Customer success is central to the success of a business.

The more customers experience success with your product, the more they’ll use it and recommend it to others. This will lead to more referrals, less churn, and ultimately more revenue for your business. 

Customer success has become a key priority for businesses lately because of the intense competition in most industries. Users now have more options than ever before and businesses have to work harder to retain them as customers. 

By implementing effective customer success initiatives, you can help customers gain maximum value from your product, thus increasing customer happiness.

This article examines what customer success is and why it’s important, and shares valuable tips to build a customer success strategy.

What is Customer Success?

Customer success is a business strategy focused on ensuring customers achieve success using your products or services.

When customers can successfully use your product to achieve their business objectives, they will love your solution and continue using it in the long run. This is a great way to build customer loyalty for business.

To get to this point, you must proactively build a strong relationship with your customers. Take time to understand your customers and how your product can help them achieve their goals.

Each interaction should be a valuable opportunity to listen to your customers and address their concerns. That’s why customer success initiatives should be handled by a dedicated team whose role is to help customers use your product effectively. 

Customer success teams work closely with the product teams to ensure customer issues are addressed promptly. This leads to greater customer satisfaction, igniting beneficial outcomes for all parties.

Why Should Businesses Prioritize Customer Success?

The success of a business is tied to the success of its customers. When customers can confidently use your product to achieve their objectives, they’ll not be willing to let go of it.

Businesses are increasingly understanding the value of customer success and are actively incorporating it into their business models.

In a recent study by SuperOffice, customer experience emerged as the top priority for businesses over the next five years, outperforming pricing and product.

In today’s competitive environment, where customers are spoiled for choice, customer success has become a key competitive differentiator. 

As such, you must find ways to educate and guide your customers on how to gain maximum value from the products they’ve purchased. 

This will not only lead to improved customer satisfaction but will also help your business achieve top-level goals, such as: 

• Increased subscription renewal rates
• Increased customer loyalty and retention
• Increased customer lifetime value
• Increased monthly recurring revenue (MRR)
• Reduced churn

Customer success initiatives also help businesses collect valuable insights that can benefit the organization.

The more your business understands its customers and their needs, the better positioned it’ll be to deliver exceptional user experiences. This will, in turn, will help you:

• Build stronger customer relationships
• Earn customer trust
• Improve customer satisfaction

Happy and satisfied customers often become advocates who rave about your brand on social media and review sites. This will simplify your B2C or B2B sales lead generation efforts since prospective clients will come to you with pre-established trust courtesy of the positive reviews by your happy customers.

Customer Success vs. Customer Experience vs. Customer Service vs. Account Management

While there are similarities with other customer-facing initiatives, you shouldn’t confuse customer success with other similar terms. 

To help you make the distinction, here are brief explanations of customer success, customer experience, customer service, and account management.

Customer Success

Customer success focuses on helping customers become advanced users of your product so they can achieve their goals effectively. 

CS initiatives proactively seek opportunities to help customers succeed with your product by collecting as much client data as possible. 

Insights from the data also inform business strategy. You can use the insights to understand your customers and find ways to serve them better. 

The key responsibilities of customer success teams include:

• Customer onboarding
• Education 
• Value delivery
• Proactive engagement
• Customer advocacy

Customer Experience

The other customer-facing function that’s often confused with customer success is customer experience.

While customer success focuses on the end result of the customer journey—helping users find value in your product, customer experience strategies focus on the broader customer journey. 

CX teams identify and resolve the issues along the customer journey and seek ways to make each interaction pleasant.

Customer experience initiatives include activities like user interface testing, website responsiveness, navigation, and overall satisfaction throughout the customer journey.

Customer Service

Customer service is a reactive business function where businesses handle customer complaints and help customers solve their issues. 

Excellent customer service is crucial to the success of an organization. A Salesforce survey found that 94% of customers are more likely to purchase again because of positive customer service.

Customer support agents are usually needed after users experience a problem, and their role is to offer immediate assistance to resolve issues. In such cases, the agents create tickets and provide information to resolve existing problems. 

On the contrary, customer success is proactive and aims to anticipate and solve problems before customers reach out.

Account Management

Like customer service, account management offers reactive support to customers on a case-by-case basis.

But unlike support teams that aim to solve problems and exit the scene quietly, account managers focus on making as much money as possible from a few dedicated accounts. 

Typically, these are high-value accounts that can grow substantially with dedicated support. As such, account managers offer them personalized support and tailored solutions to grow these accounts and generate more revenue for the business.

How to Make Customer Success Work for Your Business

Follow these steps to create a customer success program that will spur sustainable growth for your business.

1. Create a Customer Success Strategy

The first thing you need to do is create a customer success strategy for your business. Define what success means for your customers and create a strategy to help them succeed.

According to Attrock, brands can retain their customers using robust customer retention strategies that are already being used by big brands such as JetBlue, Starbucks, Niantic, and many more.

In this case, the business can help the clients succeed by improving the abandoned cart retrieval feature to encourage shoppers to complete their purchases.

Here’s an example of an abandoned cart email aimed at re-engaging prospects.

Besides identifying the product features customers use regularly and improving them, the other things to include in your customer success strategy are:

• Preferred communication channels: The best ways to reach out to customers and ensure they receive timely and relevant support. 
• Preferred content formats: How to present information in a manner that resonates with your audience, whether it’s through articles, videos, webinars, or other means. 
• Current customer experience: The customer journey map for your business and key areas of improvement. 

Potential impact of your CS initiatives: The end goals you want to achieve by implementing your customer success strategy.

2. Get Robust Customer Success Software

To ensure customer success, you need to track how customers interact with your product and learn what you can improve to help them gain maximum value from it. 

For this, you will need a customer success software solution that connects with your product. This will help you monitor user activity to understand how customers are using your product to achieve their goals.

Besides helping you discover features that are popular with your customers, it will also help you discover the features they hardly use. This information will guide you to make informed decisions to improve your product.

For example, you may find that customers don’t use a certain feature because they don’t know how to use it. This will guide you to initiate a plan to educate users on how to use that particular feature.

Additionally, the customer success software solution can facilitate proactive engagement with customers. 

By providing insights into usage patterns, the software solution allows you to make timely interventions to solve issues before they become a major concern.

3. Emphasize Customer Success as a Key Organization Goal

While it’s important to have a dedicated customer success team in place, it’s equally vital to make customer success a top priority for the entire organization. 

Everyone, from sales to engineering, must integrate customer success into everything they do.

To achieve this, you should educate everyone in the organization about customer success and the role it plays in business growth. What’s more, educate them on how they can ensure customer success in their respective roles. 

For instance, the engineering team can streamline product design to ensure simplicity and empower customers to achieve their goals effortlessly. 

Similarly, the sales team can focus on communicating how the product is tailored to help customers achieve their goals and maximize ROI. 

Once everyone is on board, it becomes easy to put in place customer-centric measures that benefit everyone.

4. Create a Dedicated CS Team

Having a customer success team is vital for organizations that want to help customers succeed with their products. The whole organization can be customer-focused but you still need a dedicated team to spearhead these efforts. 

For small businesses, the customer success team can be just one person with relevant experience helping customers realize value from their purchases. 

But for large enterprises with subscription-based products, this should be a larger department with the following members:

• Customer success managers
• Customer success operation leaders
• Onboarding representatives
• Training representatives
• Professional services experts
• Upsell and cross-sell representatives

Bringing in all these experts will help you be proactive when dealing with customer issues, leading to greater customer satisfaction.

5. Track and Share Data With Other Teams

Customer success is a data-driven business function. You can only succeed with your customer success initiatives by actively tracking the right customer metrics and sharing the data with other departments in the organization. 

The customer metrics you need to monitor include:

• Customer lifetime value
• Repeat purchase rate
• Customer retention rate
• Customer retention cost
• Churn rate
• Customer health score
• Net promoter score
• Customer satisfaction score
• Customer effort score

Insights from these data points will guide you to make informed decisions to improve your offerings and serve your customers better. For instance, the customer effort score (CES) will help you learn if your product is easy to use or not.

You can obtain the CES score by asking customers how easy your business made it to solve their issues through a survey. Customers then rate their experience through a numerical scale of 1-7 as shown in the image below.

If you find that your product is not as easy to use as you expected, you can share this data with the product team and ask them to make user-friendly improvements.

6. Create a Referral Program

After implementing the initiatives in this post to make your customers happy, you can start a referral program to harness their enthusiasm to attract new customers.

First, you’ll need a good referral management software solution to launch your program. Second, you’ll need to design an interactive and gamified program that offers lucrative incentives.

For example, you can give customers an incremental discount on their next renewal for every customer they successfully refer to you.

Conclusion

Customer success is a key driver of business growth. When you help customers succeed with your product, they’ll stay loyal to your brand and rave about your product to others.

To achieve this at the highest level, make customer success a top priority for your business and build a dedicated team to lead your CS efforts. Also, track the relevant customer success metrics and use the insights to improve your offering.

These strategies will help you increase customer happiness and drive sustainable growth for your business.

The post What is Customer Success and Why is it Important? appeared first on Customer Happiness Blog.

There’s a strong correlation between customer satisfaction and a company’s financial performance. Satisfied customers tend to purchase more, return more often, and bring in more revenue.

Measuring customer satisfaction is more than just a metric — it provides insights, drives improvements, and can cascade positive effects on nearly every facet of a business. Engaging customers through feedback can make them feel valued and listened to, deepening the relationship and fostering a partnership. Let’s review a list of customer satisfaction survey tools to help you understand clients’ needs.

Why it is crucial to measure customer satisfaction?

Measuring customer satisfaction is essential for many reasons, and understanding its importance can drive businesses to focus on customer-centric strategies. Measuring customer satisfaction provides invaluable feedback on what’s working well and what needs improvement. It can highlight specific product, service, or interaction issues that might be overlooked without direct customer input. To effectively gauge consumer happiness, businesses around the globe are investing in the best customer satisfaction survey tools available.

There’s a strong correlation between customer satisfaction and a company’s financial performance. Satisfied customers tend to purchase more, return more often, and bring in more revenue. According to statistics, 84% of companies that work to improve their customer experience report increased revenue.

Why do businesses need specific software for customer satisfaction surveys?

Why do businesses need specific software for customer satisfaction surveys?

By utilizing the services of customer satisfaction survey companies, businesses can identify areas where they excel and aspects needing enhancement, ensuring customer loyalty and retention. Let’s explore why the best way is to consider investing in dedicated tools:

1. Reach flexibility. Businesses can ensure they reach them effectively depending on where the customer engages most. For example, an eCommerce site might use email post-purchase for customer survey questions, while a mobile app might use in-app notifications.
2. Consistent brand image. Dedicated customer survey software often allows businesses to customize the look and feel of the survey to align with their brand, ensuring a consistent experience.
3. Integration with business systems. Customer surveys can be triggered based on specific actions, like closing a support ticket, to gather timely feedback. Insights from satisfaction surveys can inform sales and marketing strategies, allowing for more targeted campaigns.
4. Engagement and user experience. Surveys can change in real-time based on responses, ensuring irrelevant questions are skipped and making the survey feel personalized.
5. Automated feedback collection. The best customer satisfaction survey tools not only provide insightful data but also help in formulating strategies to boost customer contentment and retention. Automation ensures that every customer or a representative sample can provide feedback without fail. Automated customer surveys can be triggered by specific events, ensuring feedback is collected when experiences are fresh in the client’s mind. 

