Proactive customer service is all about anticipating the needs of the customer and fulfilling them proactively. It is also about taking care of customer issues proactively rather than reactively.
An example of proactive customer service – if a customer’s order is delayed, then calling that customer and letting him/her know that the product will be delivered 1-2 days late, rather than the customer calling the contact center to check why he/she did not receive the product on the due date.
This will increase the customers’ confidence in your company because it shows that you are keeping an active tab on their orders. In today’s highly competitive world, it is no longer good enough to just provide reactive customer service. If you want your customers to be loyal, you should exceed their expectations by being proactive.
Benefits of Proactive Customer Service
Besides loyal customers, there are a number of other benefits that proactive customer service offers.
- Reduced costs and increased efficiency – According to a report from OpenSpan, contact centers that practiced proactive customer service were able to reduce up to 25% of their operating costs as a result of 20-30% reduction in incoming call volumes. Efficient software helped these contact centers in proactively handling the needs of their customers. For example – live chat option in the company websites provided customers with a proactive communications channel.
- Influence posts and comments on social media – According to a study conducted by New York University – 37% of the 500 million tweets are related to customer service. Nowadays, a customer has a plethora of platforms to express their frustration about a bad customer service experience. By being proactive, you would be able to take care of potential issues, and that too before they turn into serious issues. Not only will you be able to prevent any negative remarks on social media platforms, but a happy customer may provide your company with good reviews as well.
Effective ways for providing proactive customer support
- Keep a tab on the customer conversations – Monitor what your customer is saying about your company, your products, and most importantly about your customer service on social media. If the comments are favorable, thank them and offer gratitude for being a loyal customer. If you see complaints, offer an apology, and take necessary actions to resolve the customer issue as soon as possible.
- Be transparent with the mistakes/problems from your side – If there is a network outage, let your customers know about it as soon as possible. If there is a planned maintenance, keep your customers posted about it. If an order is delayed, call up the customer and inform them about it. Do not try to hide your mistakes.
- Offer post-sales support – After selling a product to a customer, call that customer or e-mail them proactively to check whether the product is working properly or whether it met their expectations. This is one of the best ways to exceed customer expectations. Impress them with by being proactive, and you will earn their loyalty for a long time. Also, if there is a problem with the product, you will be able to rectify it immediately before the customer decides to take it to the web.
- Self-help tools – Providing your customers with a knowledge base will help them to resolve a number of issues themselves. They can look up your website to find a suitable solution. For example, an app to troubleshoot when the service is down or the option to check the status of their order.
- Live chat – A lot of people take advantage of the live chat support when they shop online. If they have a query about a particular product or service, they can get a clarification right away. Also, for a number of people, especially old people, having someone to help them through the ordering process is just amazing.
- Monitor customer actions and support trends – Check how the customers are using your site. Apps such as Intercom will help you to do this. Take proactive actions based on this. For example, if a customer has created an account but has not purchased so far, you may send an e-mail asking him/her whether any assistance is required with the purchase. You can identify the customers who shop from your site on a regular basis and thank them. The support tickets generated will help you to identify specific problems that pop-up on a regular basis. By fixing this, you will be providing a proactive customer service.
Adopting the proactive way will help your contact center to be in a strong position in this highly competitive world. When it comes to customer service, nowadays, it is all about exceeding customer expectations. Exceed customer expectations, and you increase your sales, and thus your profit.
