Customer service is an essential part of the business. It can provide assistance to customers and, ultimately, bring more value to a company. That is why it has been one of the most outsourced services for many years. 

In fact, according to a 2013 study by Dimensional Research, customer service (whether good or bad) can directly influence a company’s revenue. Furthermore, customers’ experiences have a long-lasting impact. In other words, providing excellent customer service can make or break a business.

So to help you start the year right, we have put together ways of improving customer service. 

Why is customer service so important?

Before we jump right into the good stuff, let us first understand why customer service is important for businesses in any industry.

It is the direct connection between the business and the customers. This person-to-person interaction provides an opportunity for a company to cultivate a better impression and relationship with the customer by providing assistance and value.  

Furthermore, customer service can bring plenty of benefits: 

Financial benefits

Providing excellent customer service can save and make money for a business.

• 86% of existing customers are more willing to pay a premium for better customer service and experience. In fact, they are willing to pay 13% to 18% higher. 
• Client retention is a lot more convenient and economical for the business compared to client acquisition. Moreover, existing clients can yield more profit for the business.
• According to a 2020 Insight Report by the XM Institute, 89% of companies with above-average customer service experience perform financially better than their competitors.

Marketing benefits

Customer service provides in-depth insight that can help improve marketing efforts.

• First-hand insights from representatives can supplement any acquired data by the marketing department. 
• Proactive customer service efforts, wherein representatives reach out to existing customers first, create another opportunity to market a business’ products and services.
• Personalised customer service can increase the chances of converting potential clients into paying customers.

Brand loyalty benefits

A company’s customer service team becomes the face of the brand.

• Providing excellent customer service can convert existing clients into brand evangelists, a community that strongly believes in the brand and its products and services. 
• Convert customers into loyal customers. It can help retain clients in the event that the quality of a business’s customer service experience diminishes over time.
• Customers with a positive experience are likely to refer the company to friends and colleagues. Furthermore, a good reputation will attract more clients.

What are the 3 key elements of good customer service?

With that said, what are the 3 key elements of good customer service that any company should focus on? 

#1: People 

Customer service representatives are essential. This is because they are the face of the company and have a direct connection with clients. 

Naturally, this is why representatives must be well-trained in dealing with diverse clients and knowledgeable about the products, services, and other essential details. 

As such, the responsibility falls on the company’s shoulders to properly train and ensure representatives are engaged and satisfied. Because aside from performing well, they can provide plenty of benefits to the business:

• Happy employees can have a positive influence on one-on-one interactions with clients. This generates happy and satisfied clients, which increases retention.
• Positive customer service experience leaves a positive impact. As a result, satisfied clients are more likely to share their with friends, family, and colleagues via their social media accounts about their experience 

#2: Strategy

A good strategy will never fail you. 

Even without the assistance of top-notch tools right now, a business with a good strategy is more than capable of providing excellent customer service to clients.

A good customer service strategy should carefully consider the most frequent concern or request that clients inquire about and map a course of action that representatives can follow. 

#3: Technology 

Lastly, technological innovations can help further boost the customer service experience and resolve the common challenges encountered with person-to-person interaction.

An example of this is data analysis, which can provide customers with better assistance. One, representatives are able to pull up the relevant information about the client, identify the pain points, and resolve the issue. Two, data acquired from the interaction can give more insight into what aspects representatives should work on.

How to improve customer service in the workplace

Now that we know what are the 3 key elements of good customer service. We shift the focus to how to improve customer service in the workplace. 

Improving customer service in organizational behavior will not only retain more clients. But it can also potentially improve internal processes as well. 

Strengthen customer service skills

Power skills, more widely known as soft skills, are very important for customer service teams. These are the skills that will make the most impact during the representative-and-client interaction. 

Here are power skills an organization should practise and improve: 

• • Empathy
  • Patience
  • Adaptability
  • Communication
  • Work Ethic

• Thick Skin

Look at every touchpoint

Bad customer service can ruin a company’s relationship with their clients. 

