In my fifteen years of working experience in Customer Service, I have learned one and only thing. Always keep your customers correctly informed, otherwise they will come back and bite.
While I was searching for today’s notable news in Social Media, I came through an article -or more of a complaining letter to one of the most known furniture company in retail. The person who wrote the article was one of Linkedin’s influencers, well known key-note speaker and author. As a customer, he faced what is so called ‘reality shake’ from the company’s Customer Service. His biggest problem was not the incident that took place and made him contact the company, but what was the outcome afterwards when he tried desperately to find a solution.
This person was as I said above a well known influencer at Linkedin, so you might understand what happened when he shared his experience with more than 160,000 of his followers.
The big question that we should all ask ourselves when we are a part of a team in a Customer Service department is: “What we could do better to avoid customer dissatisfaction”
Customer Service is playing a very important role today in the most companies, from the guy that sells your morning newspaper, to the advisor that sits behind the phone and recommends you which pension fund you should choose that fits best to your needs.
More important nowadays is to be prepared for the quick response that a negative comment from a customer can roll out just in seconds in Social Media. An experienced Social Media representative in Customer Service is now a must.
But what is it that makes customers get really mad, and sharing their experience online in a negative manner?
Customers don’t like queues
Have you ever experienced long waiting queues while you had to contact a Customer Service? I guess you felt mad when a virtual voice on the other side tells you “You are next in line, we will assist you shortly, your call is very important to us”
It is better to inform your customer from the beginning of the call about the less traffic hours to call your Customer Service or even direct them to another channel of communicating with you. Nobody wants to wait 45 minutes in queue.
Customers don’t like lies
When you say that you will deliver their order in 2-3 days, customers expect their order in 2-3 days, after that the problem begins. When you can’t give solution or answer, please make an appointment and stick to that. When you say to a customer that you will have an answer in 1-2 days, even if you have no answer yet, you have to contact the customer and inform that it might take a little longer.
Customers don’t like scripts
Don’t underestimate your customer’s patience. Sometimes although it is easier for a company to create scripts for possible answers to customers questions, it should be nice to see the person behind the question. It is better to answer as a human and not as a computer. Customers feel more relaxed when you listen to them and then respond humanely.
And in the end never feel bad to say I am sorry. Even when you feel that you have lost this customer, it is really important to make the customer understand that you have acknowledge the mistake and that it will not happen again in the future. Customers feel protective, if the conversation doesn’t end well they will share their experience with others. Statistics shows that a negative experience will be shared with an average of 27 other people.
And if you are a well known influencer at Linkedin then probably you will share it with 160,000.
Similar post: 5 Customer Service Social Media Tips For Small Businesses