6 tips on what makes good customer service to increase your sales

Customer service is about building a solid relationship between you and your customers. Good customer service goes a long way because it shows that you’re more than just a website of products or services, but a team of dedicated and trustworthy people. It has now become so important in the consumer’s journey that it can directly affect your sales. Here are 6 tips in what makes good customer service.

1. Make a great first impression
Time to dress to impress.

Remember the quote ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’? Well as much as we all try and not do this, consumers will quickly judge if your company is reliable and trustworthy. For example, does your website have an online chat, contact form or a FAQ section. If customers know that they can easily get in contact with you, this will reassure them that you’re a reliable company. One action that you could put in place is a chat pop-up with the customer service team member available to show customers that you’re online and there to help if they have any questions.

A good first impression will get you far. 40% of consumers will buy more if they’ve experienced a good customer service, so if you get this right from the beginning, you’ll be on the home straight.

REMEMBER

• Consumers will quickly judge if your company is reliable and trustworthy
• 40% of consumers will buy more if they’ve experienced a good customer service

2. Provide a short response time
Time is money.

For good customer service, reactivity is the key. When you get a customer query, respond as soon as you can. Even if it’s something that you personally can’t fix yourself, reply to the customer saying you’ve transferred it to the appropriate team member and you’ll get back with a response as soon as possible. Customers appreciate reactivity from customer service. Like you and me who are consumers as well, we aren’t satisfied when we don’t get the information we want quickly. And it’s always better to confirm to the customer that you’ve received their response than waiting until it has been fixed.

A short response time will increase your sales as it shows them you will be with them all the way through their consumer journey. A reactive company will help them with word-of-mouth marketing. As much as consumers spread bad experiences quickly, they also will talk about good ones too to their entourage. This word-of-mouth marketing is one of the best types to spread your brand name with the help of your customers (and without them even knowing they’re doing it!). From personal experience, a reactive customer service team plays a big part in increasing your sales, it’s not just about you providing a good product/service but a whole package including good customer service.

REMEMBER

• Reply to customers as soon as you can
• Customers appreciate reactivity from customer service and can lead to word-of-mouth marketing for your company

3. Don’t ignore negativity
Ignoring it won’t make it go away.

Now if you’re reading this and you work in customer service, you have probably received a few angry messages from customers in the past …and you know what makes good customer service? Repairing the damage and replying to them. The worst thing you can do is ignore them because that will just anger them even more! Let’s admit it, we’ve all been one of those annoying angry customers at some point 🙈.

For example, you receive a negative review on one of your product pages. Get an understanding of why the customer is unhappy and reply to them with a solution, whether that be a refund, product replacement or a personal discount voucher for the inconvenience. Your role is to resolve the problem and go that extra mile to make sure they stay as one of your customers. I once had a friend complain to Marks and Spencers about socks that had holes in after 3 weeks of buying them, they complained and the next thing they knew, they got given a €15 voucher for the shop! It’s amazing and great to see a company’s customer service so dedicated to their customers.

REMEMBER

• Good customer service is about repairing the damage
• For example, always reply to negative reviews and try to understand why a customer is unhappy

4. Adapt to every customer
We’ve all heard this one before.

Recently I wanted to use a website’s online chat to query something and all I got was automated responses. Now I’m all for technology advances, but it’s so much better to have a real human being reply to you as in this particular case, the automated chat box got me nowhere.
Customer queries vary all the time and so it’s essential that you adapt to every customer you get a query from. You need to:

• Understand what your customers want
• Think about how to approach them
• Find a solution to their specific needs

It’s important to not roll out the same speech to every customer. What makes good customer service is adapting to each and everyone, for example posts through social media are visible to the whole wide world so you need to pay particular attention to how you write your reply as your sales can significantly increase depending on what is written on social media.

REMEMBER

• It’s important to understand what your customers want and how to approach them
• Don’t give the same speech to every customer query, adapt your approach to each and every one

5. Remember to thank your customers
All it takes is two small words.

Your customers are what make your business succeed and so it’s important you thank them once in a while for their continued support. These two small words can go a long way for customers, make them feel special and more likely buy from you again…thus increasing your sales .
Examples of opportunities to thank your customers could be:

• Positive posts about your company on their social media accounts
• Length of loyalty to your company
• Raising a bug on your website that needed fixing

Certain thank-you’s could come with a little present from your business, for example for a customer that has bought from you for lengthy period of time. However whether it be the perfect customer or an annoying one, saying thank you is what makes good customer service.

REMEMBER

• Your customers are what make your business thrive so it’s worth thanking them once in a while
• Customers will feel special and more likely buy from you again

6. Honesty is the key
Don’t try and lie yourself out of this one.

As much as we don’t mean to, we all make mistakes and the best thing to do is admit them. What makes good customer service is admitting these and apologizing to your customer for the mistake, rather than trying to hide from them.
For example let’s say a user found a bug on your website that’s making them hesitate whether to buy your service or not. They email you and here is where you need to first say thank you for raising the bug but also apologize for the inconvenience caused, along with a solution so that they don’t go elsewhere. This is also where the factor of reactivity comes into play as well, show your customers that you want to resolve their problem quickly and are genuinely sorry for the inconvenience.

REMEMBER

• It’s better to admit mistakes to your customers rather than trying to hide them
• If this is the case, apologize and come up with a solution

Conclusion

Customers are the central point to your business and so providing the best possible customer service for them is what will keep them coming back to you and equally gain you new sales. Stay honest, be reactive, find the best solution and show your customers that you’re there to help them for any query they have.