Tips for Boosting Customer Service and Your Bottom Line

No matter if you are a local, Fortune 500, or essential business, customer service quality can make or break your company. Customers have more choices than ever before and 76% of them say they would switch to a competitor due to multiple poor customer service experience.

Today kicks off Customer Service Week which makes it the perfect time to take a step back and evaluate your current customer service tactics. Ask yourself:

• How easy is it for customers to do business with us?
• Are our employees friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful?
• How much of our business is dependent on word-of-mouth?
• Are we taking advantage of the tools we already have to deliver great customer service?

What are tips for businesses on how to improve customer experience?

For small businesses, putting together a customer service team can seem costly and 40% of companies still view customer service as an expense rather than an investment. The investment in creating great customer experiences does not have to be so daunting or require more headcount, but it will pay off in the long run. Here are a few small strategies to consider that can make big impacts:

• Be personable – Consumers don’t want to be just a number to a company, they want to have relationships with them, especially local businesses. Take the time to get to know your customers and keep notes of what you talked about, so you can reference it later. If you have not heard from them in a while, give them a call or send an email to check in on how they are doing. The personal touch will go a long way in building trust and staying top of mind.
• Treat your employees well – Not only does how a company treats its customers influence purchasing decisions, but 85% of customers are also influenced by how companies treat their employees.
• Be where your customers are – Spend time understanding how your customers behave. If they are younger, invest time in engaging them through digital channels. According to Salesforce, 65% of Gen Z and Millennials prefer engaging and buying online while only 57% of Gen X and 42% of Baby Boomers prefer these channels.
• Establish a loyalty program – Loyalty programs are one of the most popular strategies for attracting and keeping repeat customers. In fact, 56% of consumers will likely buy from a company with an established loyalty program, but almost two-thirds of them don’t actually redeem the awards.
• Make it easy to do business with you – Have a clear and easy-to-navigate website, offer convenient payment options, make contact details easy to find, and provide helpful customer support. If you don’t already, investigate a chatbot option for your website which can be easy to manage with the help of AI tools.

How can technology help with customer service?

By streamlining business processes, centralizing data, and providing real-time insights, ERP can help SMBs deliver a more efficient and personalized customer experience. With the right business management solution, you uplevel your customer support with:

• Real-time data and visibility: Working with an ERP that centralizes all business data into one solution can really help provide full transparency of your operations. The technology can help SMBs provide better customer support by providing customer service representatives with real-time access to customer information. This allows customer service representatives to resolve customer issues quickly and efficiently.
• Personalized customer experiences: ERP can help SMBs personalize the customer experience by tracking customer interactions and preferences. This data can then be used to provide customers with relevant content and offers. Businesses can also take it to the next level with a CRM that integrates with their ERP.
• Order fulfillment automation: ERP can help businesses of all sizes improve order fulfillment by automating tasks such as order processing, inventory management, and shipping. This can lead to faster delivery times and fewer errors.
• Communication: With the right ERP, SMBs can improve communication between different departments, such as sales, customer service, and shipping. This can lead to a more seamless customer experience, which makes your customers more likely to stay with your company.
• Decision-making: ERP provides SMBs with data and insights that can be used to make better decisions about how to improve their customer experience. Data can show you when to expect demand to go up so you can ensure the business is prepared or how you can save on costs that can be passed down to your customers.

By improving order fulfillment, providing better customer support, and personalizing the customer experience, your ERP can help you build stronger relationships with customers and increase sales and repeat business.

Interested in this topic? Check out these other blog articles:

• How to Make Your Website Better than Your Competitors’
• Does Your Company Have These 5 Elements of a Great Corporate Culture?
• How to keep customer satisfied and loyal