Customer satisfaction survey tools free up resources and time, enabling businesses to focus on making necessary improvements based on the feedback gathered.

Key features to look for in customer satisfaction survey tools

Relying on customer satisfaction surveys companies can free up businesses’ internal resources, enabling them to focus on implementing improvements and innovations based on the gathered data. When you’re on the lookout for optimal survey software to gather feedback from customers, certain key features become critical to ensure that you capture accurate, actionable insights:

• Ease of use — the tool should be user-friendly for the person designing the survey and the respondents. Many online platforms offer a customer satisfaction survey template free, making it easier for companies to design and distribute their surveys without additional costs.
• Customizability — you should be able to design surveys that match your brand’s look and feel.
• Advanced analytics and reporting — real-time feedback collection and visualization tools.
• Net Promoter Score (NPS) capability — If you’re looking to gauge customer loyalty, the tool should be able to facilitate NPS surveys.
• Follow-up mechanisms — the ability to set up automatic follow-up actions based on survey responses, such as sending a thank-you email, promotional offer, or even triggering a support ticket.
  
  

By focusing on these features and aligning them with your specific business needs and goals, you can identify the customer satisfaction survey tool that’s best suited for your business. Always test a few options to get a hands-on feel before committing to a particular solution. Companies on a budget can still receive crucial customer feedback by utilizing customer satisfaction survey tools free of expense.

13 Top Customer Satisfaction Survey Tools

Nicereply

A dynamic customer satisfaction survey tool, Nicereply empowers businesses to gauge customer feedback seamlessly. Designed with user-friendliness at its core, this platform facilitates the integration of satisfaction surveys directly into emails and support tickets. By leveraging its robust analytics capabilities, businesses can delve deep into feedback, identifying areas of excellence and potential improvement. Whether you’re keen on measuring Net Promoter Score (NPS), Customer Satisfaction (CSAT), or Customer Effort Score (CES), Nicereply offers an all-encompassing solution to make feedback-driven decision-making an integral part of your business strategy.

Google Forms

An intuitive and versatile free tool, Google Forms offers a straightforward approach to creating customer satisfaction surveys. Its user-friendly interface allows businesses to craft custom surveys quickly without specialized knowledge. With a suite of question types and design options, it caters to diverse feedback needs. Seamlessly integrated with other Google services, analyzing and sharing data becomes effortless. While it might not have the advanced analytics of dedicated survey platforms, Google Forms provides a cost-effective solution. When businesses utilize customer satisfaction survey tools free of charge, they can effortlessly collect feedback and understand their client’s needs and expectations.

Usabilla

Survey tool offers businesses a nuanced approach to gathering customer insights. Software customer satisfaction survey questions should be structured to gauge both the strengths and weaknesses of the product, offering a holistic view of the customer experience. Specializing in real-time feedback, this tool seamlessly integrates into websites, apps, and emails, enabling enterprises to capture the pulse of their user experience. With its visually-driven feedback mechanism, users can pinpoint specific elements on digital platforms, facilitating precise and actionable insights. Coupled with robust analytics and reporting capabilities, Usabilla stands as a holistic solution for those aiming to elevate their customer satisfaction metrics in the digital domain.

SurveyMonkey

The best customer satisfaction survey tools offer comprehensive analytics and insights, helping businesses of all sizes to continually enhance their customer service efforts and product offerings. As one of the leading platforms in the survey domain, SurveyMonkey offers an expansive toolkit for businesses keen on diving deep into customer satisfaction. Its intuitive design interface and a vast library of templates allow for quickly creating tailored feedback forms. The platform stands out with its advanced analytical tools, ensuring that businesses gather feedback and derive actionable insights from it. Whether you’re a small business or a large enterprise, SurveyMonkey’s scalability and integration capabilities make it an indispensable ally in the quest for enhanced customer experiences.

Qualaroo

As a specialist in contextual feedback, Qualaroo shifts the paradigm by delivering targeted survey prompts at pivotal moments in the user journey. This tool’s strength lies in its ability to seamlessly integrate with websites and apps, allowing businesses to solicit feedback without disrupting the user experience. Enhanced by AI-powered analytics, Qualaroo ensures that insights are gathered and intelligently interpreted, enabling actionable decision-making. For businesses eager to understand the ‘why’ behind user behaviors and preferences, Qualaroo emerges as an invaluable asset in the landscape of customer satisfaction survey solutions.

Typeform

Revolutionizing the survey experience with its engaging and interactive design, Typeform transforms the way businesses collect customer feedback. Its unique conversational approach to questionnaires ensures higher response rates, capturing the attention of respondents in a human-centric manner. Beyond its aesthetic appeal, Typeform offers a suite of powerful analytics tools, making the interpretation of feedback a breeze. Gathering feedback through software customer satisfaction survey questions is a strategic move for software companies aiming to increase customer loyalty and build a stronger brand reputation. Perfectly suited for businesses that value both form and function, Typeform stands as a beacon in the realm of customer satisfaction survey tools, ensuring every interaction leaves a lasting impression.

GetFeedback

Bridging the gap between feedback collection and actionable insights, GetFeedback is a premier customer satisfaction survey platform tailored to modern enterprises. Its intuitive interface allows for rapid survey creation, while its integration capabilities, especially with Salesforce, enable businesses to align feedback directly with customer profiles. GetFeedback is especially adept at real-time feedback capture, ensuring companies can swiftly pivot in response to customer sentiments. With its focus on providing a seamless and responsive survey experience across devices, GetFeedback positions itself as an invaluable tool for businesses keen on fostering genuine customer-centric growth.

SurveySparrow

Infusing the traditional survey experience with a conversational twist, SurveySparrow redefines how businesses approach customer feedback. Effective software customer satisfaction survey questions cover various aspects of the customer experience, from ease of use and reliability to customer support and problem resolution. Mimicking the fluidity of real-life conversations, its platform engages respondents in a dialogue-styled interface, leading to higher completion rates and more authentic feedback. Beyond its innovative design, SurveySparrow boasts robust analytical tools, providing businesses with insightful dashboards and actionable metrics. Its multi-channel support, from websites and apps to email and social media, ensures a holistic understanding of customer satisfaction. For businesses eyeing a blend of engagement and insight, SurveySparrow offers a refreshing take on the feedback collection paradigm.

Medallia

Renowned as a heavyweight in the experience management industry, Medallia offers a comprehensive platform tailored to unearth deep customer insights. Designed for businesses that prioritize customer-centricity, Medallia excels in capturing feedback across varied touchpoints, from digital interactions to in-store experiences. Its advanced analytics engine seamlessly transforms feedback into actionable intelligence, enabling organizations to anticipate and respond to customer needs with agility. With its commitment to real-time feedback and ability to integrate many data sources, Medallia stands as a beacon for enterprises aiming to elevate customer satisfaction and loyalty metrics.

Qualtrics

Touted as a leader in the experience management domain, Qualtrics offers an unparalleled solution for businesses seeking profound insights into customer satisfaction. Beyond mere survey creation, the platform provides a comprehensive suite of tools designed to measure, analyze, and act upon feedback across multiple touchpoints. Qualtrics empowers organizations to proactively address customer needs and pain points with robust analytical capabilities, including AI-driven insights and predictive analytics. For businesses aiming to lead with a customer-centric approach, Qualtrics serves as an indispensable partner in harnessing the power of feedback to drive tangible improvements.

Feedbackify

Catering to businesses seeking a straightforward and focused approach to feedback collection, Feedbackify offers a no-frills platform that prioritizes ease of use. With its simple interface, companies can quickly set up targeted feedback forms, encouraging customers to share their experiences and suggestions. While it might not boast the extensive features of some competitors, its strength lies in its directness and efficiency. Feedbackify provides an intuitive category-based feedback system, ensuring businesses can rapidly identify areas for celebration or improvement. For those desiring a streamlined solution to tap into customer sentiments, Feedbackify emerges as a refreshingly uncomplicated choice.

Satmetrix

Positioned as a pioneer in Net Promoter Score (NPS) solutions, Satmetrix offers businesses a specialized platform to gauge and elevate customer loyalty. With a foundation rooted in data-driven insights, this tool provides a holistic view of the customer journey, identifying key touchpoints and areas of improvement. Its robust analytics and reporting capabilities transform raw feedback into actionable intelligence, empowering businesses to enact customer-centric strategies with precision. For enterprises aiming to lead with a loyalty-focused approach and foster enduring customer relationships, Satmetrix is an instrumental partner in pursuing excellence.

Jotform

As a versatile online form builder, JotForm extends its capabilities into the realm of customer satisfaction surveys with ease and finesse. Known for its drag-and-drop interface, JotForm simplifies the process of crafting tailored feedback forms to capture the essence of customer sentiments. Beyond surveys, its adaptability allows businesses to create various forms, from registrations to order forms, all under one umbrella. With a rich set of integrations and customization options, JotForm ensures that feedback collection remains a seamless part of any business’s digital ecosystem. For those seeking a blend of simplicity and functionality, JotForm presents a compelling choice.

Implementing Feedback into Action

Customers will likely remain loyal to the brand when their opinions matter and lead to fundamental changes. When you build a system where customer feedback is collected and analyzed, it emphasizes the company’s commitment to customer satisfaction.

Once feedback is collected and analyzed, various departments within a company need to collaborate and decide on actionable steps.

• Sales: they can adjust their pitch and understand potential leads better by recognizing what current customers love or dislike.
• Product Development: uses feedback to tweak features, remove bugs, or even innovate new solutions the market seeks.
• Customer Support: they can proactively address common concerns, enhance their FAQ sections, or adjust their training based on recurring issues.

An iterative improvement process involves making continual small changes to a product or service based on feedback instead of infrequent, more extensive overhauls. It’s easier to make small changes and tweaks based on timely feedback rather than waiting for a significant issue to pile up. Implementing software customer satisfaction survey questions in post-purchase or post-interaction surveys enables businesses to continually refine and enhance their software offerings based on real user feedback. Regular, minor adjustments reduce the risk of big mistakes that might alienate the customer base. If an iteration isn’t well-received, it’s easier to revert or adjust again. 

In conclusion, while generic survey tools might suffice for basic feedback collection, the nuanced needs of businesses — especially those with a significant customer base, varied channels of interaction, and specific branding requirements — make specialized customer satisfaction survey software an indispensable asset. A customer satisfaction survey template free of cumbersome language and complexity ensures that customers can easily provide their feedback, leading to more responses and more valuable insights.

Remember to evaluate each tool based on your specific needs, budget, and technical capabilities. It’s a good practice to take advantage of free trials or demo versions to get a feel for the platform and determine if it fits your requirements.

The post Customer Satisfaction Survey Tools: Our 13 Top Recommendations  appeared first on Customer Happiness Blog.

Handling customer complaints is always challenging for customer support managers.

There is nothing sexy about business owners having to handle customer complaints but resolving complaints is an inevitable part of running a business. These ‘unwanted guests’ often arrive unannounced and a lot of time without mercy… 

If these service complaints are not addressed correctly, they can leave a lasting stain on your brand’s reputation. But it doesn’t have to be this way. While it’s critical to focus on this aspect of your business, it doesn’t have to take up a large chunk of time or be some complex resolution. 

