As an organization, you can never have too many happy and excited customers who continue to purchase your products and services, give you referrals and are strong advocates of your organization, ensuring that your cash machine is continuously ringing.
To achieve this level of customer intimacy and satisfaction, forward thinking organizations put the following in place as they build their customer service strategy:
#1: Value Proposition:
Organizations need to have a clear value proposition that sets them apart from their competitors, one that connects to the real needs of its customers and adds value in a profound way. This value proposition then sets the tone for everything that the organization does regarding its customers.
#2: Service Standards:
The organization must have a service charter that sets high standards for internal and external service delivery that will guide the day-to-day service interactions by its employees.
#3: Service KPIs:
What doesn’t get measured, doesn’t get done, so, arising from the Service Standards, the organization must put in place Key Performance Indicators that will measure service delivery and use them to manage the performance of customer-facing employees and managers.
#4: Internal Service Excellence:
It is important to map internal interdependencies between different departments and create inter-departmental Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that will drive internal service excellence that is critical in ensuring external service excellence.
#5: Service Surveys:
Organizations should implement service surveys which could include Mystery Shopping, on-line questionnaires and service pulse-checks that could be deployed immediately after each service interaction.
#6: Customer Segmentation:
To be able to truly meet the varied needs of your customers, you will need to segment and categorize your customers based on age, gender, geography, industry and other criteria that are relevant to your products. The idea behind this categorization is to help you craft unique tactics for engaging each segment.
#7: Customer Relationship Management:
These are all the systems, tool, procedures and policies for gathering data regarding customers, interacting with customers, and using that data to improve the service that customers receive. While some organizations collect a lot of data about their customers, the challenge is how to use that data effectively to drive sales and service excellence.
#8: Customer Communication:
It is very important that you have a clear strategy for customer communication. There are a variety of platforms and tools that you can use – emails, email marketing with newsletters, text messages, mobile applications and push notifications, and call centers and internet chat rooms.
#9: Customer Experience Management:
This is about paying attention to the various service channels that your customers use and the various customer touch-points that customers interact with and ensuring the highest level of customer experience via these channels and touch-points.
#10: Customer Education:
The better-informed customers are about your products and services, the more empowered they will be. Being deliberate about educating your customers with how-to videos, service guides, FAQs and other service information and tools gives them more control and reduces the need for direct interactions with your employees to resolve service challenges.
#11: Loyalty and Reward Programs:
Everyone likes something extra, so have a deliberate plan for rewarding loyal customers and giving them something extra – freebies, discounts, referral bonuses, and other specials are a great way to express your gratitude towards your customers and keep them even more committed to your brand.
