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These days, when choosing or purchasing products or services, clients tend to identify the most appropriate platform to use. The recent ATG study reveals that 30% of consumers use three or more customer service channels for a single transaction. They consistently choose the ones where they feel they can get a good customer service experience, an essential factor in their buying decision-making.
To boost your sales, you must always be there for your customers. They commonly turn to customer support if they cannot locate a store, have inquiries, or want someone to help them with their purchases. Failing to be there when they need you may result in lost sales. With this, you might consider utilizing various channels since not every client can access a specific platform. It genuinely benefits your business as offering customers several options may widen your reach.
What are Customer Service Channels?
Before we tackle different customer service channels, let us get a clear understanding of what these are.
A business uses Customer service channels to interact with its end users. These include but are not limited to phone, email, live chat, social media, community forums, and many more.
Businesses that bring clients an exceptional experience must utilize multiple customer service channels. People seek convenience, and companies should offer an omnichannel service.
Effective Customer Service Channels
If you are wondering if omnichannel support is worth it, then this is probably the time to learn more about it. Research shows that reducing customer effort is essential to achieving loyalty. This means that an ideal customer care channel must be practical and accessible. Now, let’s look at each of the following customer service channels.
Phone
Are you talking about the most common customer service channel? Then you might have thought of a phone answering. This platform has been around for many years. While some people think of it as old-fashioned compared to other customer contact channels, customers still expect every business to have it, which is still considered one of the most effective tools. It is for this reason that companies still use it.
The fact is that 68% of all support interactions still account for phones. Why? Because customers commonly prefer to get a speedy and convenient way to communicate. They want immediate answers once they have something in mind about your products or services. In addition, talking through phone calls is also great, as some queries can get more complex, which is why voice interaction is ideal. It is almost like talking to a salesperson face to face.
However, the only issue is when a customer calls during peak hours. They will be put on hold due to call traffic. And we know that some customers do not have the luxury of time to wait for long.
Email is another common customer service channel that has been around for many years. It has been of great help to businesses worldwide, considering that 2.6 billion people use email software every day, with a 6% growth per year.
91% of consumers use email daily to contact brands and companies. Many prefer this tool because they consider it a more formal channel than the others. It is also considered a non-negotiable channel for most organizations.
The only downside of this, which most people are familiar with, is that customers immediately expect a response when they send inquiries. Yet email response sometimes slows down the interaction for about 8 hours per email. The slow response time can cause frustration to some.
Live Chat
As a business owner, you must be aware of consumer differences. Not everyone is comfortable talking through the phone or has access to other excellent customer service channels. These are the main reasons why you need to provide them with options to choose from.
In this digital age, many consumers expect a live chat feature on your website. It has been growing massively as a support channel, especially for those doing their business online. 44% of online consumers say that having questions answered immediately by a live person while making an online purchase is one of the most important features a site can offer. Plus, point for live chat as customers can multitask while talking to a service agent.
However, since many users use mobiles, live chat functionality becomes limited and is less natural than on the computer.
Social Networks
As people are now spending a lot of time on social media, especially during their free time, social media platforms have become an ideal customer service channel aside from being a great marketing, advertising, and market research tool. Although it still depends on who your customers are, we are sure that they visit social networks daily.
The key here is to identify the social media platform your target market commonly uses. This way, it will be easier for you to deliver exceptional customer support. This can certainly boost your sales when done correctly.
A study by Gartner found that companies that do not utilize social media for their support strategy may get an average churn rate of 15% higher than the brands that do.
Community Forums
Never forget that a lot of your customers share the same interest. You might find shared communities online where many of your clients are active. Utilizing these forums can help boost your business, as people love connecting with others with the same values, interests, and more.
These forums are beneficial to your business. Having customers help each other regarding your products or services can increase the trust rate of your brand. It can also help decrease the number of clients you need to assist as their questions and other concerns were already answered by another user. It helps you to have a more cost-efficient process. Its format allows brands to offer customer service on a personalized scale.
Self-Service Knowledge Base
A knowledge base customer service channel offers a lot of benefits to businesses. More than being a cost-effective and convenient option, it also allows you to provide 24/7 essential support to your clients.
Answering frequently asked questions can help you operate even with a small customer support team. According to Forrester, 67% of end-users used online self-service support to get their needed answers.
However, remember that the knowledge base is only an extension of your customer service channel, not a replacement for live customer support. Your end-users still need an actual person to help them sometimes, as the knowledge base doesn’t work well with complex concerns.
On-Page Support Widget
The on-page support widget turns your website into an instant customer service channel. While browsing on your site, the consumers can submit questions, concerns, and other inquiries, which will be directed through email.
Some well-integrated widgets also make use of the knowledge base content. Here, the clients can get instant access to the frequently asked questions without navigating them.
Customers prefer to get immediate solutions or answers to their concerns. As a business owner, you are responsible for providing it to them, especially if you want your business to thrive.
With all these customer service channels available to keep in touch with your clients and build better customer relationships, you might wonder which is best. Remember that each business is unique from the others. The answer is simple — go where your customers are. However, it is best to combine different tools based on the needs and expectations of your consumers. By doing it, you can get a high customer satisfaction rate. You can also hire a third-party company to help you achieve your goal. They have a set of processes and technology infrastructure to offer your required platforms.