It’s about embracing a shift in perspective and implementing effective, practical strategies. In fact, if handled right, these complaints can be transformed into golden opportunities for brand enhancement, service improvement, and the creation of deeper, stronger customer relationships.

That’s exactly what we’re going to unpack in this article. You’ll not only receive actionable tips on how to deal with customer complaints with greater efficiency but also list the general steps employees can take to handle customer complaints appropriately. 

Understanding the massive impact effective complaint resolution can have on your business is the goal, so read on to find out how!

Understanding the Nature of Customer Complaints

Before we get into the tips and tricks for handling customer complaints effectively, we need to first understand the most common customer complaints companies may receive. More specifically, what they are and what they signify for your business. They should be seen as an opportunity to improve, a chance to address something that’s missing or fix a gap that needs filling.

• Product-Related Complaints: These stem from a customer’s dissatisfaction with the quality or functionality of a product. Whether it’s a toaster that doesn’t toast or a phone that doesn’t ring, the customer’s experience has been compromised, and they’ve reached out to you to rectify it. 
• Service-Related Complaints: These are expressed when a customer feels the service they received was subpar. It could range from slow response times to a rude customer service agent, to unfulfilled promises. Service-related complaints can be as damaging as product-related ones because they directly affect the customer’s perception of your brand.
• Policy-Related Complaints: Sometimes, customers might express dissatisfaction with your company’s rules or procedure for handling customer complaints. These can often be harder to resolve customer issues as they may require revisiting company policies and considering if changes are needed.

By breaking down dissatisfied customer complaints into these categories, you can tailor our approach to address each one more effectively. The journey to high customer satisfaction and a more seamless customer experience starts with being able to analyze customer complaints that your business might encounter.

The Importance of Handling a Customer Complaint

Taking customer complaints lightly is just like ignoring the warning signs on a car’s dashboard; keep driving, and you might end up with a bigger problem on your hands. Poorly managed complaints can fuel negative word-of-mouth, taint your brand image, and even lead to customer attrition. 

On the flip side, addressing situations when customers complain is a golden ticket to many unexpected rewards. Here’s what you stand to gain:

• Boosted Customer Loyalty: A complaint resolved promptly and efficiently can win a customer’s heart and loyalty. It sends the message that their concerns matter to you.

• Enhanced Brand Image: Handling complaints well showcases your commitment to customer satisfaction. It’s an opportunity to demonstrate your brand’s core values in action.

• Insights for Improvement: Complaints often shed light on areas that need attention. Having the right complain procedures in place can help uncover gaps in your service or product that you may have missed.

Let’s now take a look at some actional tips that you can implement today to resolve customer complaints better.

7 Tips to Handle Customer Complaints

Tip 1: Always Stay Calm and Professional

When responding to a customer complaint, it’s imperative to maintain your composure and professionalism during these interactions. Remember, your customers are upset about a situation, not you personally. Responding calmly and professionally helps defuse the situation and sets the stage for a more productive conversation where you can gain valuable insights from customer feedback.

Tip 2: Practice Active Listening

It sounds cliche but active listening is more than just hearing what your customers are saying – it’s about understanding their perspective. Reflect on their words, ask clarifying questions, and confirm your understanding. If you have access to a customer service team, each individual should be trained in active listening to ensure unhappy customers are dealt with in a professional and empathetic manner.

Tip 3: Apologize and Empathize

A sincere apology is a powerful tool for easing tensions. Coupled with empathy, it conveys that you understand and care about your customer’s feelings and frustrations. Remember, your customers are humans, not just numbers, and a touch of empathy can go a long way in humanizing your interactions. While it is definitely not an easy thing to do, sometimes you have to swallow your pride and be professional when dealing with complaints. 

Tip 4: Find a Suitable Solution

Once you’ve heard and understood the complaint, it’s time to find a resolution. This doesn’t necessarily mean giving in to every demand but rather finding a balance that addresses the customer’s concerns while maintaining the company’s integrity. Offer realistic solutions, make sure the customer feels heard, and strive to exceed their expectations in the resolution.

Tip 5: Follow Up After Resolving the Issue

The resolution of a complaint is just the first step you should take as a customer service agent. You should always follow up with your customer to ensure they’re satisfied with the outcome. This not only shows them that you value their feedback but also gives you a chance to ensure that the issue has indeed been effectively resolved. Anytime you can go above and beyond when dealing with a complaint shows good faith and value to users.

Tip 6: Use Complaints as Learning Opportunities

Every customer complaint or batch of unhappy customers is a unique opportunity to improve. Analyze the issues that led to the complaint, identify trends, and find ways to prevent similar issues from arising in the future. 

Remember, the goal isn’t just to put out fires – it’s to prevent them from starting in the first place. A customer complaint is simply customer feedback, even though it may not feel like it, learn from it and work to improve. 

Tip 7: Implement a System for Handling Complaints

Finally, having a standardized system for handling customer complaints can significantly improve efficiency and consistency. The obvious solution is to have customer service complaint reps or customer service teams. Still, if you do not have the resources to do so you should assign or hire someone specifically to tackle customer service complaints.

Bonus Tips

Discounts

Take this with a grain of salt, but something that quiets nearly every disgruntled customer is discounts or freebies. Depending on your business model and product or service, this can be a great way to turn a bad situation into a continued customer or user. 

Imagine a time when you may have complained to a company and they came back offering you a discount, extension, or free usage period. It probably made you forget all about your complaint. People love free things, and it shows that you are willing to do what it takes for a satisfied customer.

Don’t Take Things Personal 

We are all human… We make mistakes, we forget things, and sometimes this affects others. Especially in business. In an age where people are used to having everything at the speed of light with perfection, as soon as this is not the case people make a fuss. 

Thats ok! But what is not ok is if the customer’s complaint goes unresolved or unnoticed. So take it on the chin, show empathy, and work on improving!

With these tips in your toolbox, you should be well-equipped to transform your customer complaint handling from a stumbling block into a stepping stone. Let’s take a look at some examples of how real companies have handled customer complaints.

Example of Complaint Handled Well

Below is a great example of Best Buy’s customer service handling a situation with extreme helpfulness and over-top courtesy. 

It’s clear that this customer was upset about seemingly not receiving the same promotion or benefits as other customers have. Best Buy in this situation went above and beyond in writing their response to personally handle the situation and rectify it for this customer. 

Example of Complaint Handled Poorly

In response to this customer essentially mentioning that he will no longer use Target’s services, Target then responded in a way that not only was defensive but quite frankly rude. This likely eliminates any chance Targer had at keeping this customer. 

While losing one customer may not be the end of the world for a large corporation, think about how this looks to others who may see this response. It probably won’t be a positive look.

The Impact of Poorly Handled Customer Complaints

It should go without saying that handling customer complaints poorly can have cascading effects on the overall image of your company. Below are a few examples of what may happen if not properly attended to.

Damage to your brand’s reputation

When looking at how to handle customer complaints, a single one, if not handled well, can spread fast leaving a mark on your brand’s image. It’s like a small spark that can start a big fire, harming your brand more than you might think.

Loss of customer trust and loyalty

The last thing you want as a company is to burn bridges with existing customers or lose trust with potential future customers by mishandling a complaint. In any situation, the foremost goal for a business should always be to preserve and enhance the level of confidence and faithfulness their customers have toward them.

Negative word-of-mouth publicity

If a dissatisfied customer shares their negative experience with friends, family, or colleagues, this can rapidly multiply the adverse effects on your brand, possibly leading to a decrease in your customer base and potential users.

Decreased sales and revenue

When customer complaints aren’t managed effectively, you may notice a decrease in sales figures over time. Existing customers may take their business elsewhere, and prospective customers may be put off by the negative reviews they find online.

Loss of potential new customers

It’s crucial to remember that a poorly handled complaint not only affects the disgruntled customer but could also resonate negatively with your wider audience. Word of mouth and social media can quickly turn one negative response into hundreds of potential customers who likely will remember that interaction and not participate in your company’s business in the future. 

The Benefits of Properly Handled Customer Complaints

On the other hand, handling customer issues adeptly can become a turning point for your business. Here are some significant benefits that can emerge from effectively resolving customer complaints:

Enhanced customer loyalty

Handling customer complaints correctly can strengthen your relationship with your customers. It shows that you value their opinions and are willing to make changes. One thing people love to do is share their opinions, good or bad. But more importantly, people just want to be heard. This can go a long way in increasing customer loyalty. 

Positive word-of-mouth referrals

You’ve probably had a situation occur in the past where someone recommends a product or service to you based on their experience. Well, this can only happen if you are able to properly handle a customer complaint, and if done correctly can lead to a ripple effect of word-of-mouth referrals.

Insight into areas of improvement

Customer complaints provide valuable insight into where your business could be lacking. This feedback can guide you in making improvements and enhancing your overall product or service quality if you take the time to analyze your complaints. This can mean tracking your most common complaints or suggestions and using that to improve your product or service. Which overall only benefits your company in the long run. 

Opportunity to showcase your excellent customer service

Every customer complaint is a spotlight moment – a chance to bring your brand’s dedication to customer satisfaction to center stage where every user is closely watching. Especially the users submitting the complaint.  By managing complaints processes with efficiency and grace, you’re in fact telling the world that your brand is steadfast in its pursuit of customer satisfaction. Successfully turning a complaint around can often speak louder than any well-crafted marketing message ever could.

Increased customer lifetime value

The goal of almost all businesses is of course to attract new users and grow through that vertical, but more importantly, it’s about attaining customers for the long run. One loyal customer who is treated well may turn into hundreds in the future through referrals and word of mouth. So treat every complaint whether future or current with care and helpfulness. 

Always bear in mind that every complaint handled well not only salvages a customer relationship but also fortifies your brand’s reputation in the eyes of the general public.

Key Considerations to Successfully Resolve Complaints

Tackling complaints successfully is an art that requires a thoughtful approach. Here, we’ll walk through some key factors that haven’t been discussed yet but are integral to shaping your complaint resolution strategy:

• Understand Your Customer’s Perspective: Step into your customers’ shoes to fully grasp their issues and their emotional state. At some point in time, you may have been the one complaining to a company.

• Fast Responsiveness: People want their issues resolved quickly and efficiently. Be swift and respond promptly as this could make a customer even more frustrated if your response is sluggish.
• Empower Your Employees: Train and empower your employees to handle complaints efficiently and independently. Or, leverage AI software to handle more customer service duties.

• Keep Your Promises: If you’ve promised a resolution or follow-up, ensure you deliver. Nothing erodes trust faster than unkept promises.

• Leverage Technology: Use customer service software and chatbot tools like ChatGPT to track, manage, and resolve complaints effectively.

Finally, remember that every customer interaction, including complaints, should align with your brand’s mission and values. Be consistent, be authentic, and let your commitment to customer satisfaction shine through every conversation.

Customer Compliant Software Solutions 

Of course, it would be great for every business or company to have customer service reps to handle a customer complaint that may arise, but many companies may not have the resources or capacity to hire full-time employees.

