Is your business making the most of the technology to enhance your customer service experience? Team leaders sometimes fall behind on technology, either because they don’t have time to test new opportunities or they dread facing the staff learning curve. However, if your competitors are getting ahead of you in this area, you’ll face difficulties catching up later. Discover how using technology can enhance the following four customer service functions.
Offer Many Ways to Pay
The days when customers paid by cash or check are gone for most businesses. The challenge for businesses today is that dozens of payment options exist, and shoppers expect to use their own preferred methods.
Vendors can face challenges when keeping up with developments in this area. While brick-and-mortar businesses are still getting up to speed on EMV chip readers for credit cards, innovators are developing jackets with Apple Pay technology woven into the fibers. Ask your front-line staff to report times when customers ask for payment options that you don’t have available so that you’ll know what your customers need.
Troubleshoot Your Website or App
User experience design, commonly called UX, is both an art and a science. Figuring out how to design a website or app that is both robust and intuitive is essential to good customer service, but you’ll have difficulties anticipating the variety of issues users will discover on various devices, screen sizes, and operating systems.
Click-tracking or “heat map” programs track the user experience and help businesses find the stumbling blocks that are frustrating their customers or blocking orders.
Streamline Your Telecom System
Many people dread placing phone calls to businesses. They expect to enter long strings of account numbers and verification protocols, then navigate a voice mail menu and wait on hold for an eternity. Many businesses find that their phone systems get only more complicated over time, especially as they add features and security protocols on top of existing systems.
If you need to overhaul your phone system, consider using a service such as Asentinel Telecom Expense Management to cut your phone costs so that you can apply more of your phone budget to the customer experience.
Meet Customer Needs
Technology can interfere with your ability to learn more about your customers’ needs and desires. Increased self-serve options for customer service — from FAQs on a website to self-checkout stands in stores — mean that customers aren’t always interacting with a staff member who can make note of their complaints, suggestions, and responses. Make sure you’re offsetting this reliance on self-service by asking your customers what they want and what they think. Consider installing brief surveys after every transaction or interaction, or reward customers who fill out surveys with coupons, discounts, or prize-drawing entries.
If you’re not staying on top of your tech game, you could be damaging your customer relationships or driving sales toward your competition. Well-managed technology should enhance your customer service and increase your customer loyalty quotient. Make a point of using the latest developments so that you can offer continual stellar service.