No company likes to receive complaints from the customers regarding their service or the products they offer. But everything does not work correctly in the business space no matter how much you invest in it. That’s the reason why companies hire customer service representatives to tackle the problem that arises from nowhere. And, thereby ensure clients are happy and satisfied with what your business has to offer. But, maybe you can reduce the number of complaints by applying specific strict measures to your policies. It not only save your time and money but also gains customer trust.
Below, find five tips that help you to lessen the burden of dealing with frustrated customers.
1. Use Customer Service Technology
Keeping track of customer issues in a spreadsheet is no longer helpful for the business. The technological advancement and the B2B digitalization has entirely revolutionized how any business operates. Now, you can use cloud technology to deploy customer service software. You can efficiently utilize the power of ticket automation tools to make sure specific tickets are moved to individual agents and resolved quickly. You don’t have to route the tickets or worry about closing it manually. Similarly, you can find some tools to respond to the user’s queries automatically, tag the tickets and set its priority. It eases the task of customer service agents and also saves a lot of money and time.
So, why wait? Start using such tools and processes in your B2B organizations and stay ahead in the highly competitive marketing world.
2. Be Available for Customers in Various Ways
One of the simplest methods to make the customers happy is by offering multiple ways to reach you. Companies can provide support in emails, phone calls, live chat, and also make themselves available in social media platforms. It gives some liberty to the customers to choose their channel of interest and communicate with the service agents without any interruptions. In case you force your customers to use any particular channel for interaction, you have already made them upset in the first stage as they are forced to use it even if they aren’t willing to. It is not necessary to make yourself readily available in every channel online; you can pick at least two or three channels.
But the hardest thing is to choose the best channels among hundreds of options available. Asking your customers about it is the perfect way to begin. Make a list of the possible channels where you might offer support. Then, create a short survey asking two simple questions:
- Where would you like to have our customer service option?
- In which social media platform, forums or online communities you spend most of your time?
The responses from these questions will be constructive in executing multi-channel support strategy.
3. Make Some Space for Self-Service Portal
The self-service portal allows the businesses to provide online support to the customers without requiring any help from the representative. The most common types of self-service include a knowledge base, FAQs, and online discussion forums. Providing this option for the clients to solve their issues by themselves is the best way to reduce the number of complaints you receive on your desk. A study conducted by Steven Van Belleghem, keynote speaker and inspirator reveals that 70% of the customers expect a company’s website to have a self-service application in it. This number shows that self-service or online documentation portal is not just a “nice to use” option but has become highly valuable in the B2B industry. An easy-to-understand highly perfect solution can save your time as well as your customers.
Image Source: SuperOffice
Apart from the website, some companies also include this option in the form of live chat, IVR, SMS, and social media. It indicates that customers don’t pick their phone to solve the issues; instead, they prefer to find the answer by themselves through these different media.
4. Find the Right Agent to Deal with the Problem
Customers want the solution now and not tomorrow. So, it’s your responsibility to direct the complaint to the right agent who can quickly resolve the issue. Never take the risk of answering the client’s problem without any prior knowledge in that area. It hampers the brand value severely resulting in the loss of customers. So, always be mindful while assigning the agents. Different agents have a different level of experience and are skilled at different things. Analyze every incoming query or the complaints, identify the topic as well as the tone, and send it to the best available agent. That way companies can use the right skills to provide the correct answer in the first shot while deepening relationships with the customers.
Sometimes, the representatives may be not given access to all the data resulting in poor customer service. It’s the responsibility of the company to provide agents with access to a single, centralized knowledge base, no matter what channel they are working on. It speeds up response times and also helps them to deliver answers with confidence.
5. A Well-Planned Follow Up
After apologizing to the clients and providing them with the support they were looking for, customer service representatives should consider the next step to reduce future complaints. A straightforward way is to ask the top management team to follow up with the clients whose issues you have resolved recently. You can either call them or send a direct mail. It not only makes the customers feel valued but also helps you in identifying that no such problem has occurred after solving it for the first time. If you still find they are facing the same issue, you can put it on the top of your priority list and solve it immediately.
These follows ups have the full potential to impact a customer’s overall experience with the brand, and also change their viewpoint on the business practices while giving reviews.
Take Away
B2B complaints impact the brand value to a greater extent. So, it is time to learn how to keep customers happy and avoid unnecessary troubles. Fortunately, several methods help you in this aspect. Pick the ones that best suit your business and its circumstances and heighten customer satisfaction now.