With AI tools and intuitive software making headways in the customer service space, there are now great options for a low cost that can help companies get the boost they need when handling customer complaints. Below are some options for those that may need an extra hand when it comes to customer service and responding to customer complaints. 

• Zendesk
• HappyFox
• Zoho Desk
• Fresh Desk
• Live Agent

These customer-compliant tools can be great additions to any company that is looking for a more streamlined process when it comes to customer support and handling customers’ complaints.

Conclusion

In the business world, the unexpected can often be our greatest teacher (even when it doesn’t feel like it at the time). 

Trust me, no one starts their day hoping for a customer complaint, but handling them with the right approach can dramatically transform your business. Implementing these seven tips in your everyday customer service routine can work wonders in turning dissatisfied customers into loyal advocates of your brand.

People want to be heard and shown that their voices and opinion matter. But, there are always those few complaints that come along that serve no value other than to throw shade at your company.

But that is the business you signed up for. People have the right to express their opinions and give their thoughts on your product or service. The best thing that you can do is to respond accordingly as that is your rightful duty (at least it should be).

So, keep these insights handy, and let’s turn those challenges into opportunities for growth, one complaint at a time.

The post Handling Customer Complaints: 7 Tips for Easy Resolution appeared first on Customer Happiness Blog.

Good customer service training is one of the most important components of your support team’s success.

Customer service isn’t just a box to check. 

It’s the pillar that enables customer success, unlocks customer satisfaction, creates brand loyalty, and propels organizations towards sustainable growth. And that means figuring out how to effectively train new customer service team members is mission critical.

To create unforgettable customer experiences, you need to lay a sturdy foundation that sets your team members up for success. A great customer service training program enables new hires to quickly make a positive impact, helping customers and boosting the success of your support team. 

Let’s explore twelve crucial things for managers to keep in mind when training new customer service team members.

Creating a customer-centric culture

Close your eyes and picture this: 

A hesitant customer calls your contact center, seeking a helping hand on something they’re stuck with. And there, at the other end of the line, is a new team member, armed with a genuine smile and a real desire to help. 

That team member listens intently, giving their undivided attention to the customer’s needs. 

But they don’t stop there—they go the extra mile, addressing every concern and even proactively suggesting additional resources and tips to help the customer be more successful.

In those conversations, something magical happens. 

A connection—a thread woven with expertise and empathy—is forged between your team member and the customer. It’s a spark created by an extraordinary customer service culture.

And while it might sound wonderful, how do you actually train a new agent to do this?

During new hire training, customer service managers can:

• Communicate the significance: Clearly articulate the importance of each customer interaction. A great way to do this is to link specific customer stories to the company’s mission and vision, emphasizing how exceptional service aligns with organizational goals. Unfortunately customer service is sometimes looked down upon—managers need to be proactive about highlighting the massive impact that a customer service agent has, day in and day out.
• Share real-life examples: Illustrate the power of exceptional customer service through real-life examples from both the agent and customer perspectives. Highlight success stories where outstanding service led to customer loyalty, up-sells, and advocacy. But don’t pretend that everything always goes perfectly—also make space to discuss valuable lessons learned from past mistakes and conversations that went awry. 
• Emphasize measurable impact: Highlight the tangible impact of customer satisfaction on your company’s overall growth and success. When a support agent is pulling tickets from a queue all day, it’s easy to forget how your work translates to big-picture impact. While metrics are important tools for managing your team, they’re also essential for motivating your team to give their best every day. Find ways to connect your new agents’ work to meaningful KPIs like revenue and retention.

Empower them to empathize and innovate

Effective communication is the cornerstone of delivering fantastic customer experiences. Empower your team members to practice reflective listening and empathize with customers, while also making sure they have the resources and tools they need to do the job right.

When you’re onboarding a new team member, use these three best practices to inform how you train them:

• Foster innovation: It’s easy to get stuck in certain routines, especially when you’re a support team dealing with a high volume of tickets. When you bring a new team member into the mix, encourage them to ask questions and bring innovative ideas to the table. Their fresh perspective on your team’s normal processes can often shed light on better ways of doing things. By nurturing their sense of ownership from their very first week, you empower new hires to embrace customer issues as their own and find creative solutions.
  
• Equip them with tools and resources: Every support team’s tech stack is a little different, so spend time up front training your team members on the tools at their disposal. Most importantly, set them up for ongoing success by teaching them how you expect them to communicate with customers. You’re probably using a ticketing tool like Zendesk or Help Scout—how should your team use it? What macros do you have in place?
  
  In addition to tools, creating resources for “in the moment” guidance is also helpful. You might create a resource spelling out your company’s preferred tone. You could create a resource with suggestions on providing accurate and empathetic responses, enabling them to handle various situations with confidence.
  
• Escalation guidelines: Even the best frontline support agents can’t solve everything. Don’t assume your new team members know what to do if they’re stuck on a support ticket. Create clear guidelines detailing when and how they can escalate problems. This ensures customers get the help they need, while also helping your new hires know they’ve got the support they need. 

Help them learn about your product(s)

Giving your team members a solid understanding of your company’s products or services is crucial. How can they help a customer use the product if they don’t even know how to use it? 

Let’s be clear: no one will ever know everything about your product. Products and services constantly evolve, and the best support agents are constantly learning new things.

While that’s true, you can still create engaging ways to help new team members learn your products. Engaging your new hires in a dynamic and interactive learning experience will help keep them excited and will help them retain what they’ve learned long after training ends.

Here are some ideas for making new hire training exciting:

• Interactive learning: Use quizzes to challenge their knowledge, hands-on demonstrations to provide firsthand experience, and simulated scenarios to test and improve problem-solving skills.
• Collaborative exploration: Foster collaboration and camaraderie by assigning small groups of new hires to delve deep into specific products or services. Encourage them to explore knowledge base resources and create impactful presentations or demonstrations to train others and show off what they’ve learned.
• Shadowing sessions: Provide new team members with the opportunity to observe experienced team members in action. Listening to calls or observing live chat interactions will immerse them in real customer interactions and teach them effective communication techniques.

Effective training engages your team members and makes learning more fun. 

Strategies for handling difficult customers

When it comes to dealing with difficult customers, new team members often feel anxious. When you’re a seasoned customer service professional, it’s easy to forget how scary an upset customer might feel.

Equipping them with effective strategies can transform these encounters into triumphs. 

Help your new members shift their perspective on negative situations with ideas like:

• Reframing skills: Teach them how to reframe customer concerns into valuable feedback for growth. Reframing can turn negativity into constructive insights and can open up new paths forward for you and your customers. 
• Real-life case studies: Craft a case study based on a challenging customer situation your team has faced before. Assign individuals or small groups to analyze and brainstorm strategies on how to respond to the challenge.

Effective communication: Teach your new team members best practices on using neutral language, maintaining a respectful tone, not taking things personally and seeking common ground to resolve conflicts. The best way to practice these skills is often to put them into practice, so create space for role play and practice sessions during your training sessions.

Customer service training for new team members is a journey

As a customer service manager, you know that customer service training is not a one-and-done deal. It’s an ongoing journey of growth and development. 

So, buckle up and get ready to inspire continuous learning and growth in their role. 

When organizations invest in the growth and development of their team members, magic happens. Unforgettable customer interactions become the norm, paving the way for loyal advocates who sing your brand’s praises from rooftops. It’s a ripple effect that propels your company forward, helping you stand out from the competition and succeed for years to come. 

The post Customer Service Training: 12 Things to Keep in Mind When Training Newbies appeared first on Customer Happiness Blog.

Looking to improve your support team’s ticket management?

Unlock your support team’s potential and deliver exceptional customer service with these 8 expert tips for ticket management. When you’re an early-stage startup or you’ve just launched support for a new product, you tend to focus on each support interaction.

Replying to your customers in a friendly and helpful way—while solving their problems—is the most direct way to provide that great experience. And it works.

For a while.

Past a certain size, your support ticket queue becomes its own beast. Some people describe it as an “enormous, gelatinous, sticky, messy blob” or “25,000 Jack Russell terriers with their heads stuck in paper sacks.”

Seem like an exaggeration? You’d be surprised (or maybe not, if you’ve been in support for long enough). 

As your business grows, your support queue can morph into something that’s overwhelming, all-consuming, and out of control. But with the right ticket management methods in place, it can provide clarity, priorities, direction, and that great feeling of a job well done at the end of the day. 

It’s important to get this right, because delivering a great customer experience has wide-reaching positive consequences for your business, ranging from better customer retention to more referrals to increased revenue. In fact, an NPS Promoter score has a customer lifetime value that’s 600%-1,400% higher than a Detractor.

How ticket management influences customer support

We (humans) tend to assume that workload is static. 

If it takes 10 minutes to answer a ticket, that’s just how long it takes. It would take the same 10 minutes regardless of when you’re answering, what you might have done before, or what you need to do after. That’s just what it takes to do the job, right? 

Wrong. 

Bad ticket management reinforces this lesson like nothing else. 

At its core, ticket management is about organizing and prioritizing customer support tickets. The goal is to manage the flow of the ticket from the moment it’s created to the point it’s resolved. Reducing and optimizing the steps involved makes all the difference. 

Here’s an example: Say a ticket gets reassigned repeatedly. Each time it’s reassigned, someone has to open it, read it, think about it, and reassign it. That’s all wasted time. 
Better ticket queue management leads to better customer service, reduced response times, higher customer satisfaction, and a more productive customer service team.

8 ways to improve your support team’s ticket management

The good news is there are a lot of easy wins when it comes to ticket management. 

Here are 8 ways to streamline your queue today:

1. Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize!
2. Create the minimum necessary views
3. Agree on a standardized workflow
4. Automate as much as possible
5. Create a triage role
6. Maintain a good overview
7. Make the queue motivating
8. Keep experimenting!

1. Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize!

Ticket management starts with setting good priorities. 

Many companies use the first in, first out (FIFO) method with great success. It’s a simple and easy way to prioritize: whoever contacts you first gets answered first.

But it’s not the only way to approach your support tickets. Other options you should consider include:

• Giving higher value customers preferential treatment. Customers that pay for a higher tier plan get a faster response. 
• Treating some types of issues as more urgent than others. For example, if a customer experiences a failed payment, this could be a higher priority than a “how-to” question. 
• Allowing customers to select the urgency when they create the ticket. This often works best if you offer a business-critical service. 

You can also mix and match these approaches. Perhaps higher value customers get prioritized, but a payment issue always gets bumped to the top of your queue, regardless of who it’s from. 

93% of customers will likely make repeat purchases with companies that offer excellent customer service. The difficulty is in defining what that excellent customer service looks like for your customers, then consistently delivering it. 

2. Create the minimum necessary views

You’ve probably heard of the principle “as little as possible, as much as necessary.” It’s traditionally used in agriculture, but it’s also a good principle for support.

It’s much easier to manage your support queue if you have one view. Everyone in the team always works in the same view when they’re working on tickets. 

Why? Because every additional view reduces focus, creates distractions, and makes it feel like you’re playing whack-a-mole. Your team has to spread their attention and switch focus every time they switch a view. 

So while minimizing views is wise, there will be reasons you need multiple views: for different types of tickets, different categories of customers, or to separate urgent cases from the rest. All of these allow for some level specialization. Specialization increases efficiency, as long as your team is clear on what they should be focused on.
Every support team has its sweet spot when it comes to ticket views. What’s yours?

