Wouldn't it be great if you could read your customers' minds.
You'd be able to figure out exactly what they want and, just as importantly, find out what they thought about your customer service so you could fix it without drawing attention to the fact they might not be happy with it.
Unfortunately, we can't read minds.
But, you still need to understand what your customers think about your levels of service so you can identify any problems and fix them before customers bolt for the exit.
This ability to manage the customer experience effectively is one of the most important things you can do for your company.
So to help you out, here's a list of easy to use customer service tools and bits of software that you could start using today to understand what your customers really about what your service.
We can save you a bit of time by saying all of these amount to the simple task of asking your customers what they think. But these tools can help you do that and organise responses so you have some actionable insight to start working with.
Customer surveys
Ok, so doing a survey might be a bit old school, but it's still just as effective as it's always been as long as you ask the right questions and have a process in place for compiling and analysing responses.
Typeform is a great bit of software for doing surveys in a more digital format.
Ticketing software
If customers are having problems, you need to make it easy for them to log requests for help, and make it easy as possible for customer success teams to organise requests to ensure they can be managed, prioritised and sorted quickly.
If your customer success team is struggling to keep track of where requests are, you can bet the customer's service isn't going to be very good.
Knowledge base or resource centre
While you should be there to help customers get answers, sometimes they are happier being left to find their own answers.
So you should create a "knowledge base" or a place on your website to put useful resources like guides, blogs or videos that customers can use to get answers.
Social media
Chances are you use social media for your business. Even if only because you think you should.
If you do, make sure your team is ready to respond quickly to any social media posts highlighting problems a customer has had with you.
Even it's a simple response asking them to DM you to get more details. The only thing worse than being criticised on social media, is looking like you're slow to respond or, worse, ignoring it.
Live chat support
One of the biggest challenges with customer service in a global market is that you can't have a physical customer service team available 24/7. It's just not practical.
But, using a live chat function on your website can be just as effective.
Using chatbots to either log tickets, or point customers towards useful information on your website is really effective and can help solve problems before they escalate.
Customer success software
If you want specific customer service software to help you with managing enquires then there are a load of options to choose from.
The likes of Zendesk is one of the biggest customer service software companies in the world.
HubSpot are also big players in the customer service sector with their Service Hub - which can integrate directly with the Marketing, Sales, CMS and CRM systems - lets you manage all your customer service functions in one easy to use piece of software.
This can be a good option if you're interested in using ticketing functions and live chat as HubSpot Service Hub offers all this in one platform so you don't have to manage or buy multiple pieces of software.
Don't forget, the customer experience starts from the start of the sales process.
If you have a disconnection between sales and delivery, then you're not aligning what your customers are expecting with what your team will do.
Use of free Sales Assessment Tool to get an instant report on your sales strategy and use useful guides and tips for improving sales in your business.
