Customer service is a proactive blend of online and offline actions

You’ve got a lot of ground to cover if you think that customer service is what kicks in if your website visitors are having problems. The days of reactive customer service programs are gone. It’s just not good enough.

Don’t wait for customers to contact you with a problem. Be proactive. Engage them before, during, and after their purchase experience with you. Here’s why proactive customer service must be an integral part of what you’re calling your “user interface.”

What buyers want

Customer service can mean many things, and it’s not always trouble. What’s troubling is that multiple studies show that 25% to 40% of calls to customer service centers are avoidable. These calls happen for reasons ranging from a simple question to confusion about delivery times.

They’re costly to your organization, especially when customers should have been able to find the information whey wanted on your company website.

“How’s it going?”

Here’s something your website’s user interface just isn’t going to be able to accomplish. Customers prefer to be contacted proactively. One survey puts this preference as high as 87%.

Of those who expressed an opinion, 73% said they had a positive experience that led to a better view of the company when they were contacted proactively by customer service. This “how’s it going?” approach can reduce your inbound customer call volume by nearly a third, which can dramatically lower your call center operating costs.

Before they’re even customers

The website is where they’ll buy. Your interface has to create a successful sales funnel. But what can your customer service department combined with the website do for these people while they’re still prospects? Together, they create your complete user interface.

The majority of the barriers to a sale are simply the need for more information. The more proactive you can be about providing answers, the faster you’ll move prospects to the buying stage.

Nothing new

Turning the tables and transforming your customer service philosophy from reactive to proactive isn’t novel. It is something that has become more of an expectation, though.

This is mainly because of the user experience a customer has with your organization online. The buying experience continues to be more customized. Customers value this heightened level of attention, and it’s not difficult to see why an offline proactive customer service approach complements the customized online experience.

What gets in the way?

Proactive customer service becomes an obvious step as organizations develop offline relationships. So, why don’t we see more of it?

Most companies aren’t structured for it. Much more of an organization becomes customer facing when an organization transitions to offer customer service before the sale. It requires collaboration across departments that may not ever have seen themselves as responsible for customer service.

Silos have to be breached. Organizations must offer training and help to create a level of comfort for employees who suddenly find themselves interfacing with prospects and customers in a “how’s it going?” proactive role. Here are ways to get everybody on the same page.

• Mix and match: Match different people to the customer lifecycle for your product or service. Challenge them to work collaboratively and find ways to offer proactive customer service for these points.

• Play Sherlock: Gather the data and seek out the most common reactive customer issues or questions. Look for ways these issues and questions can be defused. Remember that much of your traditional reactive customer service resources are going just to answer post-purchase questions that could have been taken care of before the sale.

• Find and promote early wins: It’s going to take a while for long-held beliefs to be reprogrammed. A transition to proactive customer service needs to demonstrate some quick and obvious benefits to get everyone on board. This is especially going to be true for employees who don’t feel as if their positions are customer-facing. And in today’s customer-centric environment, everyone in an organization represents a company’s product or service.

Both sides benefit

A switch to proactivity is good for both a company and its customers. The internal engagement and collaboration you’ll generate will spark innovation as disparate departments team up to step in front of each stage of the customer lifecycle. Their efforts to anticipate and prevent customer issues are more than an expectation to match up with customized online experiences. They’re also a way for you to reduce the high, measurable costs of thinking that a customer only needs attention if they have a problem.

If you’d like to learn more ways to align all phases of your business with your company’s online experience, contact Creative Technology Partners. For more information about our services, reach out to us today through our online contact form.

Your user experience can’t be the only thing that’s customer-centric

Not so fast, responsive-design wizard! The job’s not done. Your contribution is essential, but in terms of responsiveness, the work has just begun.

The responsiveness that technology has brought to websites and apps has created an upturn in real-world expectations. Customers want businesses, their products, and their attitudes to provide highly-customized real life experiences, too.

The technology is perfect, but the people aren’t

It’s not enough to give your customers a positive online user experience because your content is responsive to their device. All of those perfect pixels come crashing down if your customer service department doesn’t provide the same kind of satisfaction.

Technology has become a crutch. Install a sophisticated phone system. Provide real-time order tracking. Make it possible for Siri to give customers a reminder when it’s time to order again. Automation complements good products and customer service. Yet, some businesses today behave as if technology is the sole solution, rather than an essential component of overall strategy and execution.

Aligning all the levels of responsiveness

It doesn’t take long for a business to get lopsided if they make the user experience their holy grail. In their desire to excel, they lose sight of the fact that in the end, it’s still going to be a human interaction.

People run your business. People buy what your business produces. Technology can’t replace that area of responsiveness. Here are a few ways to capture the essence of responsiveness and instill it in your people so that the products you make and their attitude towards customers rises to the same level as the technology.

Take aim

Does your business know the reason for its existence? Don’t go running for the company mission statement. Stop and ask yourself what you do that inspires or captures imagination.

That’s your purpose. When you distill this into a short phrase that can roll of the tongue, you’ve got the code that instills a sense of pride that’ll propagate through all levels of your organization. Everybody owns it.

What are you worth?

When your purpose is a mantra, your value proposition lines up behind it. When you know your why, the behavior to guide you becomes obvious. People discover they seldom need to be told what to do.

This used to be required only of company leadership. Today, every employee, especially those dedicated to serving the needs of customers, needs to understand what the business stands for and how to communicate value through actions that demonstrate purpose.

Out with the old

Behold, the business model. It outlines how your company intends to make money. Is it rigid?

Nothing today can survive in a static mode. Ask Garmin. The company pioneered the automotive GPS market. Then Apple introduced the iPhone. In less than 3 years, revenue at Garmin dropped by nearly $1 billion. The company lost close to 90% of its market value.

Garmin didn’t change their technology, but they did change their thinking. Today, the company specializes in high-end wearables. It earned them nearly $565 million last year, which is 8 times the revenue of just two years before.

Push innovation to the bottom

Flat design works well in places other than your website. Try doing the same thing to the hierarchy of your business. Innovation requires open collaboration. Some of the most successful companies have made it a mandate to banish bureaucracy, as they know this outmoded command and control system stifles initiative.

The idea that rank and status confers salary is outmoded. People today aren’t ruled by money. They’re also looking for ways to feel that their contributions are meaningful. Fulfillment for them creates value for your business.

What organizational obstacles can you eliminate? Each one pushes you closer to new ways of responsiveness. It happens because more information is shared.

The art – and science – of letting go

Responsive apps and websites have the look and feel of deep flexibility and customization. It’s as if they rebuild themselves for each customer. Can your products and business practices follow suit? And is your overarching strategy and execution – whether it involves the user experience on your eCommerce site or the interactions a customer has with your employees – designed to make your business thrive?

If you’re looking to integrate your business strategy with responsive web applications that fulfill your goals, turn to Creative Technology Partners. We create solutions that integrate with every step of your business and the strategic goals that drive it. For more information about our services, reach out to us today through our online contact form.