3. Agree on a standardized workflow

A standardized workflow defines how every person works on tickets. You can agree on some ground rules within the team, such as:

• Avoid cherry-picking
• Answer assigned tickets first (or last, or in the same order as the main queue).
• Every person can freely hand off one ticket to someone else that day if they’re struggling or frustrated.
• Clean up all open tickets before going on vacation.
• Leave notes describing your findings when you do in-depth investigation or testing.

Defining these rules as a team creates a sense of shared commitment and responsibility, making the queue easier to manage.

4. Automate as much as possible

Automation reduces human error and saves massive amounts of time. 

In the context of ticket management, automation usually refers to automatic ticket categorization, tagging, or prioritization. It can also include auto-replies, reminders sent to your team, or pushed certain tickets to the top of the queue (e.g. when a ticket approaches your SLA). 

Automation can also extend out to things like macros, chatbots, and more. While some tools—like chatbots—aren’t technically managing your queue, each time they help your customers self-service, that’s one less ticket you’ll see in your queue. 
When your queue is automatically prioritized, sorted, and streamlined, your team can focus their energy on responding to customers.

5. Create a triage role

Did you know that 90% of customers rate an “immediate” response as essential or very important when they have a customer service question? And 60% of those customers define “immediate” as 10 minutes or less. 

Even if you can’t usually deliver that response time for all tickets, you can create systems that ensure at least some of your customers have that experience. 

One way to do that—while organizing the queue efficiently—is to have a triage role. 

The triage role typically involves:

• Reviewing and prioritizing incoming support requests.
• Categorizing them based on their type and level of urgency (if this isn’t automated).
• Assigning tickets to the right team members. 
• Solving any tickets that can be answered quickly with a macro.
• Identifying new issues or bugs that only emerge now.

An effective ticket triaging process can deliver a near immediate response for simple customer issues, while also shortening the wait time for the rest of your customer base.

6. Maintain a good overview

The power of a good dashboard in enabling ticket management cannot be overstated.

Whether you use a dashboard or find a way to do this inside your helpdesk, maintaining a good overview of the queue makes a huge difference to your team’s ability to organize their work. 

Everyone on your team should know: 

• The size of the queue
• The incoming ticket volume for that day (or week)
• How many tickets were answered that day
• The distribution of open tickets based on status, such as the number of on-hold or pending tickets

Having this overview makes it easier for the team as a whole to keep track of the queue and manage their priorities accordingly.

7. Make the queue motivating

Let’s be honest: working in a ticket queue is a Sisyphean task. 

If you’re not familiar with Greek mythology, Sisyphus was a king who was punished by the gods. His punishment? To push a huge boulder up a hill for all eternity. Each time he neared the top, the boulder would roll back down and he’d have to begin all over. 

The support queue never ends. You can answer all the tickets, hit inbox zero…but wait a few minutes and new tickets will always appear. Working in customer support is hardest when the whole team works like mad, but the ticket backlog just doesn’t budge because the incoming volume is equally as high. 

Focusing on motivation can dramatically change how your team manages this never-ending ticket workload. Here are some surprisingly reliable examples:

• Set goals for the team. Setting ambitious, achievable goals is an extremely effective way to rally and motivate your team. If incoming volume is high, it might be good to set a goal of answered tickets—because that’s one thing that’s within your team’s control.
• Celebrate goal achievement. Throw a party. Buy everyone lunch. Create a little firework animation in your helpdesk if you achieve a weekly goal. Big or small, celebrating wins encourages hard work. 
• Have a visual representation of progress, such as a progress bar on your dashboard. It may seem like a small addition, but it helps keep the team focused and on task. 

Another way to make sure the queue doesn’t get draining is to give your team tasks that are not ticket-related.

It might sound counterintuitive to say you can improve your ticket management by reducing the time your team spends in the queue, but people need variety to perform at their best. 74% of all customer support team members experience burnout throughout their careers. Queue fatigue is a big driver of that burnout.

8. Keep experimenting!

Ticket management is a never-ending experiment. 

As your team and company grow, your process will change. Your ticket volume will ebb and flow. Some methods might work great for now, but they’ll need tweaking at other times. That’s why you have to keep experimenting. 

Give your team regular opportunities to take stock of your current system. Explore what’s working and what isn’t. Listen to their feedback.

Experiment with different specialized techniques to tackle specific problems:

• Filter out some tickets to reply to later. When you’re working efficiently, some tickets might take the wind out of your sails and slow you down. These are often very long or complex tickets. Dealing with these separately can keep your team in the zone. 

• Batch bug reports. It’s easier to notice if a new bug crops up when those tickets are handled as a batch. This can make identifying bugs much faster and decrease the effort of testing. 

• Assign specialized roles for some periods. If your team often struggles to answer some types of tickets, assigning them might make a huge difference. These could be old(er) tickets that everyone avoids, or tickets from certain channels (like social media). 

• Hide the queue. Most helpdesks offer a feature like Zendesk’s “Guided mode” that allows you to hide the whole queue so your team can only see the tickets they need to work on. This is a great way to handle stressful situations. 

• Use round-robin ticket assignment. Round-robin assignment means assigning a ticket to each agent randomly until they have the same number of tickets. If you need to combat cherry-picking and want to improve knowledge across the team, this can be a great tactic. 

Great ticket management unlocks your team’s productivity

setting up the queue in a way that works for them.

As a support leader, giving your team the tools they need to provide an amazing customer experience should be priority number one. Managing the queue may be a never-ending challenge, but improving your ticket management is one tool that can transform your entire support team.

The post Ticket Management: 8 Game-changing Tips from Support Experts appeared first on Customer Happiness Blog.

A strong customer service team culture is the direct result of trusting, engaged employees.

Team culture has become a bit of a buzzphrase over the past few years, but for good reason. People spend a lot of time at work and walking into a nightmare environment with a team you don’t really jive with can take its toll.

On the other hand, being part of a team that fosters a positive attitude and believes in the company’s vision and goals, can be an amazing experience.

But a positive, motivated, goal-chasing team doesn’t just form overnight. It takes deliberate action, honesty, and people that care enough to make it work.

If you’re a team leader who knows their team has what it takes but is just lacking a little direction, here are a few steps you can take to begin creating a positive, growth-driven customer service team culture.

We also share great insights from our beloved colleague, Katarina Javorcikova, on how to build a strong and long-lasting team culture within your company.

Gratitude And Attitude

Maybe you read that headline and rolled your eyes a bit. But let me stop you there. Gratitude and a positive attitude don’t mean your team needs to walk around with a smile plastered on their face, praising each other 24/7 and having collective gratitude journaling sessions (but if that’s your thing, more power to you).

It only means that it’s ok to loosen up and step back from the high-stress, competitive, and thankless environment that so many workplaces consist of. Sure, it might be getting things done, but are your people happy?

Psychologists Adam Grant and Francesca Gino conducted a series of experiments and discovered that receiving a simple “thank you” from a supervisor boosted employees’ self-worth and self-efficacy. And the cherry on top? These experiments also revealed gratitude has a spillover effect and people become more trusting and are more likely to help each other out in that type of environment.

It could be as simple as telling someone you appreciate their work or complimenting something they’ve recently accomplished. Showing a little gratitude for your team can go a long way – people always want to know that they’re valued.

But be aware not everyone likes to be thanked in the same way. Yes, some people love public recognition and praise or gifts. But for others, those acts of gratitude could make them uncomfortable. Customize how you show your gratitude to each individual. Which means you actually have to get to know them on a more personal level.

On a larger scale, employee benefits totally count as a gesture of appreciation. Here are a few of the most popular employee benefits:

• Flexible or remote work schedule
• Healthcare
• A generous amount of vacation time (especially if it’s paid)
• Stock options
• 401K, pension, and/or retirement plans
• Team trips
• Employee education and development stipend
• Gym memberships
• Free meals

Whichever direction you choose to take, just remember to be genuine in your efforts. An office party is no substitution for true employee appreciation. Just like you can’t buy love, you can’t buy employee trust or engagement. No amount of free coffee, ping pong or team trips can create that.

Keep People Engaged

A strong customer service team culture is the direct result of trusting, engaged employees. To reach this level of team engagement, there need to be clear expectations and communication from team leaders.

If employees can’t answer questions like, “What exactly are you trying to achieve and why?” or they don’t understand what purpose they serve on the team and how they can contribute, it’s time to get everyone on the same page.

As CX specialist Jeff Toister put it in his interview with Zendesk, engagement is when employees understand what a company is all about and decide they’re passionate about that purpose too. It’s not that everything is rainbows and sunshine every day because that’s unrealistic. Instead, it’s about having employees that come to work every day to work towards the same goal and have the desire to improve the company’s overall bottom line.

Additionally, this means that as a leader, being receptive to feedback, questions, and ideas from others is important. Otherwise, it’s more like barking orders than setting expectations.

Encourage people to work together and also contribute their own individual skill sets and knowledge to create an overall stronger team. Give your team ownership over whatever goals you’re attempting to achieve and trust that they can handle their mission.

Does Your Team See The Vision?

On that note, finding people who fit with the culture your company is building, see the vision and want to be a part of it doesn’t just happen without intention. It requires hiring the right people and assessing your current team culture.

Your company vision and mission are the statements that attract the right (or wrong) people to your business on both a customer and employee level. If it’s disjointed that could mean not everyone on your team is aligned with the business, which can actually be quite costly in the long run.

Examining your current culture and the type of people it has attracted can be eye-opening. Take a look at the performance you see from your team.

• How do they handle challenges and how often do they pop up them?
• Is your team growing or are things stagnant?
• Do people seem to be excited about their work or are they just there because they need the money?

Those are just a few of the probing questions to understand where your customer service team culture stands. You could also choose to have deliberate conversations around culture with your employees. Or send out surveys to better understand people while allowing them to remain anonymous.

If things are off and people aren’t ultimately aligned with your business and its vision you may notice there are people with toxic, negative attitudes and who don’t really care about their job or the team. Even worse, employees you thought were happy just suddenly quit.

Having open conversations about the overall company vision and thoroughly vetting new hires can save the company from high turnover and toxic, unengaged teammates.

Keep It Real

Pulling back the layers of your team and how they work requires transparency and honesty on both sides. Your team has dedicated their working days to you and the overall company dream, it’s only fair to be real with them.

Not only does enforcing honesty as a policy avoid general confusion but it makes leadership and management easier to trust. Secrets and avoidance only make room for false assumptions, rumors, anxiety, and an overall negative vibe.

Becoming disconnected from your team because you’re at a leadership level can make people feel separated. It creates an us vs. them environment that’s the very opposite of a strong customer service team culture.

Take notes from a page in Kayako’s team handbook: “We work hard to ensure we keep our internal information flowing clearly and smoothly through all-hands meetings, lunch learns, and internal newsletters, preferring open Slack channels to direct messages. Encourage team leads to use regular 1:1’s with their teams. Or take it further, our PeopleOps teams ensure everyone has a sounding board outside of their team or their immediate manager to voice their issues or concerns.”

Get in touch with what’s going on behind the scenes in a genuine way. It doesn’t need to be formal or serious but have conversations with people. Get to know them and their work and learn to understand the people on your team – it works wonders at breaking down barriers.

