The sole existence of a successful business depends on its customers. Without them supporting a business, there is no future for it. Therefore, a business can only do well if they keep their customers happy.
What will make a customer happy? – To answer that, first, one has to understand:
- What do the customers want from a business?
- What are their expectations?
- What will satisfy their needs?
If a business can rightly answer these questions and act upon them, they will experience no hindrance in their way to success.
What do the customers want from a business?
1. They want the company to value their time
In this age of speed, who has the time to wait on a long call queue? The customers, therefore, want their issues resolved in the swiftest possible time. They expect to resolve their queries quick, and without having to wait for a customer service agent over the phone.
How can a business act swiftly?
A company can introduce multiple other interaction channels in their customer service mix. For the tech savvy customers of today, having just a telephone communication channel is not enough. They want to have more options. Therefore, a company should think of customer service channels like email, chat, IVR, online account, video calls and social customer service. It will open a new horizon of business-customer interactions and help the customers save their precious time. It will also show the customers that their time is valued by the business.
2. They want to feel heard and taken care of
When a customer contacts a customer service department with a pressing problem they expect the agents to listen to the problem carefully, understand their situation, and come up with a quick and effective solution.
How can a business act upon it?
A company can train its agents to empathize with the customers and offer them the best effective solution. The business can allow the agents to have an unscripted conversation with the customers, which will give the customer an impression that the agents are genuinely interested in their problem and want to solve it. It will build a stronger agent-customer relationship that will result in customer loyalty.
3. They want to know if a company is knowledgeable.
In earlier days, a business used to stick to their products or service, but never cared to share the knowledge required to use the product or service optimally. Customers these days want the businesses to share the knowledge and tips to better use the products or services.
How can a business act upon it?
A business can offer knowledge about small fixes, answers to frequently asked questions on their website and through IVR. The company newsletter may contain useful tips that can improve the customers’ experience with the product or service. The agents too can suggest easy and effective hacks that will improve the customers’ experience.
4. They want to know if a company can be trusted
A number of companies make their customers buy unnecessary additional products or services that they have no real use of. Some also deceive them into buying things. While it may sound profitable, in the end, the customers eventually lose their faith in those companies and fall for their competitors. So a customer wants to see whether the company they are doing business with can be trusted or not.
In addition, in some cases, many agents lie about the time required to resolve an issue or whether the issue can be resolved. This too can lessen the trust a customer puts on the company.
How can a business act upon it?
A company must not take advantage of its customers. When they suggest any product or services, it should be out of a genuine intention to improve the experience of a customer and not fueled by uncontrolled greed. The customers are no fools. They understand when they are being deceived and when people want to help them. So, suggest nothing but useful product or services that will meet the specific needs of the customer or complement any previous product or service he has purchased from you.
A business also needs to train their agents to give the customers a true picture of what is in store for them. If a problem cannot be fixed, tell them so. If a particular problem takes 24 hours to resolve, do not promise to fix it within 2 hours.
If you can do these, you will surely meet all the points in the customers’ checklist. You can expect a greater amount of customer satisfaction, improved customer experience and a surge in customer loyalty, which are the only things you need to become a successful business.
