Customer service is one of the most vital elements of your business. No matter how good your product or service is if your customer service is poor, your business’ reputation will take a knock. Slow replies to customer queries, incorrect responses, or even lengthy conversations with customers can cause them to become irate, which is bound to lead to poor reviews.
Having a CRM system implemented into your business is one of the best ways to improve your customer service. The answer is in the name: Customer Relationship Management systems. There are a lot more benefits to CRM systems, but they allow your team to focus on connecting with customers to ensure that they have the best possible experience when communicating with your business.
In this article, we’ll be diving further into how you can provide your customers with quick, informative, and friendly customer service to ensure that they leave you an excellent review, and come back in the future.
6 Ways a CRM improves your customer service
There are 6 main ways that a CRM will increase the reliability and performance of your customer service. Beyond these 6 ways, there are many smaller elements and moving parts that will also benefit your business’ customer service team, but you’ll get to see those in action once you’ve got your CRM up and running!
Organising customer information
Collecting customer information is one thing, but organising it into useful data is another. CRMs have centralised databases that collect tons of information about your customers and arrange it in such a way that it can be used by customer service staff to create more personalised interactions. The more you interact with your customers across various different channels, the more connected they will feel, and the more they will trust your business.
Scheduling meetings
Scheduling meetings has always been a challenge over the years. In the past, it would take time and effort to find a meeting slot that works for all parties. But, with a CRM you can seamlessly manage your time and slot in meetings where it suits everyone. Your calendar is available for your clients to see, and they can pick a time slot that suits them best. Face-to-face meetings or even video conferencing is one of the best ways to connect your customers to a human rather than words on a screen, and a CRM can help your team to stay on top of all their meetings!
Preventing repeat complaints
Sometimes even when an issue has been addressed and a support ticket has been resolved quickly, it hasn’t been done properly. This can lead to repeat complaints where customers would address the same issue again. A CRM will help you to identify these repeat complaints so that you can prioritise them to get the issue sorted. The longer a customer needs to deal with a problem or chat with customer support, the more agitated they will become.
Closing tickets faster
CRMs will notify the customer support team of messages that need their attention in the form of tickets, allowing your team to become more productive. The ticketing system on most CRMs is incredibly simple, fast, and can trigger automations. This allows your team to get to work on clearing these tickets as quickly as possible. Moreover, your CRM can provide you with detailed analytics on the tickets, such as the average time it takes for them to be closed for example. You can use this information to determine where you need to improve, and what you need to do to keep your customers happy at all times.
Meaningful and personalised responses
Many businesses use generic solutions to problems or even a FAQ approach. This shows that the business doesn’t care and doesn’t have time to deal with its customers. It’s kind of like saying “I’m busy, just have a read through these questions to find the answer you’re looking for”. People want to feel connected to a business, and they want to be able to have a discussion with someone to resolve their problem as quickly as possible. Reading through a FAQ section is not an easier way to deal with a problem.
Connecting customers to the right representatives
Have you ever tried to get help from customer service only to be sent from one department to another? As South Africans, we’re all too familiar with the frustration that this causes. But, what if your customers were directed to a representative in the correct department from the very first moment they contact your business? CRMs can help your business with this by automatically tagging a relevant representative in a ticket based on the query that has been sent in by the customer. This prevents customers from waiting longer than necessary for a reply and leads to more efficient customer service.
Final Thoughts
In a modern world where everything happens instantly, having slower customer service can set you back and give your business a bad reputation. You need to be able to respond to customer queries quickly. The best way to strengthen your customer service department is to integrate a CRM into your business. Make sure to get in touch with a GoCRM expert to streamline your customer service team.
