skilled customer service team lowers customer churn rate
Businesses usually treat a customer “Churned” when a certain period passes, and there is no customer activity with your business.
The total cost of the customer churn includes both lost revenue and marketing expenses involved in replacing the churned customer with a new one.
In some cases, we can predict a customer’s churn. The customer usually contacts your customer service team, informing you about the inconvenience they’ve faced with your product or service. This is the moment when a skilled customer service representative can prevent churn.
Skills a representative requires to prevent the churn:
1. Active listening with Empathy:
A customer reaches out to your service team with a complaint about the inconvenience which he/she faced with your product or service. Let them know that you understand their concern, and you apologize for this. Try your best to resolve the issue as soon as possible.
2. Explain, like you’re explaining a 14-year-old:
You know your policies, as you have been trained for this. Nonetheless, sometimes, it is hard for your customers to understand. The customers mostly think that, as they have paid for the services, all of their demands will be entertained.
Sometimes, representatives tend to provide a canned response along with the link to the help article, which usually further angers the customer. So, please refrain from doing that, explain the policy. Let them know of your limitations and why you are unable to do what they are asking.
3. Take the customer/client on a call:
Emails are a convenient way of formal interaction, but sometimes it is complicated to explain or make a point via email. Calling the customer gives a personal touch, and you will be able to explain the customer more efficiently.
Calling the customer opens up the possibility of them understanding your effort in solving the issue and identifying what your limitations are.
4. Provide them with alternatives:
When your policy doesn’t allow you to entertain your customer’s request, thinking outside the box and providing alternatives often does the job. Alternatives are the best way to make a customer happy than merely saying “No.”
5. Treat your customer as a friend:
Sometimes, a representative tends to force a customer to comply with the policy as they are unable to relate to the customer’s pain.
When this happens, ask yourself, what would you do if the same was happening to your dear friend? Treating a customer as your friend opens up several avenues where you can help them by providing unique solutions.
6. Make Exceptions:
You do not always have to stick to the policy. If you think the customer has genuinely faced an inconvenience, then it is okay to make some exceptions. If a simple credit/reward is going to please your customer, do not hesitate to do it. It will build trust with your customers and will most possibly result in a prevented churn.
7. Escalate:
You tried your best; the customer is still frustrated, in this scenario, escalate it right away to your superior. If a customer is speaking with a higher designated person, there are chances that the customer will calm down and co-operate.
8. Solve the problem!:
“Solve the problem.” No matter what you do, in the end, the customer will be seeking a resolution. The customer will leave delighted if you are able to resolve their issue.
Solving the problem swiftly is the most crucial part as it builds a layer of trust with the customer to continue the relationship.
Tiers
“Tiers” are the best way to organize a customer service team. A customer service team receives several contacts daily. Some of them are simple, and some are complicated.
Everyone can handle simple queries, but there are complex ones that require expertise. So, you will have to organize your team in a structure, such as Tier 1, Tier 2, Technical escalations team (If needed).
Tier 1 handles basic queries, such as Customer Education, Where’s My Stuff, Pricing plans, etc.
Tier 2 is made up of experts or senior representatives who have experience in the field and have handled enough customers to know better.
If your product is moderately technical and you feel the requirement to train a specialized team in the technical aspects of your product, you can create a new technical escalations team.
This team will communicate with your customers and your developers to solve the technical issues with the product, while Tier 1 and 2 continue to focus on the basic queries.
The Conclusion:
An existing customer is always better than a new customer. While obtaining new customers is essential, focusing on the existing ones is crucial, as well.
The existing customers generate continued revenue and are not too pricey to manage.
These customers can be your promoters, and they can refer more people to you through word of mouth. “Word of mouth” is the best and the cheapest form of marketing.
If you can keep your customers happy, you will become the “My Brand” to them, and this relationship is an enhancer to your company’s growth.
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