5 Tips To Streamline Customer Service Accessibility

With data-driven marketing, it is easy to get lost in all the numbers. Still, it’s important to focus on your customers as unique individuals. Every touchpoint you have is an opportunity to understand their needs and to delight them with your exemplary service. Here are some ways you can streamline your processes to improve accessibility.

1. Use Live Chat

This is a much better option than directing your customers to automated responses or making them wait to speak to an executive. Customers prefer this channel as they can communicate in real-time. In fact, a recent ZenDesk study showed that customers were more satisfied with live chat than any other channel.

Live chat is less demanding than phone calls and enables your executives to multitask, thus cutting down your contact center costs. You can also streamline the process by using standard templates for certain common queries to improve the response time and quality. However, take care not to make the interaction too mechanical. Live chat also gives you a great opportunity to upsell products and reduce bounce rates; you can guide customers through the purchasing process in a non-intrusive way.

2. Include Customer Service Link on Your Website

Make it easy for your customers to get in touch with you when they need assistance. One good way of doing this is to display a prominent link to your customer service center at the top of your page. Include this link on your home page as well as other pages. This way, even when customers are navigating through your website or browsing for different products, they are just one click away from reaching out to you if they need assistance.

3. Display The Customer Service Phone Number Prominently

People enjoy the option of shopping online without having to interact with overzealous store assistants. However, when they have queries and complaints, they look for a chance to speak to people who can address their issues. This is why on-call support ranks just behind live chat in customer satisfaction. Display your phone number prominently so that your customers can get in touch with you easily.

4. Offer Easy Returns (minimize small text in your policy)

Dmitry Agarkov should be your new hero. Why? He shook down Tinkoff Credit Systems for an undisclosed amount of money by changing the fine print in the terms and conditions of his credit card. He edited the terms so that he would not have to pay any interest and also included a clause that the bank had to pay a fee of 6 million rubles ($182,000) to Agarkov if they wanted to cancel his card.

The moral of this story is that nobody reads the fine print. Not even companies themselves. Make life easier for yourself and your customers by minimizing the fine print in your returns policy. Being upfront about the policy will not only cut down confusion but also help you gain trust. Extending the return period and making the whole process easy will also help you gain more customers.

5. Use Videos

Creating good video content is not necessarily expensive or tedious anymore. Depending on your product, there are different ways in which you can leverage video content. Live webinars offer interactivity while video testimonials help establish trust in your brand. You can even develop a helpful FAQs page with walkthrough videos to guide your customers through the purchasing process.

Using a combination of these approaches can help you build better relationships with your customers. Improved support services will build goodwill for your brand which will ultimately translate into stronger sales.