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The Importance of Customer Service and How to Improve It

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How to Improve Customer Service: 20 Essential Tips

Did you know that a customer’s experience with your employees is the <a href="https://www.podium.com/guides/2021-state-of-reviews/">leading</a> motivation for them to leave a negative review or a positive review? If that’s new information, this article is for you. 
<h1>The Importance of Customer Service and How to Improve It</h1>
Many businesses have no idea just how important customer service is. It’s so much more than smiles and niceties. Customer service centers around keeping your word–consistently demonstrating who you are as a brand and as a business, and why customers will have a better experience with you than the next guy.
Read on to learn what good customer service is, why it’s important, and the top 20 tips that will help you level up. 
<h2>What is good customer service?   </h2>
Good customer service involves actively providing outstanding help and support to new and existing customers before, during, and after a sale. It happens across a series of interactions and channels, including all touch points online and in person. It includes replying to customer comments and questions with transparency, increasing convenience, and making the customer experience as seamless and helpful as possible.
Essentially, good customer service really boils down to care. 
<h2>Why is good customer service important?</h2>
Offering consistently outstanding customer service is key to <a href="https://www.podium.com/article/customer-retention-tips/">retaining</a> customers. It’s also key to finding and converting potential customers. 
When consumers leave reviews, having a negative experience with an employee is the <a href="https://www.podium.com/guides/2021-state-of-reviews/">leading</a> motivation to leave a negative review. In fact, 85% of consumers say employee attitude is the most likely motivation for them to leave a business a one-star review. However, research shows that the reverse is also true. Having a positive experience with employees is also the leading motivation to leave a positive review. 
The takeaway? Customer service can quite literally make or break your business. It can lead to your collection of 200 five-star reviews that catapult you to the top of the Google Map Pack of your accumulation of several one-star reviews that will trap you in the land of mediocrity. 
<h2>How to Improve Customer Service: 20 Essential Tips</h2>
So, how do you actually improve your customer service in ways that count? Here are 20 of our favorite tips to <a href="https://www.podium.com/article/how-to-deliver-proactive-customer-service/">deliver</a> consistently outstanding customer service that will take your customers’ breath away <a href="https://www.podium.com/article/re-engage-past-customers/">every time</a>. 
<h3>1. Know your customers.</h3>
Take the time to understand what questions they’re going to ask. Anticipate possible issues or “pain points” they may come across with your service or product. A company that thoroughly understands how their customer is interacting with them is a company that offers excellent service. 
<h3>2. Ask for customer feedback.</h3>
No matter how incredible your staff is, you’ll never be able to anticipate every customer service issue. And that’s okay. The key is to make sure you’re giving customers a consistent and easy way to provide customer <a href="https://www.podium.com/article/customer-feedback-examples/">feedback</a>. This can include sending surveys after service, asking for verbal feedback after a service, or creating a specific forum where customers can voice opinions. A reviews tool like <a href="https://www.podium.com/reviews/">this one</a> allows you to automate personalized review invites to ensure you never miss an opportunity. 
<h3>3. Keep your employees happy.</h3>
You’ve heard of “happy wife happy life.” But have you heard “happy staff, (insert something that rhymes with staff)”? You definitely should have, because as anyone can see from mega titans such as Chick-Fil-A, happy employees make for the best customer service. To prioritize your employees, prioritize their work-life balance. Allow for flexible schedules, listen to their feedback and try to implement it, establish a good <a href="https://www.podium.com/article/creating-a-positive-work-environment/">company culture</a>, reward hard work and success, offer great benefits, and encourage time away to recharge.  
<h3>4. Own your mistakes.</h3>
Admitting and taking ownership of your mistakes, even ones your customers haven’t discovered yet, can go a long way in establishing long-lasting trust and restoring confidence with your customers. Additionally, it puts you in control of the situation, allowing you to shape the narrative and resolve the problem. Owning your mistakes demonstrates strong leadership and a reassuring sense of accountability in a marketplace where many customers worry they are just another number or being used for their resources. 