Take Ownership

As a team leader, you must realize that it’s on you to do just that – lead the way. Take ownership of the customer service team culture you want to create and then put that vision to work. It’s easy to get caught up in daily to-dos and deadlines but making sure your people are taken care of and can count on you as well as each other to work towards common goals will be a lot more satisfying.

Nicereply’s Team Culture by Katka

Katarina Javorcikova cares about the happiness of our clients at Nicereply, as a Head of Customer Success. We asked her how she perceives the importance of team culture. Her smart tips will help you keep your relationships at the workplace healthy and strong.

“When defining the team culture, every team leader should ask this question: What it feels like to work on my team? By putting themselves in the shoes of the team members, they are able to define the behavior that drives high performance and satisfaction for the whole team.”

We can’t describe the culture in one word. Team culture is how team members do their job, how they show up, what energy and values they bring to the team, and how they treat each other.

Especially in Customer Support, agents are faced with different types of issues, clients, challenges, behavior, and emotions day in and day out. A supportive culture can prevent burnout, help agents overcome thought days, support their professional and personal development and enjoy the daily work.

I recommend identifying the key behaviors that create a culture inside your team. Key behaviors people want to live, experience, and maintain daily.

Questions that help you identify the key behaviors

• What it feels like to work on my team?
• Do we give and receive feedback? What do people think of feedback?
• How do I want to treat my team members?
• How do I support the mental health of agents?
• How do we support each other? Do we share our daily experiences and listen to each other?
• How do I want to level up agents’ skills?
• How do agents perceive the daily challenges? Do they see challenges as a path to progress?
• How do you approach failure? Do agents feel safe making a mistake?
• How do you navigate conflicts?

With more and more support teams working remotely, leaders should think about how to build and maintain remote team culture.

From my experience, the backbone of the remote culture is transparent communication. Moreover, people should feel visible and part of the team. Furthermore, I would invest in creating a sense of community and belonging because agents feel engaged and connected to something.

To give you one tip on how to learn to communicate effectively, our team participated in the workshop about critical thinking and argumentative techniques. Compared to typical communication training, we learned how to offer credible facts and sufficient evidence to support the worthiness of our argument. After this training, our team meetings became more productive.

Last but not least, the best way to contribute to camaraderie in the team is merch (hoodies, cups, t-shirts, stickers, caps, etc.) Attending an all-hands meeting in a team t-shirt is fun.

The post What It Takes To Build a Strong Customer Service Team Culture appeared first on Customer Happiness Blog.

How can you create feedback forms your customers want to answer?

Use these best practices and checklists to turn your feedback forms into key sources of customer insights for your business.

Without customer feedback, you’re in the dark. No insights on what customers like or dislike about your product, the support they receive, or any other areas of your business. 

That’s why using feedback forms to collect your customer’s opinions is indispensable. 

The best thing about customer feedback forms is the insights they give you. But the second best thing is that they can be made by anyone, and usually don’t require many resources. Despite this fact, a lot of companies struggle with how to create feedback forms that consistently deliver. 

You can’t completely control if a customer will make it to the end of your feedback form, but you can make it easy by building feedback forms that are easy to understand, follow a logical flow, and avoid human bias. 

Learn the basics to master creating feedback forms so you can start learning directly from your customers about what matters the most to them. 

What is a feedback form?

A feedback form is a tool for gathering opinions and feedback from the people who matter most to your success. That might be your customers, stakeholders, or patients. If you’re a teacher, it could be your students. If you’re an employer, that might mean your employees.

Types of feedback forms

You’ll send a different form depending on the information you’re after, such as measuring how loyal customers are or why they stop using your product. There’s an infinite amount of ways you can build a feedback form, but these are some of the most common feedback forms you can find:

• CSAT: A CSAT score measures customer satisfaction with a product, service, or customer support interaction by asking: “How satisfied were you with [company]?” It’s typically measured as a percentage score. 
• NPS: Net Promoter Score (NPS) surveys measure loyalty and satisfaction by asking customers how likely they are to recommend your product to others. 
• CES survey: Customer Effort Score (CES) is a metric that measures how much effort a customer has to exert to use a product or service on a scale of “very difficult” or “very easy.”
• Churn survey: A churn survey attempts to uncover why a customer stopped using your product or service. 
• PMF survey: Product-market fit (PMF) measures your product or service’s importance and relevance to customers. PMF surveys ask customers how they’d feel if they could no longer use your product.

How to create an effective feedback form 

One of web usability’s golden rules is, arguably, “don’t make users think.” It’s a reference to the book of a similar title by Steve Krug. And you can apply the same logic to feedback forms. 

When you’re designing a feedback form, you should make it as easy as possible for customers to fill in a form until the end. Any extra clicks, mandatory open-text questions, or images that take too long to load will undercut your feedback form’s success. 

For this reason, ease of completion should be at the forefront of all feedback forms—no matter your goal. Any extra effort required, even if it seems negligible, means losing respondents along the way. 

Make it easy.

We’ll look at specific best practices next, but keep this mantra in mind along the way.

Best practices when creating customer feedback forms

1. Use simple language and avoid bias

You might think that because you’re sending your feedback form to a group of professionals, you have the license to write long, complex questions. You’re wrong.

Readers, no matter their expertise, are busy. They scan, not read. According to research, about 79% of users scan new pages; only 16% read word-by-word. Your feedback form should use clear language and specific and direct questions. “How satisfied are you with the response time of the customer support team?” is better than “What has your experience been working with our customer support team?” 

In this example from Slack, sentences are conversational and easy to understand. 

When choosing your words, aim to minimize survey bias. Instead of asking, “How great was your experience with our customer service team?” ask,  “On a scale of 1-10, how satisfied were you with our customer service team?”

2. Keep it short for more responses

Survey fatigue is a real thing. 

The more questions you add to your feedback form, the more likely you’ll tire your audience out. That means lower response rates and fewer insights. To avoid this, eliminate superfluous questions and focus on what’s most important. 

For example, surveys often waste precious space by explaining to users what they will see on the next question. Avoid that—just explain each question as it comes. 

Ultimately, it’s about finding the balance between collecting enough information for you to act upon while not overwhelming users so much that they leave your feedback form early.

You may use QR codes as well to collect feedback. These codes are easy to use and can be created easily using a QR code generator.

3. Show a progress bar 

Most people that take time out of their day to start a survey actually would like to finish it. By showing a progress bar, you’ll give customers a better feeling of how long they’ll need to complete it. 

Imagine you only have one question left. You’ll likely make that extra effort to finish it, right? However, if you have no clue how many questions are waiting for you—maybe two, maybe twelve—you’re probably more likely to drop out. 

It’s also super helpful to let users know how long it’ll take to complete your feedback form. This transparency sets clear expectations for your customers.

The example below, from the newsletter Dense Discovery, offers respondents a glimpse of what’s left:

4. Keep your audience in mind

Who will be answering your feedback form determines many factors, such as the time to send it, length, type of questions, etc. Perhaps you’ll send the survey via email or as a survey pop-up on a website. 

For example, this example from Nicereply is aimed at their blog readers. The goal is to know how valuable articles are for their audience.

It does that by asking a simple question at the bottom of each blog post. Users can then provide extra context (if they want) or just send the rating as-is:

5. Customize your feedback form 

Your feedback form is part of your business. As such, it should be on brand. Think about your brand’s language and colors—your users should be able to recognize it’s from you just by looking at your survey. 

If you can’t fully customize your feedback form, at least ensure you sound like your brand by using the same tone of voice.

Here’s a great example: Remote.com sends an email asking about the quality of the support received using their brand colors and voice:

6. Find out the best time to send the feedback form

When you send your feedback form has a big impact on how many responses you’ll receive. Some general guidelines are below, but you should experiment with different approaches to see how it impacts your response rate. Transactional surveys like CSAT or CES may be best to send immediately, whereas other feedback forms might be better on a more delayed cadence.

For email surveys, experts suggest that just after lunch or in the evening (between 6 pm and 9 pm) are often the best time. Midweek—Tuesday to Thursday—is often when emails see the most engagement.

If your survey is triggered by a certain action—like a customer making a purchase—you need to decide when to send your follow-up survey.  For instance, you might send an NPS survey to measure their likelihood to refer exactly one week later. Wait longer than that and your customers might have forgotten the experience; send it earlier and they might not have received your product yet. 

In the example below, the clothing brand The Reformation sends an NPS feedback form via email exactly a week after a purchase:

7. Consider both closed and open-ended questions

Open-ended survey questions let respondents write whatever they feel, while closed-ended surveys give people choices, such as Yes/No or a rating within a scale. 

Closed-ended questions are faster to answer and analyze than open-ended feedback. They’re great for gathering quick, standardized, quantitative feedback from respondents.

Open-ended questions take longer, but they can provide much more color and context than closed-ended questions. They often enable you to discover issues that haven’t been flagged before. 

As a general rule of thumb, be mindful about making open-ended questions mandatory. Because they take more effort to answer, this can lead to people dropping out. 

Just like many other best practices on this list, the “right” type of question depends on the purpose of the feedback form you’re creating. Many businesses opt to use both types of questions, making the closed-ended question mandatory and the open-ended question optional.

For example, Miro lets users rate their help center using five emojis. This 1-5 scale makes rating easy and fast to quantify. If they’d like, respondents can then add more context in their own words.

8. Give respondents a reason (or incentive) to fill out your form

Time is golden, so not everyone will be willing to spend it on one of your feedback forms. 
You can get more people to respond to your feedback requests by offering a clear reason why they should. This can be as simple as highlighting the impact: This feedback will be used to shape our product roadmap for the next six months. Another way to encourage more answers is by providing incentives, such as a gift card or a voucher. Airline Ryanair.com does the latter by offering respondents the chance to win a €100 gift card.

9. Use logical ordering

Your feedback form should flow in a way that makes sense. Don’t ask for product experience feedback after a user responds that they’ve never used your software. 

Here’s the best way to do this:

• Start by briefly introducing why respondents should complete the survey (“We want to learn why you canceled your subscription so we can improve”).
• Lead with general questions and move to more specific ones. 
• Unless you need to screen out participants, it’s often best to place questions that collect personal information—like an email address—at the end.

For longer surveys, it’s often helpful to create a  spreadsheet with the type of questions (multiple choice,  Yes/No, free text, etc.) and the logical ordering (for example, if the answer to question 6 is > 7, jump to question 9). 

This step might seem unnecessary, but you’ll save time as you’ll make any tweaks to the logical flow before you’ve invested time in creating your feedback form.​​

10. Test your feedback form internally 

After building your feedback form, test it internally before sharing it with your customers. This is super critical if you’ve built out complex logical flows. 

If your survey is so long or confusing that your colleague gets tired of answering it, you have little chance your customers will bother to spend time on it. Internal tests may only take a few minutes, and they give you a prime chance to catch and fix mistakes before it’s too late.

This mobile survey form from Facebook gathers feedback on its Messenger app:

Checklist to create a feedback form

Next time you need to create a feedback form, follow this simple checklist to set yourself up for success:

• Choose the goal of your survey 
• Determine your audience and the best time to send your form (or commit to experimenting)
• Pick the questions you’ll use (open or closed, multiple choice, dropdown…)
• Use clear and simple language on your form
• Customize your feedback using your brand’s colors and voice
• Fix any mistakes by sending a test survey internally
• Make your form public and start collecting feedback

Other form examples:

• Wrike:

• Confluence:

• Loom:

Creating stellar feedback forms 

One of the best ways to make positive changes to your business is by asking customers for honest feedback. 

