78% of Customers Bail Because of Bad Customer Experience

Are Your Employees Passionate?

Having the right people on your customer service team makes all the difference. If you sell cookware, your staff should know the difference between steaming and sautéing. If you sell beauty products, make sure they know which color palette looks best with different skin tones, hair colors, and eye colors. Passion comes through in each interaction; so does a lack of it.

Are You Going Above and Beyond?

You can easily distinguish your product from one that’s nearly identical simply by offering better customer service. Go above and beyond to help your customers during their shopping experience.

• Be ready to answer questions, no matter how trivial, with a polite and patient attitude.
• Offer samples or swatches for online-only products.
• Make returns or exchanges as simple and pain-free as possible.

Are You Readily Available?

When customers have questions or complaints, they want to talk to someone immediately. Offer 24-hour help when possible. If this isn’t possible, get back to your customers as quickly as you can – preferably in no more than 48 hours. Make sure your job scheduling is as efficient as possible so there’s enough staffing to handle all issues in a timely manner.

Is Your Service Personalized?

Track customer behavior so you can pull up the individual’s file and deal with his issue in the context of his past experiences. A frequent buyer with a first-time complaint deserves VIP treatment for his loyalty. If you can see that an individual returns items often, perhaps you can get to the bottom of the issue and offer advice that will make the next buy a success.
Related: 15 Things Your Customers Are Dying to Hear

Are Your Employees Properly Trained?

Customer service professionals need unfailing patience and courtesy. Equip them with the skills they need to deal with even the most difficult customers. Give them as much power as you can so they don’t have to put callers on hold and get manager approval for every decision. Customers appreciate when the service department has the power to actually get things done.
With the right service strategies, you can make your company stand out among the competition. These tactics will help you make sure that your customers become loyal repeat buyers who are anxious to spread the word.