WebRTC Expert Feature

March 28, 2019

5 Ways to Improve Customer Relations Through Tech




Your customers, both current and potential, expect more from you and your company every day… as they should. Constant technological advancements give your customers a broader range of choices when it comes to products and services, and while this increases competition it also allows you room to grow your business by maintaining great customer relationships.

The necessity of speed, accuracy and relationship building has become increasingly important. In fact, a recent survey distributed to 5,000 consumers across the Globe reports that:

  • 66% of consumers can’t remember the last time a brand experience exceeded their expectations.
  • 49% of consumers said brands they engage with don’t meet their expectations for a good experience.

How can you stay ahead of the curve, and continue to provide a top-notch experience for your customers?

Improve Communication

There are so many different avenues for communicating with your customers available today. Whether it be chat windows, messaging platforms or a conference call service, you should be able to have seamless communication with your customers. This will help build relationships with your customers and increase efficiency for your business.

Live chats are becoming a preferred platform with the highest level of satisfaction for consumers (73%) because they can get answers quickly without having to leave your site or app. This ultimately gives them the ability to multi-task, and if the issue can’t be solved in the chat, you can drop a link in the chat and get on a conference call instantly.

Chances are, if you’re using a CRM (which you absolutely should be), there will be an add-on already built in. Another huge benefit to using a live chat is that your customer can receive round the clock support if you have the team in place.

Put Yourself in Their Shoes

Gone are the days of having to decipher a customer issue over the phone (i.e. “have you tried turning it off an on again?”). Have your company subscribe to a conference call service so you can jump right into the problem, and through screen sharing, see exactly what they’re experiencing.

This allows for a speedy resolution and keeps the element of human interaction in the customer experience, which is crucial for brand loyalty. In a previous study conducted by Oracle, Global Insights on Succeeding in the Customer Experience Era, 89% of customers have reported switching brand loyalties due to “poor customer experience.”

In putting yourself in the customer’s shoes, or rather seeing their problem first hand, you can help them quickly solve their issue or answer their question.

Monitor all Touchpoints

One of the best ways to improve your customer’s experience is to keep track of when and how they are interacting with your team. There are plenty of good options for CRM platforms available (HubSpot, Salesforce, Salesloft etc.) that all have the ability to integrate with other aspects of your business.

With these platforms, you can analyze how quickly (or slowly…) support issues are being resolved, track patterns in what the issues are, as well as what method of communication is performing the best. These services also give you the ability to create cadences for your team to keep your customers in the loop with new features, events, and releases. The thorough analysis of your team’s interactions with customers will help you keep an ear to the ground on the relationships your customers have with your brand. 

Ask About Their Experience

It’s important that you take the time to gather some primary data on the experience your company is providing to your customers. This way you can improve that relationship and keep a temperature gauge on what they think of your products and services. This also improves the relationship because the customer’s feel like their voice is being heard.

You should be taking advantage of some type of surveying tool. Some of the CRM’s mentioned above have add-ons for surveying, but there are also other platforms like SurveyGizmo, or SurveyMonkey. These tools can allow you to send an immediate followup asking for feedback on your customer’s experience, and even embed surveys into your website or app.

An important part of improving customer relations is to improve their experience, and you won’t know anything about their experience until you ask.

Empower Your Customer

Providing your customers with adequate resources to solve a problem or gain information on your product, will create an overall better experience for them and your team. The use of FAQ’s and customer communities gives the customer the ability to seek out information on their own and not constantly have to call into your support line.

Another great tool is demo videos for showcasing your product, training or resolving common problems other customers have experienced. Letting your customers interact with your product autonomously through some of these available technologies will improve their relationship with your brand.

Conclusion

Chances are you are not alone in your product space, and chances are that you won’t always have the best product in the space either. What will ultimately set your business apart from others is the relationships that you build with current and prospective customers.

Communication, convenience, the process, user experience, and empowerment are all drivers in how your customer interacts with your business. Put yourself ahead of everyone else by leveraging technology to foster meaningful relationships with your customers.



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