Guest Blog: 3 Simple Ways (Backed by Research) to Improve Customer Service Quality

This week on our Friends on Friday guest blog post my colleague, Steven Macdonald, shares the results of a study examining how companies around the world respond to customer service requests. I find the results quite alarming! – Shep Hyken

Good customer service – especially in response to customer service requests – is one of the most valuable investments any organization can make.

However, there’s a discrepancy between service provided and service received, as 80% of companies believe they deliver a superior service, while only 8% of customers agree with them.

That’s why SuperOffice recently conducted the Customer Service Benchmark report– a comprehensive study, which examines how 500 companies of all sizes around the world respond to customer service requests.

To keep the study simple, one email was sent to each company containing two simple questions:

• Do you have a phone number I can call you on?
• Where can I find pricing information on your website?

Each company then received a score out of 100 for their response.

The results from the study revealed an alarming picture of how companies ignore some of the most fundamental best practices in customer service. Don’t worry – we’ve gone through all the data for you and selected the three most important areas for improvement, along with simple techniques to resolve the issue.

1. Inform customers that you have received their request

When a customer sends an email, they never quite know what happens after they click send. That uncertainty is understandable and means the customer is likely to continue looking elsewhere or slowly lose interest in making a purchase. Alternatively, they might try to contact the company through other channels, from social media to phone lines, and waste time on both sides.

That’s why an immediate acknowledgement in the form of an auto-response is essential – to let the customer know you have received their request and they know that you are working on a solution.

Remarkably, 94% of companies do not acknowledge their customer service requests have been received, despite the enormous benefits and considerable ease at which the solution can be implemented.

Auto-replies are simple to set up in Outlook, although most customer service software comes with added advantages like the ability to tag all emails with a unique code for tracking requests. You could even provide an estimated response time that is more accurately based on the current workload of the customer service team.

2. Respond to customers as quickly as possible

The faster companies respond to customer service requests, the better.

Research shows that customers are more likely to make a purchase the closer in time to when they made the initial inquiry. You are 100x more likely to successfully contact a lead if you respond within 5 minutes and 21x more likely to qualify that lead.

That’s why a quick response time is one of the most important metrics for measuring good customer service. Yet, the average response time in 2016 was 15 hours and 17 minutes, which is hardly the superior service that most companies believe they deliver.

To respond quickly, make sure the correct department receives the customer request. For example, you can create a separate email address for customer service, invoices and technical support so that when a customer contacts each department, a specialist can reply in a timely manner.

3. Follow-up with customers to see if they’re happy with the level service

A customer service request indicates to a company that someone is interested in making a purchase. It should therefore be smart business sense to follow up with that person to find out if they went through with their purchase or if they need more assistance.

Unfortunately, only 3 out of 500 companies actually practiced this. That’s not even 1%.

It gets worse. Only one company out of 500 followed up to check rate the level of service.

Following up with a customer is a great opportunity to find out if customers are happy with the level of service you provide and helps you close any requests that are still open. For inspiration on what to include in the follow up, use the email support template below.

Conclusion

In the digital age, no organization can afford to ignore customer service requests from potential customers. Worst of all; there is an enormous gap between the level of customer service that most companies think they are delivering and the actual level of customer service that their customers receive.

Investing in customer service is invaluable for any organization and by implementing the simple tips above; you can easily improve the quality of service you provide to help you stand out from the competition and create a happy and loyal customer following.

Steven Macdonald in a digital marketer based in Tallinn, Estonia and writes about all things customer service related on the SuperOffice blog.

For more articles from Shep Hyken and his guest contributors go to customerserviceblog.com.

Read Shep’s latest Forbes Article: Moving From Omni-Channel To A Channel-Less Customer Experience

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