Customer service is a process that is constantly evolving. Businesses need to constantly adapt to market changes and customer expectations to ensure customer loyalty. With the coronavirus having a major impact on consumer behavior, businesses are under immense pressure to provide superior customer experiences to ensure customer retention. In this scenario, businesses that have taken the initiative to future-proof their customer service will have a massive advantage over others. In this article, we will provide five tips that can help you future-proof your business and increase customer retention during these testing times.

Grow a Customer Service Network

In this day and age, customer service has evolved from just a small department to a vast network. Customers can use a plethora of tools available at hand, like social media, chatbots, mail, etc., to engage with businesses in the current age and they expect to have a quality customer experience in all those tools. The only way that businesses can deliver the same is by staying consistent through all the communication channels. This is why businesses need to treat customer service as a vast network of tools and choose to unite them by providing omnichannel customer service. With an omnichannel customer experience, the business can offer seamless customer experiences across all communication platforms.

Anticipate & Act

When it comes to business management, it is always better to be proactive than reactive. Since a new businesses are being started by the minute, both global and local markets have become highly competitive. This gives more power to today’s customers as they can switch businesses instantly. To ensure that customers choose their business, business leaders need to anticipate customer needs and deliver the same instantly. Although it may seem like an impossible task, businesses can do it with the help of CRM or lead management platforms. With the help of a CRM, businesses can build a customer’s profile and track their activity to understand their needs. This helps them anticipate customer preferences and render customized customer support for each client.

Digital is the Future

Businesses should understand the importance of digital transformation. In the current digital world, businesses that do not have a digital-first strategy will struggle to provide superior customer service. In the aftermath of the pandemic, customer queries have rapidly risen and businesses must implement a digital-first customer service approach to efficiently meet customer demands. Business need not overturn their business operations to implement a digital-first strategy. They can simply start by integrating digital tools like WhatsApp, Chatbots and CRMs into their existing business strategy. This simple induction will enable the business to address and resolve customer issues swiftly. Business owners should understand the importance of digital tools and partner with digital consultants who can give them a competitive edge in the market.

Self Service is Crucial

No matter how advanced customer service technology gets, there will be some section of customers who would prefer to resolve their queries themselves. Therefore, businesses should never ignore self-help options like FAQs, guides, blog articles, etc. It is estimated that nearly two-thirds of your customer base would first choose the self-help option instead of contacting an agent. By compiling basic queries into self-help FAQs or guides, businesses can also lower the call/chat volume of their customer service team. As a business owner, it is also important to showcase these self-help sections so that customers can easily access the same. Self-help questions can also be regularly appended and improved over time, making the business even more efficient over time. Another consolation is the fact that self-help options is not a concept that will wane over time.

Automation is Key

Automation has become a key part of several business verticals including customer support and a growing number of businesses have started to adopt it. One of the main reasons for this shift is the fact that automation enables businesses to provide excellent customer service to its clients. For example, automating chatbots and WhatsApp chats will enable businesses to address customer queries instantly. In addition, it also enables the ability to provide 24/7 customer service. It is also quite evident that customer service automation is just in its starting phase and there will be huge developments in the future. So, it is the right time to start customer service automation.

While these five tips will help small and medium businesses to future-proof their customer service department, business owners should also know that future-proofing is a lifetime process and requires frequent updates. Actively researching the market to know the latest digital tool and integrating the latest changes is the essence of future-proofing. Small and medium business can also partner with an experienced digital service provider like Gallabox, who can ensure that the business gains a competitive edge in the market.