When helping a company discover their customer service strategy, a big part of the conversation is the what and how.
Decide your channels of support – check.
Decide your CRM tool – check.
Decide your hours of operation and SLA – check.
But, one thing that needs to be a part of the conversation is the overarching purpose of your customer service. Without a guiding vision, customer service can enter the loathsome realm of “cost center” rather than being a nurturing ground of ARPU, customer loyalty, referrals, and up-selling.
If you want to drive repeat business, educate your CS reps and provide tools that can help customers set themselves up with recurring orders. Make sure they have access into order history, teach them to ask questions about shipping preferences and arrival dates.
If you want to drive higher margins, teach your reps to ask questions not just about what the customer orders, but why they are placing an order. Understanding that your product is supposed to be for a birthday party, or an office, or given as a gift should help you understand if there are high-margin associated items that may make a good up/cross-sell.
If you want to drive referrals, provide a way for your agents to offer incentives for helping you find new business. Free shipping and a discount on your order can go a long way to driving both repeat business from your existing customer as well as new business from people they know who would have otherwise never heard about your company.
Maybe your goal is just to have the best reputation in the business. If that’s the case, come up with a system where you can encourage customers to rate you on Yelp, Amazon, send in a short note with why they love your product after they’ve had that incredible customer experience.
Most importantly, pick one and start there. It’s easy to forget how important this is when the CEO is answering 50% of the tickets in their spare time as they race around each day. But that changes, and when it does, having a guiding philosophy and an area of focus for your team will make sure that the culture you implanted early on is still there as you start to focus your energy in other areas of the business.
taylorworth 