Customer Support Channels to Improve Your Business

The need to give brilliant customer experiences has unquestionably never been as important as it is in present consumer-driven world.

According to Bain & Company, a customer is multiple times more likely to take their business to a competitor if a problem they cause with your brand is service-related versus price-related. Considering how much time and money you put into acquiring these customers in the first place, guaranteeing they receive top-notch support when they need ought to be at the top of your priority list.

The following legitimate you might ask is, what support channels should I be providing to my customers? Read on to learn about the best customer support channels, why consumers value these best practices, and even a couple tips on how to optimize them.

1. Phone Support

Phone support is ordinarily seen as a traditional support offering by most organizations. Apart from face-to-face interaction, phone support provides the most significant "human-element" into the support experience, as agents and customers are able to have a natural conversation, making it simpler for the specialist to read the feelings of the customer and reduce miscommunications. Less tech-savvy individuals may also pick to call an organization agent to avoid the trouble of having to exploring through a website or customer portal online.

Be sure to train agents to consistently keep a positive tone when managing customers over the telephone in order to maximize the customer experience. Other tips for phone agents include making the discussions personalized by using the customer’s name, as well as refraining from over-using contents.

2. Live Chat Support

Live chat support is becoming a much more common offering in recent years on organization websites. Not only is it becoming more popular, however it is a very appealing support option in the minds of consumers. In fact, live chat support flaunts a 73% customer satisfaction level, higher than some other medium! Many of the benefits that customers experience when using chat support are related to the timely manner in which they can get support, just as their capacity to perform various tasks while receiving this support.

One simple way to drastically improve the customer experience during live chat support is to guarantee your chat support allows image uploads, making communication much easier as sharing screenshots can enable your agent analyze and solve an issue. Be sure to read our previous blog post on effective live chat technical support for more tips!

3. Email Support

While live chat support and telephone support make it easy for customers to converse back and forth with agents in real-time, email support is a deferred mode of communication, resulting in a longer time period before issues are typically resolved. This being stated, numerous organizations consider it a must in their support offerings due to the almost universal reach that it provides. Email support may also be viewed as a more appropriate choice for busy consumers who don't have the time in their schedules for a potentially long conversation with a support agent, preferring to check their emails when it is advantageous for them.

When delivering email support, remember that most customers prefer the use of a casual tone. An exception to this is when terrible news is being communicated (ex: a tech issue will be costly to resolve), in which case a more conventional tone is often more suitable.

4. Social Media Support

Social networks like Facebook and Twitter probably won't be the primary channel that companies consider when contemplating where to offer customer support. However, it remains a significant medium where huge numbers of your customers likely reside. In fact, Gartner has estimated that churn rates are 15% higher when companies don't offer customer support on their social media outlets.

Depending on the size of your business and customer base, it can be advantageous to create designated accounts for support inquires only. This can prevent typical social media administrators (usually marketers) who lack technical support skills from having to respond to inquiries that they are not well- prepared to address.

To learn more about best practices, strategies, and advice on "how Outsourcing Chat Can Increase Your Customer Satisfaction"