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Your job is to serve your customers, making sure they have good experiences that keep them coming back. But as your company grows, it becomes harder to keep track of customer cases and some may enter the Bermuda Triangle, never to be seen again.
You start your day with a cluttered email inbox and angry customers — many whom have waited a couple of days for a response. Like a rocking boat in the middle of the ocean with a storm approaching, you know something has to change, and soon.
If this scenario sounds familiar, it might be because you don’t have the tools you need to serve your customers well. To get out of this situation, it might be time to invest in a new customer support solution. To help you cast off in the right direction, use our handy checklist to find out if your problems could be solved by a customer support app like Desk.com. When you’re ready to talk to your boss about a support solution, make sure you have a compelling case showing the return on your proposed investment. In addition to the checklist, I've highlighted a few key points that you may want to consider.
Most Desk.com customers were in your shoes before investing in a customer support solution – feeling the pain of unmanageable customer support. If you can say “yes” to any of the below issues, it may be a sign it’s time to invest in a “bigger” help desk.
Agent Problems:
Customer Problems:
You can’t just go to your boss and say, “I think we need a customer support app,” and expect him to hand over the money. Instead, make sure you have a compelling argument showing the reasons why a customer support solution makes sense. Here are four points to consider that may help you make the case.
In today’s world of immediate solutions and interconnectivity, customer expectations have risen dramatically – most notably regarding the amount of time it takes for customer support to answer customer questions. Like the awesome power of the flying great white sharks of South Africa (see intense video here), support agents need to be fast and agile to meet the rising demand of more efficient service.
Slower service means more dissatisfied customers, which can lead to customers walking away. How do your response rates measure up:
Our email response average: __________________________(fill in the blank)
Our phone response average: __________________________(fill in the blank)
Our social media response average: __________________________(fill in the blank)
Our online chat response average: __________________________(fill in the blank)
Why a customer support solution is needed: It streamlines all customer inquiries, making it easy for support agents to work efficiently and accurately. It can also automate many tasks, including auto-respond to customers outside of office hours or to let them know their email has been received. Response times will drastically improve and customer shark attacks will decrease as well.
Fishermen that fish for trout can work just fine in a rowboat. But if you want to start going after the trophy fish, you’re going to need to run that rowboat aground and invest in a bigger vessel. Similarly, small businesses with small customer bases can serve their users just fine with a free support email tool such as Gmail. However, as you grow, free email applications become cluttered and disorganized. This can lead to lost and unresolved customer cases – and ultimately deliver business right into the arms of competitors.
A 2012 Oracle study shows that 70% of shoppers stopped purchasing from a company and 64% bought from a competing brand after experiencing poor customer service. Another study from 2013 projects that businesses can lose 20% of revenue from poor customer service experiences. Here's a question to ask yourself or boss during the initial analysis:
For us, poor customer service could translate to $______________(fill in the blank) in lost revenue.
Why a customer support solution is needed: You and your manager need to sit down and lay out the reasons why some customer inquiries are going unanswered. If you diagnose the problem to be growing product lines or a lack of tools, your manager might be interested in a more robust support solution than a free email account or basic support app. A comprehensive customer support solution assigns cases to specific agents, holding each of them accountable for responding to customers until their inquiry has reached resolution. This provides airtight customer support, as no case stays unanswered or unnoticed – ultimately improving customer satisfaction.
As you acquire more customers, you’ll find that you probably need to offer more customer service channels to field customer inquires, including social media and online chat.
Typically, if a customer is frustrated by a slow response time via one of your standard channels, like phone or email, they will find other ways to publicly share that dissatisfaction. Not only does your support team need to monitor a variety of customer support channels (phone, social media, online publications and email) they need to provide a consistent experience to the customer on each of them. Nine out of 10 consumers expect to receive a consistent experience over multiple customer contact channels. In order to provide a consistent multichannel experience to customers, it’s imperative to bring all of the channels under one roof.
Why a customer support solution is needed: It streamlines customer inquiries from various channels into one easy-to-use inbox. Rather than shifting from phone to email or opening and closing Web browsers to get the job done, agents can sit in one help desk all day, providing customers with consistent, outstanding service
One of the most overlooked business strategies is retaining and growing existing customers’ business. Small or developing businesses focus so intently on building a customer base that many times they forget most of their revenue lies in retaining current users. A good rule of thumb is that it is 6-7 times more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to keep a current one.
Companies with a customer-centric model see the positive results. In fact, companies making the customer experience a top priority generate 60% higher profits over their competitors.
Why a customer support solution is needed: Making customer experience a top priority means providing your support team with the tools they need to perform to the best of their abilities.
Ditch the dinghy, get on the ship
Being stranded in a small boat in the middle of a large body of water with a paddle and a spluttering motor isn't fun. Just-the-basics customer support solutions can be worse than a paddleboat at sea when it comes to supporting a growing business. If you’re discovering huge gaps in your organization’s customer service, it might be time to talk to your manager and figure out a solution. Comprehensive customer support solutions are the big yachts in the middle of the ocean that offer a wide array of tools and resources so you can survive and thrive. Make sure you speak up to the captain when you see impending foul weather; otherwise, batten down the hatches, it’s going to be stormy!
