5 Effective Ways to Improve Your Business' Customer Service

Customer service is often viewed as the face of any company and your customer’s experience with your staff will be defined by the quality of support they receive. A successful company will have great customer relationships and still be constantly seeking opportunities to improve customer service. 

Here at Fortifi, we have identified a few tips to improve your customer service and gain customer loyalty.

1. Make first impressions count

Whether the interaction is over the phone, by email or in-person, this initial meeting can set the tone for the entire customer experience. Correct first impressions should be a priority in your customer service strategy, whether that be achieved with techniques in personalisation, tone of voice, knowledge or responsiveness, the outcome of these judgements is vital to success in the customer journey. In a competitive market, that first good impression could be the the winning mark in your prospect's purchase decision process. 


2. Don’t hide behind digital

With the increase in popularity of digital communications such as email, SMS and social media, it is often easy to forget to pick up the phone once in a while. Whilst channel preferences are on a shift, there are many occasions in which calling a customer rather than sending an email would be advantageous. 

Solving complex problems: Chatbots may be ideal for 

quick fire questions but for those complicated issues, the phone is still the go-to channel. Customers can discuss in great detail the problems that they are experiencing and knowledgeable agents can provide easy to understand answers. 

Saying sorry: There are many instances in which you would have to apologise to a customer and the most genuine and effective way of achieving this forgiveness is personally over the phone. Listen carefully to the customers complaint and offer explanation and solutions to their problem. The sincerity of your apology is a lot harder to portray over digital platforms such as email which is why the phone is the ideal choice in these circumstances.

3. Be proactive

Customers in today’s market expect the highest levels of service, not only when they occur a problem but also in general day-to-day business. Anticipating where your customers may have issues and addressing them before they occur will make the real difference in seperating yourself from the competition. This can be achieved by knowing your customers and what drives them, dedicating time and effort and building a proactive customer service structure into your business culture. 


4. Get personal

Exceptional customer service plays a key role in gaining customer loyalty. Marketing teams can harness actionable data from multiple channels to provide engaging and relevant communications with their contacts. Consumers today have a wide variety of choices so a personalised service can set your business apart from the competition. By utilising an effective CRM system, staff will be able to build strong client profiles by finding out and noting preferences including their likes and dislikes, preferred channels and demographics. Information can be tailored and sent to prospects based on these preferences.

With CRM from Fortifi, it is easy to stay on top of your relationships and their preferences. By tracking your history with the client, you are able to stay connected and maintain a high level of professionalism.


5. Open up to feedback

A company must be willing to change and adapt with the needs of their customers should they wish to continue being successful. There are many different ways you can open yourself up to customer feedback, should that be emails and contact forms, surveys, social media channels, comment boxes and online reviews. This feedback is customers telling you directly what they want so it is important that you use this data to improve on your existing service and products. Happy customers will continue to return to you for business and more likely to refer you to others.

Providing around the clock support from your clients can be challenging. Fortifi combines automation and intelligent priorities to ensure you keep on top of your support targets. Check out how our Support feature can ensure you maintain exceptional customer service all year round.

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