Nearly every company seeks to improve customer service despite inevitable product returns or common customer complaints. In fact, that tends to be when we care the most. How does your company measure against the competition? Do your customers’ opinions of your company or brand change once they need to return a product? How easy is it for them to take the necessary actions to return your products?
Here are 7 ways to improve customer service in spite of product returns.
Be Available
Your customers need you to be available. If they cannot get in touch when they need you, they make seek solace elsewhere. Being available as often as possible, either by phone, email, chat, or even through the use of a self-service customer portal, will help immensely with your customer service. The more you show up for your customers, the happier they will be, even if you cannot resolve their issue immediately.
Use Better Technology
With the fast pace of changing technology, there are many ways to improve your customer service process. One of the most effective ways to improve customer service is through automation. Customer service tools and returns management software, for example, make tracking customer orders, inquiries, and open cases a breeze. You can send and receive emails, integrate pre-paid shipping, and more.
Be As Human As Possible
While you should consider automation in order to keep up with your competition, don’t let it take over completely. Losing your human touch is never good for customer service. Instead, find ways to remain relatable and approachable despite technology. Use really well-written, personalized customer service email templates and flags to stay on top of critical customer service issues. This will help establish trust and make customers feel appreciated and valued.
Introduce Customer Service Specials
Everyone wants to be treated like a VIP. If you can offer special discounts or exclusive services for your best customers, do it. Not only will your customers love the special attention but may even pay more for it. That brand loyalty is worth so much more than whatever you would be giving them. Free returns or shipping could sway new customers into making a purchase and add credibility to your business.
Give Away Value in Many Forms
You customers don’t always need free stuff (that is, in the form of a physical good or item). Sometimes, sharing knowledge is more than enough. In order to improve your customer service despite product returns, you need to arm your customers with the ability to take care of their own problems. Provide free tutorials on your products and services, cheat sheets, checklists, and other materials they can use to become smarter, well-rounded consumers.
Leverage Existing Customers for Support
Online customer forums and communities are great customer service tools. Want to hear the best part? Once you have created a way for you customers to interact with each other, it is pretty much set and forget. You can moderate as needed, but they will likely do most of the work for you. This is especially useful for your smaller customers who do not have the support of a team to ask questions or bounce ideas off.
Monitor All Customer Engagement
Knowing your business and customers better than anyone is critical to a great customer experience. You cannot improve customer service if you are not in tune with your products or services and what people are saying about them. This includes social media engagement across every channel, email monitoring, in-depth customer tracking, any tags or mentions of your brand, and much more.
Have you successfully improved customer service in spite of product returns? If so, what helped most? Share your comments below!
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