Customer Complaints and Queries
Customer complaints are serious business. It is far easier to keep a customer than to prospect, nurture and win a new customer. And if your new business process is working, and customers are coming in the door while others are leaving just makes growth and profits hard.
Many businesses do not have a grasp of what is causing customer complaints. If complaints are recorded and acted on, then measured, dramatic customer service gains are had. Turns customer complaints into a knowledge base which can be used and analyzed to solve critical issues.
The Best Customer Support is No Customer Support
What? What is this guy smoking? …. Let me explain. Customer support can be offloaded to tools or software applications. First start a customer portal. Create content on your website which is rich in frequently asked questions and the answers. This FAQ can be 100% automated using a support module in our CRM. The support module creates a customer portal. Customers can use your portal to search your FAQ and to add new queries. New queries are auto routed to the product manager for resolution. When resolution is created the answer is posted to the FAQ. This knowledge base is the first step in off loading support to a solid, efficient CRM tool.
Head off Customer Complaints
Wikis and Forums
Forums and wikis are tools that can be used to capture product and service how tos and documentation. The 150 page user manual is rarely read and wikis are visited often. The wiki content can be searched and your customer can find the answer to his query fast and right on your web site. Give your visitor an option to add comments and to request focused content.
Forums can be magical. When a tipping point is reached and your forum content is enriched by your customers you have knocked customer support quality out of the park. This tipping point is not easy reach. Your forum must be fed by new and fresh content. Queries from customers must be answered promptly.
Tools like a customer portal in a CRM software, a wiki and forums on your web site can be created without much effort. The effort lies in adding rich content that can add value to your customers and prospects.
2 Comments
While I see this model working for some markets that provide customer support, this in no way applies to companies that provide solutions and KNOW their customers.
If you toss them off to some portal (talk to the hand), don’t expect them to feel the love and expect them to move on to another vendor.
Having a portal and self serving tools is fine. I agree more companies should get up to speed on these things – however, companies must follow up with customers and track ticket progress, unless the market is a commodity and you don’t care about up close and personal interaction with your customers.
Rick, can you describe the type of service issue you refer to?
Thanks,