4 min
Level: Beginner
Did you know that 69% of customers claim to have no brand loyalty? Marigold’s latest study, The Consumer Trends Index 2023, which also found that 59% of consumers would be willing to pay more for products from their favourite brand, is not wrong: the market is completely divided.
“69% of customers claim to have no brand loyalty”
Some brands, such as Apple, Lacoste or Amazon, have loyal followings, while others struggle daily to retain their customers. How is this possible? Because these and many other brands work every day to keep their customers happy.
A key element of customer satisfaction lies in the contact centre. There is nothing better than contacting customer service with a problem and ending the conversation with a solution.
That’s why today we’re giving you five tips to stop losing customers and start keeping them through your customer service channels.
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO RETAIN CUSTOMERS?
1. PROVIDE WORLD CLASS SERVICE
Customers are becoming more and more demanding, especially when it comes to fast, 24/7 service. Because we buy or consume products or services at any time of the day, consumer habits have changed.
But don’t worry! Technology is on your side to meet even the highest standards. With advanced customer service software, you can:
- Provide pre-written and scheduled responses so that the customer always receives an immediate response to their query. You’ll also save agents from writing the same answers over and over again.
- Enable instant messaging channels to serve more customers. Because communication via WhatsApp or WebChat is typically asynchronous, agents can resolve more issues in less time.
- Take advantage of AI. This technology can better route communications, gather relevant customer information, and even resolve the most common queries without agent intervention.
2. CONDUCT SURVEYS
Understanding first-hand what your customers think will help you identify the reasons that may have contributed to customer churn, and whether it is related to product/service functionality or poor customer service.
There are two main types of survey to measure customer satisfaction: CSAT surveys and NPS (Net Promoter Score) surveys. Although they both measure the same thing, they focus on different aspects and use very different approaches.
CSAT SURVEYS
Focus: CSAT surveys focus on measuring overall customer satisfaction with a specific interaction, product or service.
Typical question: The typical question in CSAT surveys might be “On a scale of 1 to 5, how satisfied are you with [product/service/interaction]?” And then customers respond with a number representing their level of satisfaction.
Score: Based on the responses, an average score is calculated that provides a general indication of customer satisfaction.
NPS SURVEYS
Focus: NPS surveys focus on measuring customers’ willingness to recommend a product or service to others.
Typical question: The central question in NPS surveys is “On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend [product/service/company] to a friend?”. Based on their answers, customers are divided into three categories: Promoters (9-10), Passives (7-8) and Detractors (0-6).
Score: The score is calculated by subtracting the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters, resulting in a number between -100 and 100. A positive NPS is considered good, while a negative NPS indicates areas for improvement.
By conducting these surveys, you can find out if there is a product or service that is not meeting your customers’ expectations, and how satisfied they are with your brand.
With this information, you can make decisions to implement loyalty marketing strategies, improve some functionality of your product/service, etc.
3. INVEST IN AGENT TRAINING
To take care of your customers, you need to make sure your agents have all the tools they need. From the outset, you can develop a mentoring programme in which an experienced agent teaches new agents their technical and soft skills.
And for those who are already part of the team, you can listen to conversations where a customer has churned and determine if there is a flaw in the discourse or, for example, if only one agent is responsible for managing them and needs backup.
4. PERSONALISE THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Another key element in retaining your customers is to offer personalised attention. This means that when they contact the call centre, they should not have to repeat the reason for their call, how long they have been a customer or what products they have bought.
This is achieved by providing agents with a customer file history. As advanced contact centre software can connect to almost any CRM on the market, all this information is recorded and fully accessible to agents.
5. OFFER PROACTIVE HELP
Instead of waiting, it’s time to get ahead of the curve and anticipate your customers’ needs. Providing a close and immediate contact channel, such as SMS, will help you get off on the right foot.
You can use this channel to remind them of their next appointment, update them on the status of their order or alert them to a planned service interruption.
The good thing is that you’re ensuring that they always read it, and even if it’s bad news, they’d rather know in advance than have to call customer service themselves.
BACK TO START!
The best way to retain your customers is to adopt a philosophy of continuous improvement and repeat these five steps over and over again. When faced with the need to improve a product or service, listen carefully to what your customers have to say. Make sure you train your agents in both soft and hard skills, constantly look for new ways to personalise your customer service and, above all, communicate with your customers before they take the initiative.
If your contact centre software does not allow you to follow these steps, our team of experts is always availableto provide personalised demos. Schedule yours by calling + 34 900 670 750 or writing in the chat below. We are here to help you reduce your customer churn.
Subscribe
Ask for a demo