The often high expectations customers have regarding the contact and accessibility of organisations make it essential for businesses to continually and critically evaluate their customer contact strategy. This applies to customer and complaint service, relationship management, and new business. The increase in channels and the use of mobile devices make the challenge even greater. A perfect customer experience that meets the customer's needs contributes to a strong distinctive capability of your organisation, brand, and brand perception. Here are the key tips for optimal customer contact!
1. Dare to choose the right channels
When customers have questions, they want to reach you, preferably through a channel of their choice. Consider carefully which channels you use to handle customer contact. Do you want customers to contact you only by phone? Or do you want to combine this with email, social media channels (webcare), live chat and/or post? Not every customer contact channel is relevant to your services, interesting for your customers, or feasible for your organisation. Dare to make choices and try to look as much as possible through the eyes of your customer.
2. Invest in your employees; they are your organisation
All employees who are in contact with your customers represent your organisation and embody your brand. If employees are treated as ambassadors of the organisation and are truly aware of their contribution to the customer experience and thus the organisational objectives, they will convey this in their customer interactions. Passionate employees create enthusiastic customers, leading to positive business results.
3. Always answer the phone, even outside office hours
If you or your organisation are not able to answer the phone, ensure it is forwarded to your mobile phone, another person, or organisation.
4. Clearly display a (simple) phone number on your website
A phone number on your website increases customer satisfaction and gives your organisation or online store a trustworthy appearance. You can choose a local phone number, but also a free 0800 number or a paid 0900 number. This gives a professional impression. These phone numbers are easily available via the ContactCare numbershop.
5. Create a customer contact protocol
Specify in a protocol within what timeframe a customer should receive an answer to their questions. In the case of phone contact, how many minutes should it take for the customer to get a response? In the case of written communication by post and/or email, how long should it take for customers to receive a response and answer their query? Additionally, it is important to indicate in the protocol what times the office or customer service is available and who is responsible for which questions. Of course, equally important is that this protocol is integrated into and executed by the organisation.
6. Create an FAQ web page
In virtually every company, there are questions from customers that are asked regularly. Drawing up a list with answers to these frequently asked questions can save a significant amount of time. A clear online FAQ page ensures that customers can easily and quickly find the right answer to their question. If, for example, it turns out that there are often questions about delivery times, then this is apparently not clearly enough stated on the website and can be placed on the relevant web page besides the FAQ page.
7. Respond to busy periods
Once you have broadly set up customer contact, you can decide what to do in times when you expect high demand. Do you have enough employees to handle contact during holidays, campaigns, or busy times? If all phone lines are busy, you can forward them to a call centre. The phone or mail traffic you cannot handle yourself is then taken on by well-trained people who handle customer contact daily and are trained in quality and professionalism.
Want to know more?
If you want to explore the services a call centre offers, ContactCare provides various services to meet the different needs of customer contact. Both on an hourly basis and by the number of calls. Feel free to get in touch; we are happy to think along with you.
