Customer service is about perception. A customer’s perception of a business is personal and can vary from customer to customer. What is important to one person might not be as important to someone else. Each person expects to be responded to when asking a question or filing a complaint. In my opinion, customer response time is probably one of the top criteria considered by customers when judging a business.
Think of your own experiences daily. How many interactions do you have with or around other people where you are expecting someone to respond to you in some manner?
- You ask someone to pass you the salt at the dinner table.
- You make a phone call.
- You make a purchase at any store or business.
- You honk your horn at someone in front of you stopped at a green light.
- You ask a question in a class, seminar, a business, or to any individual.
I’m sure you can think of many other instances as well. Think about how long it takes for someone to respond in each situation. Obviously the phone call one can vary in a number of ways. The urgency with which you expect someone to respond to you is directly related to how important the situation is to……. YOU.
Right?
Now keep that thought in mind when you are called to respond to someone else. The urgency they expect is directly related to the importance of the situation to…. THEM! How does this relate to your business and your customer service priorities?
You need to consider your customer’s concerns and values as important to you as you would your own concerns and values if you were expecting a response from someone else, even more so. If a customer’s inquiry seems like it may not be as pressing (you may get a clue for example, if the customer says, “there’s no rush….” Or something similar) you might ask them what their expectation is time wise to solve their request.
The single most important thing is that YOU DO RESPOND. DO NOT IGNORE THE CUSTOMER! Even if you feel their question or need is not really that important, it may be to them. Ignoring a customer will definitely not gain you good marks in gaining or keeping their loyalty. Respond and respond in a timely manner, based upon the importance of the issue to THEM!
Here are a few more tips from Time to Reply, a company that helps businesses automate responses to improve their customer service.
- Set clear response time targets: Define specific response time targets for different channels (email, live chat, social media) to ensure a consistent and timely approach.
- Prioritize urgent inquiries: Implement a system to identify and prioritize urgent customer inquiries, allowing your team to address critical issues promptly.
- Automate routine responses: Utilize automation for routine queries by implementing canned responses or chatbots, freeing up time for your team to focus on more complex issues.
- Provide comprehensive training: Ensure your customer service team is well-trained to handle various inquiries efficiently, minimizing the need for constant escalations.
- Utilize customer feedback tools: Implement tools to gather and analyze customer feedback, enabling you to identify areas for improvement and respond promptly to customer concerns.
- Use response time tracking software: Optimize customer satisfaction and streamline operations with response time tracking software, ensuring you unlock fast email reply value at every touchpoint.
If you would like to discuss your customer service needs further, please schedule a meeting with me, Coach Mike, to see how we can improve your customer service.