Improving customer experience and satisfaction is the goal of every BPO and customer service center. But what does it really mean to improve customer satisfaction? We think it simply requires a willingness to listen and treat every caller like the individuals they are.
But that may be oversimplifying a bit. Let’s dive deeper into how to improve customer satisfaction.
4 Ways to Improve Customer Loyalty and Satisfaction
At ClearSource BPO, we love to surprise and delight our customers with every experience. We accomplish this through many means, but here are four ways to improve customer loyalty and satisfaction that work well.
1. Sit Down and Listen
Sit down and really listen to your callers. If you don’t get anything else out of this article, at least get this point.
It is so crucial that you listen! Not only does it make answering the caller’s questions easier, but it also shows that caller that you genuinely care about their questions and concerns.
Now, you should obviously encourage your agents to practice this “sit down and listen” approach, but they aren’t the only ones. If you are a key decision-maker for how your agents approach customer satisfaction, you should sit down and take a few calls yourself. Listening to real customers will help you craft your service experience strategy.
2. Understand Customer Motivations
Good customer service goes beyond answering a caller’s questions; agents should also know and understand their customers’ motivations for using the product.
How can you reveal these motivations? Encourage your representatives to have deeper conversations with the caller. Instead of letting the caller ask all the questions, your agents should be asking questions to understand their situation better.
3. Look Past Convenience
Too often, we put callers on a “conveyor belt.” Everyone gets the same treatment because customer service reps apply the same protocol to every interaction.
While using the same approach every time is efficient, it’s not necessarily effective. Everyone is different. Agents may get asked similar questions over and over again, but the reasoning and motivation behind those questions can vary. As such, every caller should receive a specialized customer service experience, no matter the perceived inconvenience or extended time commitment.
4. Don’t Overemphasize KPIs
Key performance indicators (KPIs) like Average Handle Time (AHT) should be the byproduct of your efforts, not the focus. Even though you might spend more time on each call, the level of care and attention will keep your customers happy and your employees more fulfilled in their jobs.
Customer Experience Masterclass
If you really want to know how to improve customer loyalty, we’ve got the perfect story for you.
Nate Spears, ClearSource’s President and co-founder, sat in as a team leader for one of our projects, which involved taking some calls. In one of those calls, he met a woman who had just bought a new grill.
While assembling the grill, she saw a postcard from our client: “Register your grill online, and we’ll send you a cookbook.” Ecstatic, she registers her grill, only to be disappointed to find out the cookbook came in the form of an eBook.
She didn’t want an eBook, she wanted an actual cookbook. Now, even though the promotion never promised a physical copy, Nate knew it would make her happy. He asked if she would like him to print and bind a copy of the cookbook and send it her way. She excitedly said yes.
In this experience, there was no reason to go that extra mile other than to hear that woman’s excitement over the phone and make her happy. But when it comes to improving customer satisfaction, you need to take those extra steps. That woman was definitely a satisfied customer.
Start Listening to Your Customers
If you’re developing your own customer satisfaction strategy, take what we’ve talked about to heart. Or, if you’re looking for a call center outsourcing solution, consider how our unique approach to the customer experience can flock more fanatics to your brand.
Contact us today to learn more about improving customer satisfaction.
