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Photo by MART PRODUCTION
Mastering customer service can take a long time as an employee and can seem secondary as an employer. But customer service is one of the most powerful systems for attracting and retaining loyal customers. These are, of course, vital for staying productive and books could be written on these alone. So, from customer service personalization and using AI effectively at your business, here are some modern trends to consider to stay ahead during 2024.
Deliver on Your Promises
Above all, you must do what you say you will do. Not meeting customer expectations, especially when making promises, is a guaranteed way to destroy your own business. Of course, there are often things that can get in the way, such as supply chain issues that affect local, national and global transport. Reputable freight transport is also a massively important issue for customers, as you will fail to meet targets and promises without a reliable service and logistics partner.
Mastering Customer Service through Personalization
You may have heard a lot about personalization throughout 2023. For 2024, this is expected to become even more vital. According to McKinsey, a survey found that over 70% of customers expect a personalized service when calling customer support. But what does this mean? This means meeting customers with the data they need for a seamless and easy interaction. Call center employees should have all relevant customer data related to any support queries.
Preferred Channel Access at all Times
In addition to personalization, customers also want access to what they need at any time and across their favorite platforms. In 2024, it isn’t enough to offer a free phone number as most prefer online interactions instead. Other options include customer service forms, SMS, and email.There should be adequate service for each channel. And you can further enhance customer support by offering services over social media platforms like Facebook and X.
Address Customer Support Competencies
A business’ customer support employees are by far the most important tool you have. They are the ones on the frontline no matter how intricate the technology. There are many skills that call center staff and customer service reps need. For 2024, it helps to consider some of these:
- Customer service reps need a high degree of emotional intelligence.
- Staff must also be proficient with the systems they use such as CRM.
- Communication skills are obvious but among the most powerful for service.
- Service employees can provide better results with problem-solving skills.
- Respect and knowledge of cultural sensitivity help in an expanding global market.
Staying calm and dealing with events with empathy is a huge benefit that customers appreciate. And training staff to use CRM and other tech goes a long way. Accurate engagement for all customers no matter where they are also helps welcome customers in a sensitive manner.
Don’t Sleep on Customer Service Management
Further to staff competencies, the business must provide a solid and reliable customer service management system. From standard processes to new technology, the point is to enhance all services to provide a better experience for customers. The main goal is to make the experience so good that customer satisfaction, loyalty and retention will increase. To prove the importance of this, 94% of customers state they will buy from a business again after a good experience.
Uses of AI when Mastering Customer Service
AI is only expanding as the year gets started. AI in business is being used for all kinds of operations and processes, from generating content to answering calls. AI is so ubiquitous now that more than half of businesses use it in some capacity in customer service. AI can also be used to make the customer experience much better by implementing some easy controls. These typically include analyzing data and providing insights which can be used to improve.
Seamless Service via UCX
Customer Experience, also known as CX, has been evolving over the past few years. 2023 supported CX changes across many industries in an effort to offer an enhanced interaction between a customer and a business. 2024 could be the year of Unified Customer Experience (UCX) for keeping customer service customer-focused. So what is it exactly? UCX aims to ensure branding, content and user interactions are consistent across all available platforms.
Summary
Delivering on your promises contributes towards mastering customer service through enhanced logistics and handling orders. However, customer support through competent and supportive staff provides a powerful experience for valued clients. Yet integrating more platforms in terms of a unified experience across multiple channels makes interactions easier for customers.