3 Innovative Ways to Enhance Customer Loyalty

Offering fast and efficient customer service is one thing. Constantly providing fresh ways to enhance the experience is another. By doing so, you strengthen already established customer loyalty. Utilizing the cloud as a customer service solution is the most innovative way to make customers happy. Next, think outside the box and take your overall quality from great to stellar. For one, you can present service options that the customer wasn’t even aware of. You’ll see the proverbial smile grow as you make their life easier. There are a few ways to enhance customer loyalty that will keep you one step ahead of the competition where customer satisfaction is concerned. That’s what it’s all about. We’ve compiled 3 top methods here.

###1. Chat

We’ve discussed multi-channel support before, now we’ll expand upon one key feature. Chat affords you a fast, efficient solution that gives both customers and CSR’s advantages. Even the most efficient customer service solutions require an effort from the customer. We’ve all been there before-multitasking while on the phone with a company, searching for a solution. This is a reality that any customer service solution needs to factor in. With chat, you give customers the ability to multitask while solving their problem. Chat allows the CSR to take on more than one customer simultaneously. Now, you present customers with phone, email and chat – that’s three different channels as per their own preferences.

Again, you want the customer to expend as little effort as possible getting from problem to resolution. Furthermore, it’s subjective. For one customer, the easiest path may be email, for another, chat. The point is that you need to offer them all.

With Facebook even considering chat bots for future use, smaller companies may do well to follow suit. Chatbots take chat services one step further. They serve the customer without using human resources. Driven by A.I., chatbots can lessen the need for customer service reps, or lighten their load while still addressing the most common customer concerns. Simple questions can be answered by chatbots. Right there, you cut down on your queue by eliminating basic requests that don’t require human interaction.

###2. Supreme VoIP call quality

Your call quality matters. Customers can become frustrated by muffled voices, echoes due to latency or excessive background noise. In addition, they are likely already frustrated, so you are adding fuel to the fire. Each frustrating experience leads to a reduction in customer loyalty. Not a recipe for success.

Jitter is a common VoIP call quality issue. Typically caused by network congestion, jitter degrades your audio quality. Touch base with your ISP: you’ll need to discuss bandwidth usage and get a firm figure of how many calls you expect on a daily basis. High speeds are a must, as they will directly reflect in your VoIP quality. In other words, you get what you pay for. Don’t underestimate here-be liberal with your bandwidth allowance to ensure that you don’t miss the mark (the customer will know if you do). With high VoIP call quality, you eliminate that variable and ensure a positive experience.

###3. Feedback surveys

Customer feedback surveys are a perfect resource for gaining firsthand knowledge of your customer care experience. Failing to utilize them is a mistake-you’re missing out on an opportunity. A simple follow-up email, which also allows you to express your thanks to the customer (these can be automated), can contain the link. Many customers will opt out or ignore the survey altogether. It’s a numbers game. Still, the ones that do take their time to fill it out will offer valuable data on your overall care experience.

Keep your surveys short and sweet. For example, a simple 5 question survey will likely be completed honestly and quickly. However, a time consuming survey of 10 or more questions will scare off the customer or prompt them to rush their answers. Focus on short, probing questions for management to analyze later on. For example, questions about hold times and number of transfers are highly useful for you and simple for the customer. CSR’s knowledge of problems and their abilities to resolve them quickly should also be gauged. Most importantly, ask the customer about their overall experience. Feedback surveys allow you to enhance the quality of your customer care while spending minimal resources. The customer does the work.

Putting it all together

Once you have the customer, you need to keep them. That’s the prerequisite of great customer service, and it’s an ongoing battle. A few bad experiences can undo years of good experiences. From the customer’s perspective, your call quality and support options are a reflection of your overall business. By offering chat services, you make it easy for the customer to communicate their problem, and thus keep their loyalty. VoIP offers many benefits, but if used incorrectly, it could drive customers away. Be sure that you are investing wisely in your internet package, opting for high speed internet tailored to your call volume. Finally, utilize surveys to gain useful data while using minimal company resources. The theme here is to work smarter, not harder. By switching to a cloud based customer service solution, you’re more than halfway there. Next, be sure to follow the above guidelines to supplement your contact center and cement customer loyalty.