How Call Centres Improve Customer Retention and Loyalty
Have you made the mistake of thinking once you’ve completed the sale you’re done with the customer? This is a mistake many businesses make and it can cost them down the line.
Customer loyalty and retention are a vital part of your business success. In most industries repeat customers is what keeps the doors open and the lights on. This is why you must focus as much attention to current customers as you do on getting newbies through the door.
Plus, it just makes sense to focus attention on existing customers. They have already crossed the hurdle from being a possibility to a reality. Keeping them happy and satisfied almost always assures they will bring in someone new.
Continue reading for tips on how to use call centres to engage customers and make them repeat consumers.
1. Hire Employees that are Committed to Helping Others
This is one area where many companies fail when it comes to customer service. They are more consumed with filling seats than they are developing an experience for their customers.
Whether your call centre is taking orders, providing technical assistance or handling concerns, employees must like speaking with people. If not, it will show through their interactions.
Hiring people who have empathy towards others is a plus. They typically are good listeners, care about the outcome of the call and wants the company to succeed.
Once you have hired the right people on board, provide them with the training they will need to reflect the company’s core values.
2. Create High Quality Interactions on Every Call
Everyone wants to feel important and as though their contribution to others success really matters. When someone calls into your contact centre, they should be treated as if they are the top priority by the person answering their call.
Training employees to be engaging and accommodating to customers is key. One tool incorporated in call centre training is a technique referred to as soft skills. At its core, companies should look for employees with customer advocacy and communication skills.
High quality interactions mean employees are putting the customers needs first. They do this by being polite, listening to understand not to respond and ensuring the customer is satisfied before ending the call.
When customers feel they have been heard, they will see your business more favourably.
3. Follow-up Calls and Surveys to Promote Customer Loyalty and Retention
In best case scenarios the customers are elated about the outcome of a call and want to give the call agent kudos. But let’s be honest, not all calls will end with a result that the customer is satisfied with. This is why it is important to provide customers with an opportunity to give feedback, quickly.
There are three ways to reach-out to customers following a call that have proven to be effective.
Post Call IVR Surveys – These are surveys offered to customers following calls. The caller is informed prior to an agent picking up that the survey will be available following the call. The caller is reminded of the opportunity to provide feedback by the agent. If the caller agrees, the agent transfers the caller to the IVR system to conduct the survey.
Post Call Callback Surveys – In this instance, the customer receives a call back from a business, following an interaction. This too is an IVR activated system, but the caller feels less pressure and is assured the agent isn’t still on the line. Post call callbacks typically take place within an hour of having placed a call to a call centre.
Post Call Emails – probably the most effective of the three, post call emails allows the customer to provide feedback at their convenience. It may also be beneficial to the business, because it gives the customer additional time to reassess their interaction with the call centre agent.
Call surveys are a positive tool because it allows businesses the opportunity to get feedback from customers, which can be used for future training. It’s a win for customers because they feel they have a voice and the business is listening.
4. Provide Responses to Customers Service Interactions via Social Media
Today, customer service has gone beyond the telephone and made its way to the digital world for everyone to see and read. If your company is vested in customer loyalty and retention, you should have a social media customer support strategy.
More and more, consumers are taking their praise and their grievances to social media. Having agents assigned to monitor sites like Facebook and Twitter is vital. When someone tags your business in a post or comment, your social media agent can acknowledge the person and redirect them to a confidential setting.
People who take to social media with concerns about a company will most likely share a positive resolution to their issue. This makes it a win-win situation for both the consumer and the company.
5. Use Every Call as a Learning Tool
Customer interactions aren’t only about customer loyalty and retention. It also plays a part in retention of quality employees.
Companies should have tools to monitor calls, rate employee responses and gather other metrics. This information in its totality can be used to enhance process and procedures across the board. Every department sees how their role plays into the overall success of the company.
Rewarding employees based on call metrics, as well as customer feedback improves employee loyalty and retention. Having committed employees on the phone with your customers improves the probability of a positive outcome.
Does Your Company Have a Call Centre?
You may be thinking customer loyalty and retention does not apply to your business because you do not have a call centre.
Every business should have a means for customers to interact on matters that are important to them. For this you may want to consider outsourcing your customer service.
Whether it is answering basic incoming calls, or offering customer resolution, having a dedicated team can be a benefit.
If you are interested in learning more about outsourced customer centre services, click here.