Madrid, Sep 21, 2023 – Customer service and Customer Communications Management (CCM) are foundational pillars for companies. It is not only about offering services and products that meet customers’ needs, but also about answering their questions and providing them with technical support after the purchase.
Companies cannot limit themselves to encouraging the purchase, to carrying out the conversion. This gives an extremely negative image and conveys the message that they only want to make money, regardless of the services rendered to customers. Even within business relationships, this creates distrust and undermines credibility.
Knowing how to communicate with customers well means knowing more about the reason for customer contact, which allows detecting problems and proposing a feasible solution. It is not so easy to know what to do in order to communicate well, but we can tell you what not to do.
The 13 most common customer communication mistakes
1. Failure to listen to customers
It is important to actively listen to them to understand their needs, questions, or complaints instead of assuming what they need or want.
2. Unfulfilled promises
If the company promises something to its customers, it must make sure it delivers. Failure to do so damages customers’ confidence in the company.
3. Lack of clarity
Avoid using technical jargon or complex words that customers may not understand. Focus on plain language.
4. Language difference
Language barriers are both the most common and the most time-consuming obstacle. To overcome them, it is necessary to identify which languages are spoken most by the company’s customers and to have speakers who are fluent in those languages.
To do this, companies need to offer language and communication training sessions to agents and implement machine translation engines in written channels. There are tools, such as some CRM systems, which translate live what is being typed, which helps ensure uninterrupted communication.
5. Difference between time zones
Immediacy is essential for customers to feel they are being listened to. Internationalization sometimes makes it difficult to match customers’ schedule with that of the company. One solution is to have agents in various parts of the world to cover more customer service hours.
For the sake of continuity, there should be a smooth internal communication between agents. Leaving notes in the corresponding chat using the CRM system is a clever idea when a particular customer requires more attention from another agent.
6. Failure to respond in a timely manner
Customers expect timely responses to their questions or concerns. Failure or delay in a response can make customers feel ignored.
7. Lack of empathy
Understanding and recognizing customers’ feelings is crucial. If they are frustrated or angry, show empathy and work to resolve the problem.
8. Failure to apply customer feedback
Customers often provide valuable feedback. Ignoring it and not improving based on this feedback guarantees losing customers.
9. Failure to offer solutions
When customers have a problem, they want solutions. If companies simply acknowledge the problem, say customers “you are right” and apologize, customers will be dissatisfied.
10. Lack of training of customer service personnel
They must be qualified and knowledgeable about the company’s products and services in order to effectively assist customers.
11. Over-automation
While automation can be useful, its misuse can frustrate customers. In the age of robotics, customers should always have the option to talk to a real person if they want to. That said, it is imperative to have a live chat option on the website that is clearly visible and accessible.
This chat conveys trust and encourages communication. And, of course, there should always be agents available to help. All of this can be easily integrated with CRM and CCM (Customer Communications Management) software, which also allows agents to manage messages from a variety of sources from a single inbox, so they are available from every office the company has.
Small scheduled interactions, such as an indicator that a message is being typed, confirmation of “read”, confirmation from the agent that they are listening or resolving the issue, etc., are great for making customers feel heard. A chat, even if it is live, is not face-to-face, so companies need to give the impression that someone is actively listening behind the other screen.
12. Failure to manage customer expectations
It is necessary to communicate clearly what customers can expect in order to avoid misunderstandings and disappointments later on.
13. Failure to know how to deal with problematic customers
It is essential to have a guide on how to deal with difficult customers. Of course, it is vital to develop a general communication manual, but it is also necessary to anticipate that the company may deal with people who are particularly difficult to talk to. Agents should not take this personally and be able to rely on the guidance provided by the company.
In order to know how to proceed, the first thing to do is to identify the type of problematic customer and then apply the corporate policy. All agents should be properly trained in this area.
Conclusion
It must be understood that customer service can be the Achilles’ heel of some companies. Not knowing how to communicate and listen to its customers prevents the company from building a trust-based relationship between the parties, making it very difficult to carry out the transaction. This may cause the customer to choose another company that is easier to talk to.
Having good products and services does not guarantee sales. Companies must know how to sell and communicate them. And here human beings are fundamental if they have the necessary communication skills and the support of suitable tools and technologies.
In short, having good customer service consists of satisfying customers’ communication needs in an effective and efficient manner. In other words, it is about providing real and concrete solutions in a brief period of time. Honesty and active listening are necessary to give each customer the importance they have for the company.
Nowadays, the ever-growing importance of technology that supports the implementation of a smooth and versatile customer communications process makes it imperative that companies research thoroughly to find the most flexible Customer Communications Management solution to support their specific needs, but also allows adapting seamlessly to future customer communications evolutions.
About DocPath
DocPath is a leading enterprise document software company that offers its international customers the technology that allows them to complement their ERP and implement advanced Document Output Management, Customer Communications Management and document software pooling processes.
Founded in 1993, DocPath is based in Europe, USA and Latin America and is present with its Solutions in companies around the world. Among its customers there are prestigious banks and top-tier corporations, facilitating the difficult and complex task of designing, generating and distributing their business-critical documents. DocPath keeps a strong commitment to R+D+i, an area to which it allocates a large part of its revenues, and in which lies one of the keys to its success.
For more information, visit: www.docpath.com.
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