Why is exceptional customer service important?

Always remember, “Great Service = Delighted Customer = Prosperous Business”.

Delivering exceptional customer service lets your business to grow, but what is excellent customer service? How do you keep your customers happy?

Happy customers will refer you more business, stay longer, and be easier to keep satisfied.

To help you enhance the quality of customer service, here are a few ways to deliver excellent customer service:

7 Ways to Provide Excellent Customer Service

#1 Understand Your Product or Service

As a customer support agent, you spend all your day solving problems for customers, and that means you should be a product expert. Extensive knowledge of your product is an imperative customer service skill.

46% of all consumers will abandon your brand if employees are not knowledgeable. (Source)

Therefore, spend some time organizing training or coaching your employees. Make them understand everything about the product, and they will not fail in front of the customer. Also, be aware of the most common queries customers ask and know how to explain the solutions that will leave your customers satisfied.

Your task is to help your customers get the most out of their purchase. Make it your aim to learn everything about your product, hence, you can amaze your customers with appropriate support.

#2 Respond Quickly

Resolving customer doubts as quickly as possible is a cornerstone of great customer service.

There can be nothing worse than not responding to a customer who is seeking to get help, solve an issue, or find out more about your organization. It’s essential to respond quickly to all queries, even if it is simply to say you are looking into the issue and will be back in touch. Some acknowledgment is always better than none, hence the customer doesn’t feel neglected.

Make the customer the hero of your story. – Ann Handley

Get back to your customers as soon as possible. However, don’t be in a hurry to get them off the call or close the query without solving the issue completely.

33% of those surveyed say they’d recommend a brand that offered a “quick but ineffective response” compared to only 17% who said the same for a “slow but effective solution.” (Source)

#3 Know Your Customers

Here, we can mention two factors to consider: the marketing aspect and offering excellent customer service.

For marketing, it’s all clear. You have to know your customers well to target the right audience, manage remarketing campaigns, and develop customer retention.

But why is it so crucial for customer service?

Usually, representatives have to deal with multiple customers. Unfortunately, not all of them know the customer’s history well and therefore, cannot provide immediate help.

Customers like personalization. Hence, get to know your customers, remember their names and earlier conversations. If required, make a note of what was discussed before so you can refer to it the next time you meet.

For this, you can use suitable CRM software that will collect all client data. This way any of your representatives will be able to check on data and deliver high-quality customer service.

#4 Keep Your Word

If you promise something, assure you deliver it is common-sense customer service. Don’t let your customers down. Keeping your word is about reputation and trust.

For example, if you’ve promised to call a customer on Monday, call them on Monday.

Or, if your customer’s delivery goes wrong, offer to replace it and refund their money for their inconvenience. You may lose some money, but you’ll definitely earn a loyal customer.

However, customers may feel angry if you break a promise, and you may lose them. Hence, it’s still better to under-promise and over-deliver so you can ensure you never break your promise.

58% will never use the company again after a negative experience. (Source)

#5 Be Positive

Attitude is everything.

The right attitude changes negative customer experiences into positive customer experiences. – Flavio Martins

As maximum customer communications are not face-to-face, your attitude must be reflected in your language and tone of voice. It’s easy to misunderstand the tone of written interaction, email or live chat.

In such situations, don’t be scared to use emojis to communicate kindness and good humor. You can also pick up the phone and call your customer if you feel an email or chat conversation is getting tense.

#6 Admit Mistakes

We are humans, and we all make mistakes. One extremely valuable lesson on customer service is, when you make a mistake, don’t deny it or try to hide it. If you try to cover or give excuses it will only make your customer angry.

Admit your mistake, say sorry, and do whatever it needs to make the situation right. Your customers will appreciate it, and, by this, you will not lose a customer.

People will forget what you said. They will forget what you did. But they will never forget how you made them feel. – Maya Angelou

#7 Closing Skills

In customer service, concluding refers to the ability to close communications with the customer feeling like all their queries and complaints have been taken care of.

You never want the client to leave feeling unhappy.

At the end of the call, always ask “Were all your queries solved?” or “Is there anything else I can assist you with”.

This tells the customer you care about their experience and are ready to help them.

It comes down to how your customer experiences the brand – and how that brand makes a person feel. – Alex Allwood

Now It’s Your Turn

All of these factors combine to provide great customer service. It’s customer service that keeps your customers committed to you and your business, and you’ll earn a reputation for being helpful and a pleasure to work with.

Are there any other good customer service skills we missed? What customer service skills have had the greatest impact on your business?

Let us know in the comments below.