How to Identify Customer Service Options

Customer service is an integral part of a business.

The success of a business hinges on a happy customer. To build a solid customer base, a business has to provide customer service in an effort to enhance customer satisfaction. Customer service simply means providing service to customers before, during and after a purchase. One of the most important factors in customer service is to exceed expectation.

Things You'll Need

• Customer data
• Skilled personnel

Instructions

1. Capture the customer's feedback at the point of experience or purchase. Understand what a customer thinks and feels. When you understand a customer's concerns, you can work on satisfying those concerns -- ultimately producing results. Identify which areas of customer service you need to improve. Face-to-face communication is more personal and effective than correspondence or a telephone call.

2. Give customers an option to purchase online -- then make sure the process of purchasing is user-friendly. For instance, it does not make sense to give a customer a lot of savings while wasting her time because of a difficult purchasing process online. Understand that a lot of people who conduct purchases online do so to save time. Conduct a brief survey at the end of the purchase that will give a grasp of the customer's experience and the areas where you need to make improvements. This will help you identify options that will enhance customer experience.

3. Study the demographics of your existing and prospective customer base. This will give you an idea of what customers expect. Focus on a certain group of people. Then provide the desired merchandise. You do not want to overstock your store with a iPods or iPads, for instance, if your business is based in a town that is predominantly occupied by an elderly population.

4. Use international standardizations such as ISOs and the International Customer Institute to measure the success of your existing customer-service strategies. Use ISO 9004: 2000 to improve your customer service performance, or ISO 10001: 2007 for your customer service conduct, or ISO 10002: 2004 on quality management in handling customer complaints.

5. Deploy other performance indicators to measure your goals toward proficient to customer service. This will help you focus on the right areas of customer service that need more attention. Use key performance indicators to direct customer service staff and efforts to areas that matter the most.

References

• Oliver Wyman: Improving Efficiency in Customer Service Without Reducing Customer Satisfaction
• RapidBI: Key Performance Indicators
• Start Run Grow: Key Performance Indicators

Resources

• U.S. Accountability Office: Managing for Results