Over the past several years, marketers have been struggling to come up with newer, more efficient marketing techniques that would allow their brands and companies to be ahead of their competitors. Online marketing has taken over, and marketers have started to focus on social media to promote products and services. However, a new trend has arisen and that is providing impeccable customer service. Believe it or not, this can actually turn out to be one the most efficient marketing techniques, even more efficient than word of mouth. Why? The answer is very simple: whenever a customer encounters a problem with a service or a product he has previously bought, he wants fast, efficient, professional and reliable service. If he does not get it, he will move on to the next company from the same niche.
In other words, the more time and money a company dedicates to customer service, the better. There are several factors that indicate good customer service, such as the efficiency of the response, how fast the team replies to the queries and offers quotes, the availability of the support team, the contact methods (be it via e-mail, phone, fax or live chat), and so on. While it is true that it is the responsibility of the customer care professional to deal with such services, everybody within the organization must be trained to understand the importance of providing impeccable customer service.
Nonetheless, the notion of customer service does not refer exclusively to customers, but also to the employees within the organization. It is important to ensure good and efficient communication between the different departments of a company, as this is the only way to boost the productivity of an organization and to make sure that all the business processes work according to plan. The more efficient the customer care services, the better: both for the employees and for the customers. One thing is for sure, though: without training the employees about the importance of offering fast and efficient customer services, you will be unable to keep your audience engaged, thus resulting in lower customer satisfaction and decreased long term sales.
It is a known fact that a satisfied customer is a customer who will return in the future to buy more products and services; this is why business owners must understand the importance of keeping the customers loyal. The most efficient thing to do so is to offer irreproachable customer care, in addition to regular freebies, promotions and discounts. The good news, however, is that social networking websites have become a tool used by online marketers to get in touch with customers, to find potential leaders and to reply to their queries. Otherwise stated, customers no longer need to limit themselves to telephone or e-mail in order to contact the customer care team, they can now do it via the most popular networking sites, such as Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook. Social media is efficient, fast, reliable and, most importantly, cost effective.
Adding additional tools like self-service tip balloons from WalkMe, which is adaptive to the customers’ needs, and helps them with issues that they don’t need anyone to help them with, builds trust. This in turn is a form of marketing for the business because customers speak of their good experiences handling all issues on their own. The tool guides users through tasks while they complete the task in real time.
So it may be that marketing and customer service need to be collaborating and strategizing together in order succeed and keep a hold on the customer and make sure they get the help they need. The use of social customer service is now at the front of the company. They are the ones customers turn to. So make sure it’s done right.
Stefanie Amini is the Marketing Director and Specialist in Customer Success at WalkMe, the world’s first interactive online guidance system. She is chief writer and editor of I Want It Now, a blog for Customer Service Experts. Follow her @StefWalkMe