Brushing Up On Effective Customer Service 2.0	Visited: 690 5.0/5.0 (3 votes total) Rate: Select 1 - Terrible 2 - Poor 3 - Average 4 - Good 5 - Outstanding
by Shannon Suetos April 28, 2010

When it comes to customer service, there are many ways you can go about handling it.  Some companies have large call centers--others have a more intimate team of a few in-house representatives.  No matter how your company decides on managing your customer service, the point is you should have some type of system in place.

In traditional settings, you have a team set up who solely handle your customers’ questions/concerns.  This is a great way to handle everyone’s calls in a timely manner, but over the years more and more people have grown to dislike calling customer service lines.  This problem mainly occurs with larger corporations, people have found getting a hold of an actual person can take long periods of time. 

With all that being said, some companies have updated their techniques to reach their customers.  Online communication has taken over the way many people communicate, and many industries have taken notice.

Chat Feature
One great tactic to implement into your customer service is to have your team man an online chat feature.  There are many industries that have been using this technique for quite some time such as banks, telephone companies and online retailers. 

Not only does this feature eliminate the use of a telephone, but it makes multi-tasking much easier for your customers.  If they are busy at work, and want to try and get their bank issues situated you can chat with a representative while working.  Making it very convenient for your customers.

Twitter
Companies like Zappos.com, Dell and Comcast all have successfully conquered great customer service via Twitter.  A study conducted by comScore has found that 18% of mobile users have some sort of social app on their devices.  Being available to help customers on Twitter opens the door for your company to answer questions in real time, and at your customers’ ease. 

Call center outsourcing is another option many companies have taken on because it is cheap, and gets the job done well.  With the above options, it could eliminate some cost because your customer service representatives don’t need to use a phone.  If you are unsure how these two tactics will work for your company, try it out for a trial basis.

Although the chat option may have some cost associated with the set up and software needed to implement on your website, Twitter is a free service.  Get in contact with companies who are using these tactics effectively--ask them why they made the switch, or if they are using the tactics as a way to aide their current phone reps.

However you chose to go, making sure your customers are happy is something every business owner prides themselves in doing.  After all many people chose service based companies on how well their customer service is, so how do you effectively help your customers?