As the coronavirus has continued to develop, businesses of all kinds have had to scramble to stay ahead of — or in many instances react to — the constant state of change. With so many unique factors in play, it’s easy to focus on things like making payroll and keeping your disrupted supply chain in working order. However, one of the most important factors that absolutely cannot be left behind is your customer service. The way that you interact with your audience is crucial to both retaining customers and reaching new ones .
The number one factor that you must keep in mind when it comes to customer service during a pandemic is staying on top of change. As your customer service team interacts with your clientele, they will regularly be expected to be a voice of reason, clarity, and information in the midst of uncertainty. As such, it’s important that you take clear steps to keep your customer service on point throughout the pandemic by:
Local, state and federal regulations should be carefully studied on a regular basis. The current expectation for everything from wearing a mask and washing your hands to occupancy limits must be understood. In addition, the steps you take to keep your customers and employees safe should be communicated to the public to show your commitment to your customer base.
The current market is in turmoil as it struggles to adjust to social distancing, quarantines, and other limiting factors. As a business, you must look for ways to adapt to these evolving restraints in order to provide what your customers need. For instance, if you were largely brick-and-mortar before, you may need to reallocate time, attention, and resources to set up an e-commerce team . Set goals and KPIs, strategize how you’ll adapt to an online platform, and make sure someone in leadership is clearly in charge of and responsible for the effort to provide pandemic-approved online services.
Consistency is essential to a good customer service experience. However, it’s very difficult to maintain consistency when everything is constantly in flux. In order to support consistent, quality customer service, it’s important that you create guidelines and resources that can be updated on a daily basis and that your representatives can easily access. Guidelines like these can help you:
By establishing clear guidelines and a code of conduct for your staff, you can help to meld their customer-facing responses into a single voice, no matter who is responding or what medium they’re using.
Another way to create consistency across your various customer service platforms is by using a CCaaS . A contact center as a service is a cloud-based software that enables your customer service team to knit all of your customer service channels into a single, central solution. Using a CCaaS can enable your team to centralize all customer service communications into a convenient location. From there, they can be funneled to an experienced and qualified agent who can provide a quick and effective answer. CCaaS software has been shown to be helpful with business growth, productivity, and overall improved customer service. In addition, the “service” aspect means you don’t need to worry about exorbitant maintenance or IT costs.
Finally, every company should have a social media presence throughout the pandemic. Social media can have a powerful effect on sales, building relationships with customers, and other marketing aspects. However, it’s also a key lifeline when it comes to keeping up quality customer service. This is especially true if your audience includes younger customers where social media is their preferred customer support channel . A well-manned business social media profile is the perfect place for customers to reach out with feedback or ask questions. These can be answered in a timely manner. The public aspect of social media conversations also provides a valuable opportunity to demonstrate your customer service quality in front of a larger audience.
For good or bad, during rain and shine, in sickness and in health, a business must always care for its customers. Even with a myriad of different stresses and strains tugging on your business from every direction, it’s essential that you take the time to maintain quality customer service throughout the ongoing pandemic. Fortunately, you can do so by employing the methods above. From staying on top of regulations and maintaining customer service guidelines to using social media or CCaaS software, there are many ways that you can shore up your current customer service efforts in order to keep your customers well cared for in the months and years ahead. More From Seek
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