will make your online support service more customer-friendly.
Do Not Act Like a Robot
Scripts are helpful because they give you the ability to answer technical questions but it does not mean that you should rely only on them. Be human in your conversations, don’t sound like a customer service representative who is a robot reading out canned messages.
Be interactive with your customers at all times and show empathy. Ask questions to further understand the clients’ problems, if any, and look for opportunities which you can use to help them. Offer guidance by putting their best interests ahead of everything else.
Solve Problems
Every client will have a unique need and concern. You have to be a good listener if you expect to give responses that address their specific needs and relate to their situations. Be patient when listening to them so that you can offer professional advice and solutions. Ask relevant questions and those which will help you in solving their problems. Get to know your customers better especially those who have interacted with your support service multiple times. This makes it easier for you to understand the type of problems they usually approach you with and you can build a proper database in which you can record these concerns.
Provide Live Chat Service to Customers
Live chat solution is a valuable and popular tool that is used by businesses to provide effective online customer service and support. Live chat enables businesses to interact with customers in real-time thus resolving their problems and answering questions right there and then. Many surveys have revealed live chat to be a medium of choice preferred by customers for their online support needs.