5 Ways to Improve Your Customer Service Process

According to a study shared by Zappos, a customer-centric model provides a 20% increase in productivity. This confirms that a new culture of customer service, much more focused on anticipating the client’s needs than remaining relegated to simply solving their problems, can be a winning element.

The new generations know this well. When you interact with a brand you are looking for “something more than just the product”, you are looking for a solid, safe, and exciting experience. However, to ensure customer satisfaction it is necessary to understand that the best experiences are the result of the right tone of voice and a perfectly crafted customer care process.

To best manage the customer support service, it is first necessary to create a workflow that involves not only those who formally deal with clients but also all the company functions that can provide support in finding the right answers to customer questions.

For some, it may be obvious, but when we talk about customer service we are not referring only to the department in charge but to the entire company. From the CEO to the shipping department, everyone must be on the front line to provide a competitive and functional service. Let’s not forget that this is the most important business card, as well as the bond that will allow loyalty.

The success of the entire customer experience depends on the functioning of these workflows and information. Here are five tips on how to improve the process.

1. Formalize Your Customer Service Process

The first piece of advice is to spend time with the people who manage or have contact with customers to better identify and understand the possible problems they face every day.

Once the ideas have been clarified, check the formal process and for each touchpoint verify that the actual workflow is in line with the current guidelines and that the support systems are adequate.

Specifically, it must indicate the following:

• Whether new platforms and technologies are used
• If customer care requests are satisfied regularly
• If the time of each activity exceeds the average time indicated
• If the workflow includes all company levels

2. Determine the Most Important KPIs

If the previous step includes a general analysis of the customer management process, at a later stage it is necessary to verify that all the KPIs are satisfactory and that the team has a clear understanding of the objectives to work on during interactions with customers.

Here are some customer service process KPIs to include in your documentation:

• Average application processing time
• Customer satisfaction score
• Number of tickets resolved
• Time spent resolving tickets
• Types of tickets generated
• Cost per activity/ticket
• Number of customer complaints following the service received
• Customer feedback following the service received
• Number of requests/requests forwarded
• Percentage of tasks not completed / overdue

The most important metric for measuring customer service team performance should be customer satisfaction. It is, therefore, important to establish a mechanism that allows customer satisfaction to be collected and monitored recurrently after each interaction.

But that’s not to say that other metrics aren’t useful. From response time to raw performance analysis, all of this data can be helpful in spotting problems before they even happen.

For example, if the average time for the first response goes beyond the pre-established limit, it means that those who manage customers have too many things to do. And that, probably, it is the right time to expand the team!

3. Workflow Management

Now imagine that a ticket comes in regarding the incorrect shipment of a package and your customer service team does not know how to contact the shipping department to help the customer. Well, this should never happen!

When requests go beyond the clarifications that can be found on the FAQ page, everything becomes more complex. For this reason, it is essential to create workflows that come into action when the collaboration of multiple departments is necessary.

Each workflow must be planned and included in the process document so that customer service representatives know who to entrust different tickets to.

4. Use a Ticketing System

A ticketing system is software designed to manage customer service requests. The use of such a tool allows you to have an orderly management of tickets and, as mentioned in the post on customer support statistics, organize and categorize them according to predefined criteria.

By using a ticketing system, it is easier to track when tickets are opened, who has worked on them, and when they have been resolved. This provides valuable data to analyze the performance of customer service teams and identify areas for improvement.

With this tool, you can:

• Assign tickets to specific agents
• Monitor the status and progress of each ticket
• Analyze customer satisfaction scores for each ticket

5. Analyze the Customer Management Process Periodically

Analysis and review are essential parts for the entire customer service process to work seamlessly.

Of course, due to the rapid evolution of new technologies, this document will probably only be useful to you for a short time.

This is why processes need to be reviewed regularly to reflect how the support team works and to determine what improves customer satisfaction at any given time.

Sharing Good Practices

Before concluding, it is necessary to focus on another point: what are the aspects that denote first-level customer care?

In the example below, Paul Brown is flying on JetBlue Airways when he casually tweets that he can’t get his Starbucks coffee before boarding the plane because he is flying from the smaller terminal at Boston Airport. Within seconds of seeing the tweet, JetBlue customer service representatives immediately took action, with great results!

This helps us understand how the best customer service experiences depend not only on perfectly executed processes but also on the actions – kind and customer-focused – made by individual employees.

Let’s take another example, for trading online platforms. A customer may be having issues with their account, and the process may dictate that they contact your support team. However, if the agent handling the case is not knowledgeable about trading or does not speak the same language as the customer, this will directly impact their satisfaction level.

In short, it is essential to have processes in place for efficient customer service management.

And your customers will thank you if you:

In particular, your customers will thank you if you:

• Respond quickly. A customer will appreciate a quick response when they want to ask a question or highlight an issue.
• Act on feedback. When an employee acts on feedback received from a customer, it shows the customer that their opinion matters.
• Use empathy. Employees who try to understand a customer’s point of view make them feel valued.
• Maintain customer self-service options. When customers want to find their own solutions to service issues, having a frequently asked questions page – up to date – can be very helpful.
• Provide omnichannel support. Different communication channels can support customers who have busy schedules or want flexibility. Your employees need to be prepared to offer support via email, phone, live chat, ticketing system, and social media.

Go the extra mile: When an employee delivers value beyond customer expectations, it can leave a positive impression and increase customer loyalty.

Final Words

In conclusion, establishing a customer service process is essential for any business that wants to build and maintain strong relationships with its customers.

Remember to continuously review and improve your processes, monitor key performance indicators, and provide timely support through multiple channels. And most importantly, keep the customer at the center of everything you do! No matter how efficient your processes are, the ultimate goal of customer service is to ensure that your customers are satisfied and happy with the support they receive. Keep striving for excellence in customer service, and you will see the positive impact it has on your business.