With that said, here are the touchpoints that can contribute to improving customer service in organizational behavior. 

• Pain points. Identify what are the challenges and concerns that clients usually encounter then identify the effective way to assist and troubleshoot these issues.
• Opportunity points. After resolving the issue, identify the conversation points wherein representatives can add value to clients. An example of this can be a simple upgrade from a basic subscription plan for the customer to enjoy a better experience.
• Winning points. These are the minute details found in the customer interaction. Identify the aspects that representatives can further improve for clients to have an improved customer service experience.

Improve customer interactions

In addition to possessing power skills, representatives need to relate with clients as well.

Here are key points that can help improve customer interactions:

• Identify common grounds or shared interests to be more relatable.
• Practise active listening to make your clients feel heard and understood.
• Admit mistakes, even before the customers find out.
• Follow up after resolving the issue to ensure the client is satisfied.

Update customer service strategy

Strategy is one of the most essential things in improving customer service in organizational behavior. 

It does not need to be a complicated strategy. It can start simply by identifying the key points that often happen during client interactions and building an action plan from there. 

In addition, here are a couple more strategies your team can apply: 

• Be available and get personal by responding to inquiries even on social media platforms. 
• Take the time to answer all inquiries and resolve any issues then follow up again to ensure that clients’ needs are fulfilled.
• Treat customers as part of the brand’s community to feel important and included.

Give customers a way to provide feedback

One of the best ways to improve a business’s internal customer service team is to learn from clients’ feedback. The important thing is to provide an avenue for clients. It can be a simple survey form that is automatically sent via email. 

6 ways of improving customer service and experience with Flexisource IT

However, your business’ sole efforts to improve can fall short of your goals. There are more ways you can improve your customer service experience with an outsourcing agency like Flexisource IT. 

Here are customer service trends worth noting this 2023:

Automation & Self-Service

Scaling your business can take up time and money when you are looking to hire more customer service representatives for your in-house team.

This 2023, the popularity of automation and self-service tools is on the rise. One, because it resolves any staffing issues. Two, it is a more time-efficient option instead of hiring more in-house representatives. 

In addition, you can outsource a team of developers to help manage these tools.

Phygital Experiences

With the world slowly recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, the customer service experience is going to evolve from completely digital to an amalgam of physical and digital customer experience.

Immersive Experiences

Applications of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) have expanded from games to business processes such as for commercial industries and customer service. 

While it will require an upfront investment of time, money, and labour, an immersive customer experience can create more value for the business. A way to fast-track this is to augment your in-house team with a remote IT team. 

Proactive  Customer Service

More and more businesses are understanding the benefits of proactive customer service.

It is not only limited to large companies with a big team of in-house representatives. Small and medium enterprises can achieve this by outsourcing their customer service team instead. 

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is not going to replace human representatives. It has evolved to help increase the productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness of the team. 

• Get a better insight into client feedback
• Identify what aspects to improve
• Automate tagging, triaging, and routing conversations
• Simplify complex data into intuitive information to effectively help clients

Subscription Models

More businesses are starting to offer subscription models. It provides a steady income stream and ensures a more lasting relationship with clients. 

In the case of customer service teams, client retention is more important to ensure the client is happy throughout the duration of their subscription. With that said, having an established relationship creates familiarity and helps representatives better serve clients.

Increase customer satisfaction with outsourced customer services

Investing in customer service yields plenty of benefits. At the top of the list, it can increase client satisfaction and business revenue. This is achievable for any business, regardless of the size of the company. 

That said, one thing that can help small and medium enterprises have an equal footing with large companies is to outsource their representatives and IT team. They can help scale the company to handle more inquiries and manage customer service management tools without having to spend so much time and money to hire in-house.

Ready to scale your business today? Ensure quality customer service with Flexisource IT!