The insights from these requests help you prioritize and act strategically. While one-on-one conversations with customers are wonderful, feedback forms are the best way to get firsthand information from your customers at scale.

When you’re creating a feedback form, don’t start from scratch. Instead, use these best practices to create a feedback form that is easy for customers to answer and will deliver the insights you’re looking for. Remember: always make it easy for your customer to share feedback!

If you’re looking for the easiest way to gather effortless customer feedback, start a free trial of Nicereply today.

The post How to Create a Feedback Form [Best Practices & Checklist] appeared first on Customer Happiness Blog.

Get most of your NPS survey by asking the right follow-up questions.

As a business, it’s your responsibility to improve your customer’s Net Promoter Score (NPS). To do this, you have to have multiple questions at your disposal.

The NPS follow-up question is the key to improving customer satisfaction. Creating, customizing, and answering follow-up questions is an art form that can be learned and perfected with practice.

If you’re unsure how to create effective NPS follow-up questions, we’ve made these expert tips on creating and customizing efficient NPS follow-up questions for your company.

Keep the Questions Simple and Specific

The most effective NPS follow-up questions are direct and specific. They’re not open-ended, don’t ask for explanations or reasons, and don’t ask for more than one answer. The goal of NPS follow-ups is to get your customers to either:

• recommend your product or service (or explain why it’s excellent),
• give feedback on a specific aspect of what you offer, or
• provide suggestions for improving it.

The best follow-up questions are simple and specific. They’re straightforward, easy to understand, and don’t require any different explanation from the customer.

If a customer has just taken your survey and given you some feedback, he or she is probably not in the mood to talk about it anymore—especially if one has been on hold for 20 minutes waiting for one’s turn.

Your follow-up questions should be easy to understand and quick to answer. The simpler they are, the more likely people will complete them. 

If a customer has just feedback on their experience, it can be tempting to ask why they feel that way and then delve deeper into the issue. But this isn’t always necessary or helpful; sometimes, asking what went well or could have gone better is enough.

Ask Only One or Two Follow-Up Questions

An NPS survey offers a powerful way to ask customer satisfaction questions.

You can ask one or two follow-up questions, but don’t ask any more than that. The customer will appreciate it if asked only a few questions, and you’ll be able to use the answers you get to help tailor your follow-up email.

If you ask too many follow-up questions, your customers won’t have time to answer them all and will be more likely to skip them. Asking just one or two follow-up questions can help increase your NPS score by up to 10 points.

It’s tempting to go for more follow-up questions, but the fact is that it can be difficult for customers to answer long forms. You want your NPS survey to be as short and easy to complete as possible, so you get high response rates. The best follow-up questions require more than a yes or no answer but don’t include too many options.

For example, “What else is important to you?” would be better than “What else could we do to improve our service?”

Offer Suggestions Why Respondents Left Low Scores

If you can segment your NPS survey results by the score that customers gave you, you’ll see what respondents say about their interactions with your company.

For example, someone left a negative score because he or she didn’t like a previous experience with your company, and rated how he or she will likely recommend your brand in the future. Thus, it might be worth offering suggestions for improvement based on this information.

Give customers a chance to provide feedback on why they left a low score. You may ask what they would have done differently and how their experience with your company compares with similar ones. This information can help you improve the product or service and the overall customer experience.

When you ask for suggestions about why a respondent gave your company a low score, it helps you understand what you could do differently in the future. In addition, it can help you avoid repeating the same mistakes and fix them before they happen again.

For instance, you can offer suggestions (in question form) such as “What could we have done differently?” or “How was this experience different from others you have had with similar companies?”

You can also include a section for respondents to offer suggestions for why they left a low score. This approach will help you identify what you’re doing wrong and make changes quickly. Make it easy to take action on the survey results.

Use Open-Ended Follow-Up Questions

Employing open-ended NPS follow-up questions helps encourage customers to be specific about their experiences. This technique can help you better understand how to improve your product or service.

For example, if you ask customers to rate their experience with a number between one and 10, they may say they enjoyed it but not give any specific details. By asking them what they liked most about the experience and what could be done differently in the future, you’ll get far more helpful feedback.

This approach can help you identify common problems and opportunities to improve.

Suppose a customer says he or she loves to see more of your product, ask why. If one says that the price is too high, ask him or her what would make it more affordable. This can help you identify specific problems and opportunities to improve the customer experience.

If someone says he or she will recommend your company because it has great customer service, ask him or her what makes it so great. This will help you understand why a customer left a high score instead of assuming everything is fine. 

You can ask questions like “What do you like about our product or service?” or “What would make it better?”

You can also ask questions like, “How likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague?” This will help you learn how satisfied customers are with your service and what improvements need to be made.

This can help you understand what they liked and didn’t like about your product or service. It also enables you to figure out how to better cater to their needs in the future.

For example, if someone gives you a low score, ask why so you know exactly where to make changes. This can help prevent future negative reviews from happening again.

Keep the Language Conversational, Not Technical

If you’re writing an email, don’t use very formal words. This is especially important if you’re writing comments in response to a negative review.

If you are trying to be professional and use proper grammar, it can come off as cold and unempathetic. Instead, keep the language conversational and friendly by using contractions like “you” instead of “the customer.”

This will help show that you are on their side and want to ensure that they leave with a positive experience instead of feeling like they have been talked down to by someone who doesn’t care about them or their experience.

If you want people to take your feedback seriously, use language they can relate to. This is especially important when responding to negative reviews because it shows that you’re listening and willing to adjust your business practices accordingly.

For instance, you can ask simple, easy-to-understand questions like “What was the most helpful thing about our service?” or “What would you like to see us change about our policies?”

Make sure that everything you write sounds like something a real person would say, not a business owner who is just trying to cover his tracks.

Preview Your Questions and Make Changes in Real-Time

It’s easy to get caught up in the moment when you’re writing a response and forget about the small details that can make or break your reply. You don’t want to write something only to realize later that it sounds nonsense.

Aside from using sales tools for marketing, one of the best ways to get better at giving feedback is by practicing. You can preview your questions and make real-time changes while writing them out.

Suppose you notice that one question sounds too aggressive and the other sounds too passive. Then combine those two into a single question that still gets to the heart of what you want to know from the customer.

One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to write a question that’s too long or complicated for someone to answer. It would be best if you also avoided questions that ask people to explain something in detail because they’ll feel like they have to spend time explaining things instead of simply answering your question in one sentence.

Getting things right the first time is vital if you’re writing a response to a negative review. You don’t want to go back and fix mistakes because that can make your response look unprofessional or, even worse, make it seem like you are trying to hide something.

This is an integral part of the process but can also be time-consuming. If you have many questions to ask your reviewers, create your survey questions and then export them into Google Forms or ProntoForms so you can edit them on the go.

You can also easily integrate NPS tracking with Nicereply. This approach will help significantly in retrieving more feedback from your customers.

In that way, when someone leaves a review or comment on Facebook or Yelp, you can immediately jump over and add their answers to your survey without having to type in all new information from scratch.

NPS Follow-Up Questions Should be Strategic and Well-Considered

NPS follow-up questions are one of the most critical steps in your ongoing customer relationship management strategy. These questions help you to measure NPS goals, upgrade a failing customer experience, and defuse bad star ratings. 

A carefully crafted and strategic follow-up questions can make all the difference in ensuring that your customers keep returning for more. If you want to know more about NPS, it’s best to seek guidance from NPS experts.

The post Best Tips for Creating & Customizing NPS Follow-Up Questions appeared first on Customer Happiness Blog.

There are many different types of customers that a support manager may encounter. We looked at the most common personas in support and how to handle them.

Customer support teams interact with a lot of customers. Support is the frontline for every company, which means they’re usually the first to hear about issues, feedback, and overall sentiment.

As a support manager, you get to meet many of these different types of customers, both directly and indirectly. Some will be a lot of fun to interact with. Others, not so much. But that’s part of what makes the job interesting and enjoyable. And knowing some best practices for supporting the different types of customers you meet will make your job all the more enjoyable.

Note: I realize I’m painting with broad brush strokes here. Every customer is a unique individual, but when you (or your team) are interacting with hundreds or thousands each week, you begin to see similarities across your customer base.

Let’s dive into 6 types of customers you meet as a support manager and how to best support each of them.

1. The new customer

In a growing business, you’ll see a constant influx of new customers. They’re typically inquisitive and eager to learn. Although they sometimes are hesitant because a new product means changing habits and behaviors, you’ll often find that these customers are the most engaged. They want to figure out how your product or service can make them more successful as quickly as possible.

Sometimes new customers can experience buyer’s remorse, especially if your product comes with a high price tag or a long contract. At a minimum, keep in mind that they’re typically keeping their eyes open for anything that might not meet their needs. If they have doubts, any issues will quickly aggravate those doubts and make them second guess their purchasing decision.  That’s why it’s best to make them feel extra special.

In summary, new customers are an incredible chance to deliver on your sales and marketing promises and start building customer loyalty from day one. But if you drop the ball, you’ll create a bad first impression that can be hard to recover from.

Customer support best practices for new customers

The first step in creating a great experience for new customers is to build an effective onboarding program for them. There are two main ways to do this.

• You can create a team focused entirely on onboarding. This team would proactively reach out to new customers and walk them through what they need to know about successfully using your product or service.
• You can roll this into your support team’s responsibilities. If you use technology to create a digital in-app onboarding experience, your support team should be prepared to field questions and help new customers overcome obstacles. 

It’s also important to prepare your support team to be the “second first impression” for your company. Regardless of what type or how great your onboarding program is, you’ll still receive general support tickets from new customers. It’ll be their first interaction with your team, and it’s the best chance for your customer support to shine.

Train and empower your support team to go above and beyond for customers. This will drive positive experiences across the board, including with your new customers.

It’s also a great idea to help your support team recognize when a customer is new and then to tailor the experience for them. You can often call out new customers within your CRM so your support team notices it as soon as they pull up the customer’s account. When your team sees a new customer, coach them on good questions to ask and helpful resources to share to set up new users for success.

2. The former customer

Former customers are the people who have canceled their subscriptions to your product or service.  As a support manager, you’re most likely to have gotten involved with a former customer as they were canceling or through an escalated case. 

Supporting paying customers is definitely the top priority for you and your support team, but taking care of customers as they’re canceling (or after they’ve canceled) leaves an open door for them to return at some point in the future.

Customer support best practices for former customers

If your support team gets involved in the cancellation process, one of the most useful things they can do is to help your company understand why a customer is leaving. As they cancel, record those reasons. Cancel reasons are invaluable to your business (just like other types of customer insights, including CSAT, CES, and NPS). 
The other important thing to remember when supporting canceling or former customers is to try and end things on a positive note. While an easy and helpful cancellation process may not prevent a customer from churning (although it can!), it can lead to a more positive perception of your brand (due to things like recency bias).

