While almost every company claims they’re easy to do business with, most fail to recognize how far behind they are when it comes to meeting customer expectations. Insights from a new study we conducted at TermSync found that 82 percent of businesses believe their quality of customer service sets them apart from the competition, but after digging deeper into the study’s results we found that the majority can’t support their claims of providing top-notch customer service.
Customers expect and want more convenient options
Traditionally, businesses could get away with only providing email and phone support, but due to advancements in technology and changes in customer expectations, this just won’t cut it anymore. Today’s customers not only want, but also expect to have more convenient options, such as an online portal, available when and where they need them.
Many businesses have remained hesitant to adopt new support models, as they’re worried that technology will come between them and their customers and that their service will lose its “personal touch”. However, that’s just not the case. Today’s customers actually prefer more advanced solutions and would much rather log on to an online, self-service portal on their own time to solve the issue than spend valuable time on hold with a customer service representative. In fact, a recent Forrester study found that 72 percent of customers prefer a self-service option over phone or email support, but only 30 percent of businesses offer one.
Despite the majority of businesses claiming they always put customers first, many had very different answers when asked why they weren’t offering an online option such as a portal. According to the study, 42 percent said it was simply because other projects had priority – showing that despite customers wanting a portal option, the customer really isn’t their first priority.
It’s even more concerning that of the businesses offering portals, the majority are not even providing the basic functionality one would expect. TermSync’s study found that only 54 percent have the ability to pay an invoice, 58 percent can view invoice history, 52 percent can view current promotions and 76 percent can ask questions – all of which should be included in every portal no matter the business model.
Businesses lack transparency
Proving to customers that a business is reliable is one of the best ways for a company to differentiate itself from its competitors. According to the study, 93 percent of businesses expect their team to respond to customer inquiries within one business day, a number that’s pretty impressive. However, only 40 percent of those companies actually track to see if their employees are actually doing so. Instead of actively tracking customer response time, most managers simply hope their staff responds in a timely manner—a method that’s doomed for failure. If management doesn’t place a high priority on customer response time or make any effort to hold their staff accountable, employees are likely to slack off and make responding to customers a low priority.
Once a business starts tracking customer response time, they need to begin sharing it with their clients. TermSync’s study found that only 32 percent of businesses that track customer response time actually do this. Measuring response time and sharing it with customers shows them that you not only claim to provide good service you actually want to prove it. Adding an online portal and implementing features such as these will boost customer response time and will ensure a satisfied customer
No one department owns the customer relationship
Findings from TermSync’s study reveal that many businesses fail to identify who in the company owns the customer relationship. When businesses were asked which department is responsible for the customer experience, there was no definite answer. Thirty-six percent named operations, 33 percent sales, 17 percent marketing and 14 percent account management. This insight explains why customer service levels are suffering and why so few businesses offer an online portal.
While there’s no one answer to which department should own the customer experience, as it varies from company to company, it’s still something that needs to be decided. Once management appoints a department to manage the customer experience, they need to ensure they hold them accountable. Doing so will result in both high customer satisfactions levels and faster customer response times.
via Business 2 Community http://ift.tt/1cUGYlY
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