Why are your customers running away from you? – 8 customer service mistakes
8 customer service mistakes
The price and the brand are considered the main factors customers pay attention to. Today’s trends indicate that for the customers the third major factor facilitating their purchasing decisions is for a retailer to have high-quality customer service. It turns out that the consumers are willing to pay even more for a product. In exchange they require professional and reliable service, especially one characterised by a relational approach. And this is why should avoid the most common customer service mistakes.
A relational approach is an individual approach aimed at creating a strong bond with the buyer. It has to be based on good communication and ensuring customer satisfaction with products and services. Such a relationship includes comprehensive pre-sales and post-sales care. This translates into customer loyalty to the company, e.g. through repeated purchases and promotion of a particular company.
Probably many retailers have already learned that customer service is one of the biggest challenges of running a business. Often seemingly trivial inconveniences can scare customers away forever. Here are 8 of the most common mistakes made by customer service departments. If ruled out, it can help retain fleeing customers.
1. Misunderstanding customers’ needs
Sometimes customers get the impression that the seller is not listening to them at all. The customer service responds to the customer with content that is not related to the reported problem. Or it is related only to the last question asked. Building a good relationship with a customer is about thoroughly understanding their needs. If a customer has such a problem with our service or product, it is also our problem.
We cannot ignore it or run from the subsequent consequences.
Active listening allows the customers to feel important and cared for, which promotes mutual communication. This means that if we gain the customer’s favour and approval, they will be more cooperative, engaged and understanding in further communication.
People like to go back to the places they already know and where they feel comfortable. This is why understanding their needs is a major step to establishing a good relationship with the customer. It also helps gain their loyalty for many years.
2. Wrong order of problem-solving.
The wrong order of solving the problem means the conversation itself is not good. For example, a customer comes to the customer service with a complaint about a non-functioning product. The customer service offers to close the case by giving an immediate refund or sending a new product.
The customer, satisfied with the quick resolution of the problem, chooses the best solution and waits to receive it. Then, unexpectedly, the customer receives tons of staged requests from the customer service regarding the first complaint message. It can be a request to send pictures/video of how the product works. Another steps are a detailed description of the problem, request to fill out a form or request to use self-correcting solutions.
Such situations are irritating because, as customers, we experience the disappointment of an unfulfilled promise to receive a quick solution. Therefore, this irritation gets even worse with each new requirement to fulfil after the previous one. In the worst-case scenario, you may find that after the customer service looks closely at the complaint, the customer’s preferred solution now turns out to be impossible.
This customer service’s error may not sound too scary to many people. But it’s crucial that you don’t introduce moments of disorganization. Sou should not lead to a sudden change of customers emotions from those very positive to negative. Such actions are quickly reflected in poorer statistics of the company.
In conclusion, it’s important to inform the customer at the very beginning about all the procedures that will be necessary to resolve the complaints. Only after receiving them should we offer the best possible solution for a particular customer.
3. Waiting too long for a response
These days, time is essential, and we are constantly short of it. It is not a surprise that waiting for a response or, worse of all, unexpectedly discontinuing contact, can be the most frustrating experience for customers. Often this becomes the reason for them to end up shopping elsewhere. Speed of product delivery, as well as the speed of service, are crucial to gaining significant customer favour.
The customer service should react promptly to complaints or inquiries. In situations that require more time to resolve, it is advisable to send informational messages to customers about the progress and expected time of resolution.
4. Lack of knowledge
If somebody has taken a few minutes to ask a question about your product, it’s a sign that they are one step closer to becoming your customer. Never answer a customer with “I don’t know” leaving them with no hope to get help with the issue asked. Your knowledge as a salesperson should always be greater than the customer’s knowledge.
Currently, it is believed that a customer service representative has no right not to know. In this situation, you can always ask a customer for time to consult with a more knowledgeable person. The customer should appreciate any extra effort but remember not to make the customer wait too long before contacting you again.
In the worst situation, when you have no chance to get a clear answer to the question, try to share some information that will help in some way to bring the customer closer to the expected answer.
5. Arrogance
The presence of arrogant behaviour in customer service is associated with mass loss of customers, usually irreversible loss. Arrogance is a very brash attitude, combined with high confidence and disregard for others.
None of us would feel comfortable in a situation where the customer service doesn’t apologise for their mistakes or serious incidents. Or a situation where someone aggressively argues over minor things. They don’t show gratitude for all the help the customer has put into solving the problem.
Working in customer service requires a great deal of humility, awareness that everyone is different and some customers may require more patience. Regardless of the client’s situation or attitude, do not be driven by emotions and never behave in a disrespectful manner.
6. Complex complaint process
A very complex, incomprehensive, laborious, cognitively taxing/boring buying process is one of the most annoying problems for customers. Frequent transfers from department to department or giving the same information over and over again can lead to frustration.
Good and responsive customer service means a minimised number of targeted efforts to resolve the situation. Boring procedures and pointlessly spending time discourage customers from contacting and buying from an unfriendly company. It often motivates customers to give very unfavourable reviews.
7. Spam
More than once you may have received unwanted messages, which then linger in your inbox, making it difficult to find what you are really looking for. The messages received are used to persuade the recipients to go to the address in the attachment. These are often promotional messages or advertisements that we want to see and make use of. However, sometimes the number and the frequency of these messages can be associated with stalking and we have had enough.
Therefore, an important message to sellers is to limit sending bulk messages and only do so with the recipient’s permission given. It’s a good idea to allow customers to choose the intensity of the advertising newsletters they receive. Ask them if they want to get them once or more than once a month.
As a sender, don’t forget to personalise your message titles and content to your recipients as well. There is nothing worse for customers than receiving unsolicited, looking-alike messages that were never interesting to them.
8. Faulty chatbot
It turns out that sometimes solutions like a virtual assistant can be detrimental to building a positive company image. Despite many efforts like giving the virtual assistant a real person’s name or face, you cannot avoid the impression that you are talking to the computer. Customers realize it’s not a real and competent employee.
Current chatbot technology can recognise emotions expressed in text messages. It also learn as the conversation goes on to tailor the best response to the customer’s needs. Chatbots are known for being incapable of making independent decisions. They are also unable to remember previous conversations, forcing users to type the same thing every time.
An improperly built viral assistant’s dictionary and overall poor performance can lead to deterring users and generating the problems already mentioned before. Every customer wants to feel that someone has taken care of them, to talk to the most knowledgeable, kind and smiling person possible.
The best solution for customers turns out to be the ability to choose whether they want to use a chatbot or talk to a real customer service representative. The least satisfying situation is when the chatbot proves to be forced and necessary.
As you can see above, there are a lot of customer service mistakes that can happen. Being aware of them is one thing, but adjust your processes to avoid them is something totally different. Check HERE how we can help you build a long-lasting relationship with your customers.