3. The angry customer

Everyone who works in support has had to deal with an angry customer at one time or another. The angry customers are also the ones we tend to talk (vent?) about the most. Their stories travel fast around the office (or on Slack). 

While blatant disrespect or abusive language towards your support team shouldn’t be tolerated, it’s best to remember that angry customers are angry for a reason. They may not realize how your product works, or they could have a legitimate issue that they feel is taking too long to address.

Either way, dealing with angry customers is a normal, understandable, and sometimes uncomfortable part of being a support manager. So it’s important to have a strategy.

Customer support best practices for angry customers

Empathy is the key to supporting angry customers. 

Keep in mind that in most cases an angry customer is not angry with you or your team as individuals, but with the situation as a whole. They’ve been disappointed. Maybe they’ve felt ignored. 

Do your best to remain calm and put yourself in their shoes. Many times angry customers just want to feel heard—ideally by someone they believe can help them. 
Train your team on key customer service skills for dealing with angry customers: de-escalation, displaying empathy and taking ownership of issues.

And if an angry customer gets escalated to you, you should aim to back up your team, show empathy, and find opportunities to solve this particular situation and prevent similar situations in the future.

4. The talkative customer

The talkative customer is a fun one. Fun, but challenging. 

Talkers will always choose to call your support team (instead of using other support channels). They enjoy telling stories, engaging in small talk, and are usually in a pretty jovial mood. They don’t hesitate to tell you about their issues or how their day is going. 

It may be a pleasure to get them on the phone, but they can also take up a lot of support time and resources. They may ask how your day is going, talk about the weather, or ask about your favorite sports team. 

As a customer support manager, you may encounter the talker more indirectly—although don’t be surprised if you get an escalated call from a talker for the sole purpose of giving positive feedback about your team.

Customer support best practices for talkative customers

It can be tough to get a word in edgewise with a talkative customer. 

The key to successfully dealing with these customers is to engage with them while also keeping the conversations on track. Probing questions are key to this approach: the better you are at probing for their issue, the quicker you’re able to resolve it. 

As they share their stories, affirm that you’re listening while also using those moments as opportunities to ask good questions. You can also direct the conversation a little bit more forcefully when needed. Try phrases like:

• “That sounds amazing! So how can I help today?” 
• “Thanks for sharing. I’ve got a few questions about your issue.”
• “I’d like to take care of this, but I need [XYZ] before I can do that. Can you please help me understand those things?”

Sometimes talkers will distract your team so much they won’t actually be able to troubleshoot the issue at hand. In those cases you can place the customer on hold—even if you have to interrupt them—by politely saying, “I’m really sorry to interrupt you, but do you mind if I place you on a quick hold to look into your issue?”

5. The easygoing customer

The easygoing customer is the type of customer that doesn’t seem to let anything bother them. They could have the biggest issue you can think of with your product, but they’ll calmly tell you what’s going on so you can fix it.

Easygoing customers are hard to fluster. Typically, they’re understanding individuals who realize that issues happen in any business. They may also understand that your support team isn’t usually the one who causes issues, they’re just the ones tasked with solving them. 

In short, easygoing customers understand that stuff happens and appreciate that you’re there for them when things go awry.

Customer support best practices for the easygoing  customer

Easygoing customers like knowing you’re working on their issues. The best approach to helping them is to set clear expectations and deliver on your promises.

Whether it’s a specific timeline for a fix or a simple, “I’m not sure how long this will take but I’ll make sure I’ll follow up,” instilling confidence is the key to supporting easygoing customers. They’re easygoing because they have confidence that they’re being taken care of, so instill that confidence as you speak with them (and teach your team to do the same).

6. The loyal customer

Loyal customers are the cream of the crop. They’re the Promoters in your NPS results, the most vocal of your customers, and the quickest to try new products and services. They’re not just users of your product—they’re believers and fans of your brand.

These customers give you extra grace. They’re the ones who know you’ll make it right if they have a bad interaction because you’ve built up trust and loyalty over time. 

As a support manager, you may get escalations from loyal customers, but you’re more likely to interact with them indirectly through coaching your team. Loyal customers are loyal because of many great interactions over time, and as you train your team to consistently deliver great customer service, you’re investing in those customer relationships.

Keep in mind that your most loyal customers can sometimes create friction by asking for special treatment. Be mindful of these situations and approach them with caution. You want them to be loyal because you’ve always given them great support and your product or service meets their needs, not because you’re giving them special treatment.

Support best practices for the loyal customer

Loyal customers are great sources of feedback—they’re often most likely to say yes if you want input on a new idea or initiative. 

Your loyal customers are also most likely to become advocates for your brand. While this isn’t just a support responsibility, support teams can have a positive impact on growth by partnering up with marketing and customer success teams to source case studies and reviews. You know the customers who love your product and support experience—who better to ask for referrals or a review? 

Another best practice is to make sure these customers are noted in your CRM. While they may not necessarily always be on your premium product or paying the most money, you want to keep them loyal and satisfied. Calling them out with a flag in your CRM makes it easy for your customer service team to see them. These simple flags can trigger your support teams to take extra care when serving these customers.

Supporting your customers

Managing customer support isn’t always a cakewalk, but it’s guaranteed to be fulfilling and interesting. As a support manager, you get to interact with dozens or hundreds of people from many different backgrounds and organizations.

There isn’t always a cut-and-dry playbook for every situation you’ll encounter, but keeping these support best practices in mind can help you adapt on the fly.

Want to get to know your customers better? You should check out a free trial of Nicereply. It’s the easiest way to get real-time customer feedback so you can take consistent action to improve your customer experience across the board.

The post 6 Types of Customers You Meet as a Support Manager appeared first on Customer Happiness Blog.

When we asked our networks who people were grateful for, there was such an amazing outpouring of kindness…and far more people than we could include in one blog post.

Support, as an industry, grows more each day. It used to be that when you were sitting at the dinner table over the holidays and people asked “how’s work going?” us customer support folk wouldn’t know what to say. I know, at least, that when I tried to explain to my parents what I did, it went in one ear and out the other.

But those times are no longer. Now everyone, at least tangentially, knows and understands customer experience and its importance. As the industry has grown, so have the amazing leaders within it. People that all of us in the world of support learn from each and every day.

Let’s take the time to recognize some of those leaders, especially the ones that the community found to be the most impactful in their lives and growth within the support.

So, check it out! Our 20 support leaders that we are grateful. If you’re a Twitter person, I’ve also created a handy dandy list that you can follow!

Camille has an impressive background in customer success and advocacy leadership. Not only is she committed to consistently learning and bettering herself and her team, but she documents all of it. Her LinkedIn is a treasure trove of insights, as are any of the multiple talks she’s given. Go, Camille, Go!

While she originally started her career as a developer, Kathy Sierra has written a number of hugely impactful books, including Badass: Making Users Awesome. Numerous people listed her and her texts as immensely influential in their career in support and how they think about customer experience overall.

Angela is an excellent resource when it comes to learning more about the intersection between product management, support, and development. You can check out her Twitter here.

Abby is a pro when it comes to working and managing remotely. She’s also worked in support for over 10 years, and tech for 7. Beyond that, she cohosts the Support Driven podcast and is an active member of the Support Driven community. Needless to say, there were lots of people thankful for her this year. I’m especially thankful for her 1D tweets, though.

If you’re looking to get to know someone consistently caring and insightful, Sarah is your person. She’s worked in a variety of different support roles across industries and, because of that, brings a unique perspective on customer support and success. Best of all, she is humble and always willing to have deeper conversations about her reasoning and thought process. Her Twitter is excellent.

It feels like Chelsea has done a little bit of everything, and is always willing to share her varied expertises with those around her. From her insightful and informative newsletters when she managed the community at Support Driven, to her encouragement and leadership of the support and success teams at Recruiterbox, there are tons of people who are grateful for Chelsea.

Diana is a successful consultant, cohost of the Support Driven Podcast, and a support leader. She’s a huge influence in the Support Driven community and is always willing to lend her deep insights whenever she can. If you’re looking to better your email marketing or website copy with the customer’s experience in mind, she can help!

Chase has had his hands in almost everything support related. Whether that be working on the community over at Support Driven, helping run the Support Ops podcast, or leading his team at Basecamp, he does so with humility and insight. He’s also excellent at homesteading and a number of other things that you can learn about on Twitter.

Personally, I’m grateful for Andrew because of the care that he puts into everything he does. It feels like everything that he touches, he does so with the utmost consideration. This was echoed by all of the people that said they were grateful for him this year. Thanks, Andrew. You’re the best.

Antonio shows all of us what it means to be excellent. Providing support, humanly and with a sense of humor is not easy. You can frustrate customers, use the wrong words and come off as uncaring. Tones have taught all of us that that doesn’t have to be the case.

Mo has done support at some of the best companies in the game and brings a TON of insight into every conversation about the customer experience that she has. Her enthusiasm is unparalleled and her writing is clear, concise, and informative. Basically, she’s just the best.

Sarah runs a conference series that has given many of us our first taste into the community behind support and customer experience. She also organized and co-authored The Customer Support Handbook, which serves as an excellent guide for anyone looking to break into, or better understand the concept of success in this career. She’s also hilarious and kind, to boot.

Ben is kind, funny, and humble—which says a lot because he’s also excellent and informative when it comes to customer support. From the numerous talks that he’s given professionally, to the pep talks that he’s given many of us personally, Ben is an all-around Good Egg to that so many of us are grateful.

Adrian is an all-around boss. He’s published books (a new one just came out), runs a successful CX newsletter, and serves as an advisor for companies looking to grow their customer experience. He’s informative, intelligent, humble and very, very funny. Check out his Twitter.

Waldo is excellent at providing support and has made a huge impact on people that have worked with him. But, beyond that, he makes an impact on strangers by sharing candidly, encouragingly, and openly about his own journeys and work in life. If you’re looking for a way to cultivate gratitude and live a more present life (while also totally slaying the CX game), Waldo is a great person to know.

Ana is all about empowering her team to make the right decisions on their own. Her tweets are inspiring, especially for those of us still looking to grow and open up opportunities for ourselves and others. Pay attention, especially, to what she shares about her own personal experiences with leadership and growth.

Scott gave the Support world one of the first online communities where we could come together and learn from each other. For that, all of us are grateful.

Mat went from managing support teams and leading departments to write about how to do those things at Help Scout. He’s funny, informative, and, most importantly, willing to share his knowledge through talks, blog posts, and on his Twitter.

Is there a more thoughtful and intentional person alive? We’re not sure. Jim is great at sharing unique, kind, and gentle perspectives about support interactions and how we’re doing them. Another one of those people that make your life better just by following them.

No matter where she is working, Andrea is thoughtful, kind and never hesitant to reach out with a kind word. People are particularly grateful for the effort that she puts forth to help individuals work through career challenges. Overall, we love her for all of the work that she’s put into making the support ecosystem kinder and more intentional with her work.

When we asked our networks who people were grateful for, there was such an amazing outpouring of kindness…and far more people than we could include in one blog post. To see some of the others, check out this LinkedIn post or this Twitter thread.

A big thanks to everyone that reached out and shared a little gratitude this season, and to all of the people on this list. We’re grateful we get to learn from and grow with you every single day.

The post 20 Support Leaders That We are Grateful For appeared first on Customer Happiness Blog.