3 Customer Service Mistakes That Are Costing You Revenue

Lauren Spinella lists her top three customer service mistakes to avoid, which may be costing you customers and revenue. 

Your customers are busy. So when they interact with your company, they want to do so quickly and effectively. But, too often, consumers are slowed down by the customer service tactics that companies actually put in place to help.

Unfortunately, many of these tactics are seen as obstacles that lead to longer wait times and increase frustration as your customers struggle to resolve their issues.

Don’t risk losing customers, and potentially revenue, due to oversights like these. Make sure your company is not committing any of these 3 common customer service mistakes.

Mistake 1: Not Being in the Right Place at the Right Time

Today, consumers have many ways of accessing your customer support: through social media, by phone or on website chat, to name a few. These channels ensure that customers can contact companies easily – but this also means that companies need to provide quick and efficient service on the channels they offer.

Consumers expect access to the companies they buy from, especially today when technology brings communication to a speedier level. To make sure your customers are never struggling to get a hold of you, your company needs to determine what kinds of channels are most effective for your customers and how you can deliver on those channels.

Take steps to optimise the channels of communication that are most important to your customers. Ensure that the customer service representative or automated system is asking the right questions and leading the customer directly to a resolution. Knowing that they can get a quick and accurate answer when calling your company will give a customer confidence in continuing to use your products and services.

Mistake 2: Not Responding in a Timely Manner

Just replying to the customer is not enough, though. Equally important is the response time.

According to a Twitter study on the interactions between consumers and brands, 60% of consumers who use Twitter for customer care “expect brands to respond to their customer service requests within an hour.” This doesn’t solely apply to Twitter – the faster any customer service channel provides a response, the better.

This goes for voice channels, too. Companies should take care not to make callers wait on hold for long periods of time or click through endless menus to speak with the correct representative. Efficient responses are key to making a customer happy and letting them know that your company respects their busy schedule.

Mistake 3: Not Personalising the Customer Experience

Regardless of whether your customer has a simple question or a complex issue, your company’s approach toward the customer, and their request, plays as great a role in the customer experience as the help you provide.

Today’s consumers expect personalised experiences – meaning that when they call you to check on an order status, they want you to already have information ready about the most recent order they placed with you. And when they start a customer service inquiry on your webchat and then transfer to a phone call, the context of that first interaction should not be lost. Retaining information about the customer from one interaction to the next is the kind of personalisation that makes the customer experience seem effortless – and it’s what keeps customers coming back.

It’s true that some of the mistakes covered here might seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how often they are overlooked. Even if best practices are in place in your contact centre, take the time to perfect these methods and identify areas where you could further improve the customer experience. It will create a win for your company and, most importantly, your customers.