There are many different ways of learning how to grow your business or providing better service to your customers. Some companies use industry reports and trends, others bring in an expert to help, and some rely on mimicking competitors as a way to succeed. What’s funny is that with all the resources we have at hand, our customers can actually be the most insightful.
By examining conversations with your customers you may be able to uncover new ways of succeeding. The contact center is a great place to gather such invaluable intel. Take your chat conversations, customer surveys and recorded conversations, and you’re sure to discover some hidden gems. Here are 5 things that only your customers can teach you:
1. They Can Teach You About Your Current Product / Service
Without the customer you really won’t know if there’s a major issue with your product or service. If you’re a tech company, and you keep getting tickets on the same problem, that’s intelligence that the customer has given which creates action in your company to fix the problem. If you’re a cleaning company, and your customers keep complaining about the service they receive, you know you have a quality control problem. All of these indirect suggestions are coming from the customer. Make sure you watch for trends and patterns so you can see the issue before it becomes a PR disaster.
2. They Can Teach You About New Products / Services
Similar to point one, your customers can teach you about products and services you can add to your roster. We’ve had customers suggest new product ideas that have created great success for Fonolo. Remember, these customers are evangelists of your brand or they wouldn’t be suggesting a new and better solution. Unfortunately, agents don’t always know or have the authority to relay this information. A great example of a company who created a product from a customer’s suggestion is Amazon. The Kindle tablet actually came into existence because of a customer’s desires, not as a result of an engineer.
3. They Can Teach You How to Better Serve Them
Respected brands have diminished due to mishandled situations in dealing with an unhappy customer. Sadly, these brands didn’t realize the value of the customer voice. Don’t fall into this siloed way of thinking. Remember that today’s customer is listening, researching, and posting. Put in the research to fully understand your customer base and learn how you can better serve them. Whether it’s a small change on your website’s self-service page, or adding call-back technology so customers don’t have to wait on hold, there are many changes call centers can make today to improve the customer experience.
4. They Can Teach You About Your Competitors
Your customers are talking to one another and are referring companies that provide a more than satisfactory customer experience. You want to be the company they refer and the only way to do that is to be better than the competition. You’d be surprised how much your customers can tell you about the competition. For example, if there’s a feature I’m not getting with my phone provider, but can get with another provider at the same cost I make a point to let my phone provider know. Why not take that information and not only fix what you have, but make it better
5. They Can Teach You About Super-Customers
In most businesses, 20% of customers provide 80% of the sales revenue. This group of super-customers is incredibly important to growing your business. A super customer spends a lot on their first order, they devote time to your website, they engage in email, and they use multiple product lines. Your customer will show you if they’re a super customer or not. By understanding who your super customers are and rewarding them for their loyalty, you can retain them for even longer.
The Contact Center Playbook for Improving Customer Satisfaction
In this handy playbook, contact center leaders will learn the ins and outs of improving customer satisfaction.