Proven Leading Practices for Customer Service Operations
Customer Service Best Practices Guide
Learn MoreWork Alongside Company Departments to Standardize Customer Reward Program Strategies
Best Practice (Good)
Work closely (i.e., obtain input from, align business goals, etc.) with all of the departments across the organization (Sales, Marketing, Product Development, etc.) to develop customer incentives and rewards program strategies. Ensure that any relevant information is shared among all of the organization's departments and functions to help them understand how the customer incentives and rewards program works, its implications and how to communicate it to customers who might ask about it. This not only ensures that each of the organization's departments have the opportunity to plan their work according to customer interest levels (i.e., develop relevant inventory plans, order fulfillment strategies, etc.), but it also makes sure that each department can communicate incentives and rewards information with customers without having to transfer the call or contact a better informed employee, all of which reduces customer interaction cycle times while increasing customer satisfaction and interest.
Typical Practice (Bad)
Ensure that the Customer Service Incentives and Rewards function works closely with the Sales and Marketing departments to develop and share customer incentive and reward strategies and policies for use within each of these three departments. This focuses the customer incentives and rewards program primarily on sales and marketing aspects so as to attract the greatest number of potential customers. Use data obtained in the departments involved to more accurately target customers who are likely to purchase the products and services the organization offers.
Benefits:
Siloing the customer incentives and rewards program to focus on sales and marketing disregards the needs and business goals of the business in its entirety. In order to be developed with the best interests of the business and customers in mind, the customer incentives and rewards program needs to be shaped by input from across the organization (HR, IT, Sales, Marketing, Distribution, Production, etc.). This ensures that each of the organization's departments have the proper understanding of how the program works, its implications and how to communicate the program's policies to customers who might ask, all of which increases customer satisfaction by providing optimal information and services (i.e., reducing transfer rates, the need to contact a better informed employee, etc.). Such cooperation between departments, furthermore, provides them with the opportunity to develop business-focused strategies relevant to their own operations (i.e., inventory planning, order fulfillment strategies, etc.) to offset any impact the incentives and rewards program might have once it is launched and starts to bear fruit.
Develop an FAQ Manual that Answers Common Drivers of Call Escalations to Improve Customer Experience
Best Practice (Good)
Enhance or develop customer service representative frequently asked question (FAQ) manuals to provide answers to the top drivers of call escalations based on specific products or services. Ensure that customer service representatives have easy access to FAQ manuals presented within online knowledge bases (online portals, Intranet based resources, etc.) and enforce the transfer of escalated phone calls to an escalation queue to reduce hold time for the customer and prevent confusion within the Incident Management Group.
Typical Practice (Bad)
Provide each customer service representative with a standardized physical checklist that has clear and concise answers to the most frequently asked questions by customers. Ensure that any issues customer service representatives are unable to resolve are quickly escalated to the most available manager, subject-matter expert or escalation representative to ensure efficient and satisfactory issue resolution.
Benefits:
Developing and/or enhancing easily accessible FAQ manuals reduces call handling times and first call resolution rates by providing answers to the top drivers of call escalations based on specific products or services. By distributing the FAQ through online resources (the organization's online portal, Intranet-based resources, etc.), management is able to ensure that customer service representatives are kept up-to-date on escalation trends which greatly reduce the necessity of customer call backs. Furthermore, enforcing the transfer of escalated phone calls to an escalation que reduces hold times for the customer (thereby increasing customer satisfaction) and prevents confusion on the Incident Management Group's floor (i.e., prevents transfers to employees who are unable to resolve the escalated issue in a timely fashion) by ensuring that the most qualified person (can be a manager, subject-matter expert or escalation representative) can access the escalated call when they are available.
Enforce Call Handling Procedure Compliance to Ensure Accurate Measurement of Employee Performance
Best Practice (Good)
Enforce strict call handling procedure compliance among representatives. For instance, enforce the use of a standardized checklist that details when to use each call segmentation, and periodically monitor representatives to make sure they place customers on hold when researching information. Ensure that all procedural guidelines are easily accessible in a centralized online location (typically through the organization's online portal, Intranet-based resources, etc.) so representatives can easily refer back to them when necessary. These practices increase the accuracy of call segment times which reduces call engagement time and allows management to accurately measure representative performance.
Typical Practice (Bad)
Allow Technical & Product Support representatives the leeway to handle calls the way they see fit (i.e., ask questions they feel appropriate to the situation, perform research while the customer is on the line, etc.). This not only gives representatives the ability to own the responsibility associated with handling customer calls, but it also increases customer satisfaction as it allows representatives to fully engage with the customer and do what they feel is appropriate to resolve customer inquiries and issues.
Benefits:
Lax call handling practices, such as silently researching information without placing the caller on hold, create inaccuracies when measuring performance metrics. This prevents management from correctly measuring representative productivity and hampers their ability to perceive who needs extra training and coaching sessions, all of which can directly impact customer satisfaction variabilities. As such, managers should ensure that all procedural guidelines are easily accessible to representatives in a centralized online location (typically through the organization's online portal, Intranet-based resources, etc.) while enforcing the use of a standardized checklist that details when to use each call segmentation, and periodically monitoring them to ensure posted guidelines are being followed. This keeps call segment times accurate, reduces call engagement time and allows management to truly measure the representative's performance capabilities.