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7 Steps to set up a successful customer service department
Ever wondered why some companies are more successful than others? Even when they charge a premium, customers flock to their website in hordes. The answer is simple – Customer Service. In most cases, customer service is what differentiates them from the crowd.
“A satisfied customer is one who will continue to buy from you, seldom shop around, refer other customers and in general be a superstar advocate for your business.” ~George Ciotti
This has been nothing but prophetic. A customer served well not only creates repeat purchase opportunities but much higher customer lifetime value (CLV). A survey by Microsoft that found that 90% of customers in the US base their loyalty upon customer service also backs this. As things stand today, in the ‘new normal’ customer service has taken the driver’s seat. Most companies realize this and are ready to ride the new wave. But the question arises, where should you begin, what is the most optimal strategy to build a great customer service unit. Let’s delve a little deeper to find the answer to these questions.
What makes a Successful Customer Service Department?
A successful customer service department is specialized, highly experienced, and focused on offering excellent customer services. These ingredients of success result not only in improved customer experience, but strengthening the brand reputation too.
Consider the fact, 89% of consumers are more likely to make another purchase after a positive customer service experience. A Salesforce Research study found that every facet of our personal and professional life has changed in the last year. The customer-brand relationship is no longer sacrosanct.
1. Research on Your Customers Needs
The first step towards improving customer experience is to study the customer needs carefully. What you can do is:
- Survey your customers through various channels to find out what your customers are actually looking for in a customer service department
- Also, research on what the successful companies are following to keep their customers happy
- Check out what channels are great to connect with the customers based on your industry
For this, there are hundreds of case studies, articles and videos on how to build a strong relationship with customers are available online.
2. Define Successful Customer Service Standards
Once you are finished with the research step, your next very important step is to define the quality of your customer services that you will inculcate in your department. You are now prepared for defining successful customer service standards for your customers.
Let’s discuss few quality standards that you can set for your department:
- As per your research, decide whether you want to go for a similar response time as per your industry or you want to improve it in terms of speed
- Set how your department will deal with your customer needs, demands and complaints
- Legal government regulations of your country and industry should be clearly stated in your quality standards’ specifications.
3. Define Customer Service Objectives
To know whether your customer service department is improving periodically, try to set objectives in advance for your department.
- KPIs of the members of your department should be clearly defined
- Decide a fixed period to measure those KPIs to keep a close check on whether they are improving
- Determine on what basis you will beat your competition over customer service
Defining all the above objectives will help you to stay in line with your customer service goals.
4. Finalize Customer Support Channels
There are various customer support channels that you can target for your customer service – phone, social media, email, live chat, support forums, etc.
It is not a necessity for you to take up all these channels into consideration to offer customer service. You can take up any or all as per your research and the complexity of configuring and maintaining each of these channels.
5. Create the Best Customer Service Team
Next, comes the most important and valuable factor that many companies often grapple with — How will your customers decide whether you offer the best customer service in your industry?
Well, it depends on the customer service team that you have. It is imperative for you to bring the best people on board. Each member of your customer service team should have:
- Excellent communication skills
- Time management skills
- Ability to handle worst situations patiently
- Customer-centric mindset
6. Measure Performance of your Team Regularly
Now, you need to measure the performance of your customer service team regularly. As discussed earlier, measuring KPIs regularly with your defined objectives will help you to find out whether you have the best people in your team. Well, this will prove helpful during measuring ROI for customer services.
7. Choose the Best Customer Support Tools
Choosing the best customer support tools is the last yet very critical step to set up a successful customer service department. The tools like contact center software, CRM, etc. are great in improving the effectiveness of your team and offering world-class customer services.
If you have made up your mind to upgrade and are searching for modern contact center software, then your search ends here. You can bank on HoduCC for product quality and price advantage, no matter what your size is. We can customize our product as per your needs. What’s more? We are also Gartner listed as a CategoryLeader and FrontRunner. Check out why it is the best in the industry.
What are your steps to set up a successful customer service department? Do share in the comment section below. Or call us at +1-707-708-4638, +91-
