More than three quarters (81%) of consumers complain that getting in touch with businesses is very difficult with some even suggesting it’s almost impossible! This comes as the age of the internet is taking over the business market. For many businesses and consumers this is a great thing but 42 per cent of customers rate Customer Service and communications from businesses as fair, poor or terrible so clearly something is not working.
UK consumers are more likely to complain or leave a negative review more times than consumers in Australia or America.
The latest annual Consumer Action Monitor (CAM) report by Ombudsman Services found that the average number of issues and problems per person has increased from 2.5 per person in 2018 to 4.2 in 2019.
Consumer complaints have doubled since 2018 with 51 per cent of businesses reporting that they received negative customer reviews. This was as a result of bad communication experiences that their customers have had..
So how can you make sure your customers are receiving good customer service?
There are plenty of simple tools out there to help you improve and manage the quality of your services levels. Many have additional business benefits such as: improving efficiency, cutting costs and increasing productivity of your workforce.
- Screen Pop your customer database – Identifying a customer before a call gets answered and using that information to automatically find and load their contact details is one of the primary requirements of computer telephony integration. You can prioritise important calls and avoid time wasters. Also by greeting your customers by their names, it increases customer service and satisfaction.
- Outbound Dialling – One of the most powerful outbound sales tools is local number presentation. When people don’t recognise the caller’s number, or see a non-geographic number, they’re much less likely to pick up. By giving the customer a perception of local presence – which many customers like – you’ll also increase answer rates. Most dialers can set the caller ID to match your prospect’s geographic area. This means your callers see a familiar number and are more likely to answer the phone.
- Improve your staff service levels with a Call Recorder –. Call Recording can record inbound and outbound calls so you can play them back at any time. This allows you to hear exactly how your staff are taking those important calls. You can also use call recordings to train your employees and immediately improve your customer service levels.
- Use an email management system to handle customers’ messages quickly and effectively –. If your company receives lots of emails every day, an email management system can help improve your customer satisfaction. Email Management is proven to increase the productivity by up to 70% and can exceed service levels by having messages routed, queued and automatically distributed to the right person in your team.
If you want customers to recommend your company, make sure they have a good experience.
