It doesn’t matter how many colors your product comes in, how cheaply you can sell it, or whether you throw in a free set of steak knives—in today’s world, it’s the customer experience that counts! In fact, according to Gartner, 89 percent of companies now expect to compete mostly on the basis of experience (versus 36 percent four years ago). Delivering an awesome experience may seem like a daunting prospect, or something that only big companies with large budgets can do. But if you tap into your support to engage more closely with customers, even small companies can deliver an amazing experience.
Today’s support is not one-size-fits-all. One customer might want a formal email, while another might want a quick Tweet. The only way you know this is by offering integrated, multi-channel support so you’re there for customers wherever they are. Support is no longer the reactive process that it used to be, where consumers only encountered support if they had a problem and reached out via email or phone. Many companies — large and small — are beginning to offer proactive support, reaching out to customers with solutions, sometimes before customers even realize they have a problem. How’s that for an amazing customer experience?
The role of agents is also changing in this new world. Not only are service-oriented companies empowering their support teams to go the extra mile to soothe angry customers with things like free shipping or promotions, but they’re also enabling them to manage opportunities and make sales to interested customers. Long gone are the days of “that’s not my job.” Customers don’t care whose responsibility it is to solve their problem or take their order; they just want what they want, when they want it.
Most people define customer experience as the sum of every touchpoint a customer has with your company. Customers are forming opinions every time they come into contact with any aspect of your business, so the days of siloed sales, marketing, and support processes aren’t really even possible anymore. To deliver an awesome experience you need to integrate all of your systems so there’s a smooth transition for customers; then all of your teams can work off the same playbook, and everyone can collaborate. Sales needs to know if a customer has had an issue, while service needs to know which are the highest value customers, what their purchase history was, and whether there are open opportunities. This only happens through system integration.
Your support cases contain a wealth of information that can help drive your product roadmap and better understand and meet customer needs. If you categorize your cases correctly, you can see what modifications and features customers would like to see in your product or what the biggest pain points are. Support can inform your product roadmap so that you can continue to offer an amazing product experience as your business grows and evolves. Many smart companies are also building customer support into their product experience. You can start small by including links to your support center into relevant pages on our website or within your app itself. You can also make it easy for customers to reach a support agent, with a click-to-call or “SOS” button built in.
Customer experience is becoming the single most important differentiator of successful businesses — both large and small. It’s time to start thinking about how you can use customer support to engage more closely with your customers.
Leyla Seka leads Desk.com, Salesforce's all-in-one customer service app for fast-growing companies. Attracting some of the leading customer-oriented brands, Desk.com has become known as the savvy customer support app that empowers small businesses to deliver amazing customer support.
Edited by
Stefania Viscusi
