Satisfied customers are everything. When people are happy with your company, they’re more likely to make additional purchases, develop loyalty, write good reviews, and tell others about your organization. According to statistics compiled by Forbes, companies with an above-average customer experience earn more revenue than others.
It’s not hard to see that to run a thriving and profitable business, you need happy customers; businesses with a high number of complaints don’t last very long.
So, how do you increase customer satisfaction and avoid an unwanted fate of failure? Start by streamlining your business processes and systems. This is the foundation for success and will prove worthwhile.
Broken processes inconvenience customers
You can’t afford disruptions to your customer experience, but that’s exactly what happens when some of your internal systems are broken. For instance, a disjointed customer service system can force people to repeat their issue multiple times to different agents, and they might need to wait for days to get a response on a pressing matter. Most people don’t have the patience to deal with these situations because companies with great customer service have set the bar high.
Another example of a broken process is a lack of expected support. For instance, if you run a call center but don’t have 24/7 support, you could lose customers who feel inconvenienced. Forty-three percent of people expect round-the-clock support and will do business with a competitor if you’re only available M-F during standard business hours. Having “business hours” was the old model and it just doesn’t work today.
Additionally, if you don’t have a definitive policy for returns, and agents can do whatever they want, customers won’t be treated the same. As such, they might get upset when they learn other people received more favorable resolutions.
The ideal solution is to standardize all of your business processes so there is no question regarding how you want teams to manage specific issues. You should have manuals that can be given to anyone to implement processes in the exact same manner every time. Then, outsource your customer service to ensure your customers are taken care of 24/7.
If this isn’t an option, then create an extensive self-help knowledge base to assist customers with resolving common problems. For example, create troubleshooting guides for everything that might become an issue, from basics like resetting a password to more complex issues like changing a shipping address after an order has been placed.
Smooth processes support customer service teams
An inferior process can make it challenging for support teams to give good customer service. For example, if you don’t have a set protocol for handling incoming tickets, your customer service team will struggle to help people. Your service reps might not resolve issues in alignment with company policy, and tickets might need to be rerouted, which will only delay resolution.
If you’re managing tickets manually, you’re probably not providing the best customer support. Even the most well-meaning, helpful representatives will fail to deliver when using manual support channels like email.
Software will help with consistency
Consistency is a form of quality. Customers expect a high level of consistency and aren’t willing to settle for less. They expect the same experience across all channels, whether it’s your website or social media platforms. Consistency also helps to develop your brand reputation, which can influence customer satisfaction.
To create consistency with your business processes, you need standardization, and the best way to do that is with software. However, you will need to define your processes first and then use software to implement them in a consistent manner.
A simple application can give your teams everything they need to support customers with the high level of service they expect. The right software will provide a good ROI for your business by streamlining processes and automating redundant tasks.
For example, if you run a fleet of vehicles, software can route maintenance tasks to the right mechanic, track your warranties, and help manage your parts inventory so you always order the right items.
If you deal directly with customers, an AI-powered help desk will automatically route support requests to the appropriate person and customers can log in to view the status of their requests. These are just examples of what’s possible. The type of software you need will vary based on your industry.
Consistent processes support a positive customer experience
Are your business processes negatively impacting your customers? If so, it’s time to change that. Flawed operational processes make it hard to serve your customers, while consistent, dependable processes are the foundation for providing a top-notch customer experience.
When your goal is to run a profitable business, a positive customer experience pulls a lot of weight.
