In today’s world of on-demand everything, customer expectations for fast, friendly service are sky high. They want queries answered and issues resolved immediately, at any hour of the day or night. Fail to meet those demands and frustrated customers will simply take their business elsewhere in a heartbeat. Keeping your customers satisfied 24/7 is crucial for retention and growth.
Be Available on Their Schedule
Long gone are the days when businesses could get away with operating 9-5, Monday through Friday and expect customers to conform. Our always-on world means you need to be available and responsive whenever your customers need you. That means nights, weekends, and holidays.
But beefing up your customer support staff to provide 24/7 live coverage requires major resources many businesses simply cannot spare. This is where leveraging a live answering service by providers like Apello can be a total game-changer on a sensible budget.
With a team of professional virtual receptionists managing incoming calls around the clock, you ensure your customer inquiries always reach a friendly voice. They can assist with basics, take messages, or escalate urgent matters to on-call staff after hours. No more frustrating inbox stockpiles or unanswered calls that leave customers feeling ignored.
Ditch Complicated Phone Menus
Few things drive away impatient customers faster than having to navigate an endless marathon of phone menu prompts just to reach a human voice for help. While automated attendants have their place, they should be streamlined exceptions rather than the rule.
Make it a priority to implement effortless paths for customers to quickly connect with your live support staff, whether by phone or other channels like chat or email. If phone menus are necessary, design them with a bare minimum of self-service options and do not bury the human operator option.
Reduce Customer Effort
From a customer’s perspective, great service eliminates hassles and makes their lives easier. So look for opportunities to reduce the amount of effort they need to expend when engaging with your company.
Maybe it’s implementing better knowledge base or self-service tools on your website so customers can find answers themselves without waiting for support. Or perhaps it’s proactively checking in with customers triggered by certain events or elapsed times, rather than making them always initiate support requests.
Get Personal
At the end of the day, customers crave human rapport and personalized service. There are only so far scripted, robotic support interactions can go before they leave people feeling frustrated and unheard.
Train your customer support staff to make personal connections through warm greetings, speaking in casual conversations rather than corporate lingo, addressing customers by name, and showing empathy for their situations. These personal touches go a long way in building the human rapport that engenders customer loyalty.
Be Proactive
Speaking of rapport, do not just wait for disgruntled customers to complain before you prioritize their happiness. Look for proactive ways to check in with customers to gauge their satisfaction with your products or services and identify any simmering issues. A little proactive outreach can go a long way in making customers feel valued and nipping any negativity in the bud.
Conclusion
Keeping your customers happy 24/7 needs to be the top priority for any thriving business. After all, unhappy customers will simply find alternatives. Make it a breeze for them to always connect with responsive human support through optimized staffing, processes, training and tools like live answering services. And always strive to manage each interaction in a warm, empathetic, and low-effort manner that builds great rapport and loyalty. Satisfy your customers around the clock, and they will keep coming back for more.
