Today’s customers are looking for that critical personal touch. They want to feel genuinely connected and important to your business. When you customize those important customer interactions, you make customers feel more valued by your business. With these simple tactics, you can take an otherwise lifeless customer interaction & not so personalized customer support turn it into something worth getting excited about.
1. Listen to your customers.
Instead of jumping in and assuming that you have the answers to every potential customer problem, take the time to genuinely listen to what they have to say. Use each customer interaction as an opportunity to get to know your customers better. You might, to your surprise, learn that the problem is different than you originally thought–and as a result, you’ll be able to deliver more effective answers!
When you listen to your customers, you make them feel genuinely valued. In many cases, customers with a problem just want to know that someone is listening to them and then acting on what they’ve heard. Train your customer service representatives to genuinely listen to what your customers have to say and interact with them accordingly. The difference in customer satisfaction may surprise you!
2. Fully develop your customer personas and get to know them.
Your customers are so much more than just numbers on a page. Each of those customers is a unique individual with unique needs. Chances are, however, that most of your customers fit within your established buyer personas. Take the time to develop those customer personas. Then, make sure your customer service representatives get to know them. The better you know your customers, the better you can deliver on their specific needs and desires via personalized customer support.
3. Track your customers as they move through the customer service platform.
When customers contact your business with a problem, your customer service representatives should be able to clearly see their history as they handle the issue. Your representatives should know what the problem is, how many times the customer has been forced to call in, and what has been done to deal with those issues in the past. When a customer calls back in, they shouldn’t be responsible for updating your representatives; rather, your representatives should be able to easily access that information–and use it as they move forward. Now that is called personalized customer support.
4. Avoid the dreaded, “Sorry, that’s just company policy.”
Your company likely has several policies in place for dealing with customer problems and concerns. Those policies, however, should never get in the way of delivering what your customers really need: a high-quality experience with your brand. Ideally, you want to empower your customer service representatives to make decisions and take care of problems without needing to chat with management. More importantly, those representatives should have the ability to make the customer happy if at all possible.
5. Offer extras when you can.
Do you want your customers to feel genuinely valued? Surprise them! Offer little additions: gifts, coupons, and samples, for example. These little surprises can go a long way toward increasing overall customer satisfaction and their appreciation for your brand. Add them into your normal customer service interactions as a way to go above and beyond for your customers. Ideally, choose them based on what your customers have told you they could use during their interactions with you.
6. Have conversations that go beyond your products.
As you work with your customers, take the time to genuinely get to know them. Your interactions should not be about your products alone; rather, you want to learn more about your customers.Consider:
- Do they mention children frequently?
- Do they Have a lot to say about a specific hobby that they’re excited about?
- Do they show an interest in specific types of products when they connect with your business?
- Is the customer buying for themselves or for a friend or family member?
You may be able to offer incentives or benefits related to the topics that matter most to your customers. Equally important is, listening to information about more than just your products can help customer service representatives get to know customers better.
7. Get an idea of the specific needs of your sector.
Depending on your industry, you may have unique needs. Customers in the technology industry, for example, may have vastly different needs from customers looking for athletic gear. You know your industry best, so make sure that you fully understand its needs–and then deliver on them!
8. Keep information the same across all of your channels.
No matter how a customer connects with your business, they should have the same experience–and your customer service representatives should have access to their entire history. Make sure that your customer database includes social media, email, and phone interactions. Encourage customers to keep up with a case number about specific cases, but make sure your representatives have the ability to access it regardless.
Delightful customer support is as important as your core product or service. It does influence your bottomline in not so tangible ways. Invest efforts to streamline the process and reap rewards in the long run.