<h3>5. Respond to reviews.</h3>
Over <a href="https://www.podium.com/guides/2021-state-of-reviews/">55%</a> of consumers say a business’s responses to reviews have changed their perspective on the business. Your responses to the reviews you receive and your management of them offer key insights into how responsive, considerate, and responsible you are–and how much you actually care about your customers. Take the time to respond to all reviews, good and bad. Even if it’s a short statement, emoji, or promise to contact personally, a response of any kind goes a long way. 
<h3>6. Engage regularly.</h3>
When you post something awesome on social media, your work is only halfway done. The backswing involves engaging regularly–replying to comments customers make on your posts, posts they create themselves, and questions or comments they send into the ether. This shows your customers that you’re listening and humanizes your brand significantly, increasing customer satisfaction. 
<h3>7. Offer all the options.</h3>
You heard that right. When it comes to communication, your clients should be able to receive customer support:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">In-person</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Via social media</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Via email</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Via phone and video chat</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Via text</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Via live chat</li>
</ul>
Taking an omnichannel approach ensures that your customers are able to contact you in the way that is most comfortable and convenient for them. Each of your clients is different and deserves to be met exactly where they are, whether online or in-store. 
<h3>8. Make check-out seamless.</h3>
One of the most frustrating points of the customer journey for many customers is check-out. In fact, <a href="https://www.podium.com/state-of-payments/">one in four</a> customers will actually abandon a transaction with a local business if their preferred payment methods aren’t offered. To avoid this pitfall and establish yourself as the business that makes payment fast and easy, offer as many payment options as possible, including Apple Pay, card, cash, phone, and even text-to-pay (a feature that allows you to send a secure link customers can click to pay). 
<h3>9. Use text.</h3>
Did you know that text has a <a href="https://www.podium.com/guides/ultimate-guide-to-sms-marketing/">209%</a> higher response rate than phone, email, or Facebook? Over 65% of consumers think messaging makes working with local businesses more convenient, and consumers are twice as likely (1.8x) to prefer texting to any other communication method. Utilizing text to conduct your operations can significantly increase convenience and personalization for your customers, leading to you becoming the new go-to.
<h3>10. Establish a stellar rewards program.</h3>
Not to obsess over Chick-Fil-A, but there’s a reason thousands of people find themselves flocking to Chick-Fil-A restaurants to meet their point quota at the end of the year. And it’s not just the nuggets. Chick-Fil-A offers an outstanding, super generous rewards system that clearly prioritizes the advantage of its customers. Establish a rewards program that gives your customers a super boost and demonstrates how much you prioritize customer loyalty. 
<h3>11. Communicate clearly.</h3>
If your customer service team is small or you serve a huge demographic, it can be very difficult to keep up with customer communications and get back to everyone within a reasonable timeframe. However, clear and effective communication isn’t so much about time as it is about transparency. Whatever your most reasonable response time frame is, let customers know when you’re going to get back to them.
Hey there! Thanks for texting Belview Tire. We’re out of office right now snoozing, but will respond as soon as we open in the morning!
<h3>12. Offer stellar live chat support.</h3>
We’ve all seen the little icon at the bottom right of a home page and clicked it only to get caught in a bizarre, looping, frustrating conversation with a bot or an individual who clearly has no idea what they’re talking about. But the thing is, chat support has become an expectation, and almost <a href="https://thrivemyway.com/live-chat-stats/">two-thirds</a> of your customers expect an immediate response when using it. How can you cater? A tool such as <a href="https://www.podium.com/webchat/">Webchat</a> allows you to provide excellent live chat support via text, allowing customers to submit information and begin a conversation that can move asynchronously between their desktop and phone. 
<h3>13. Practice active listening.</h3>
Active listening helps your customers to feel heard. Train your staff to clarify, rephrase, and use informed questions to really understand what your customers are trying to say. Also teach them how to empathize and reflect with helpful phrases such as, “I can see why you feel jipped” or “That must have been frustrating.” Often, what a customer needs most is to know that someone at your company understands them and validates their experience. 
<h3>14. Follow-up.</h3>
Always. With everything! Distinguish yourself by being the team that follows up after you resolve an issue after a customer asks you a question you don’t yet know the answer to, after a customer verbally or digitally expresses a concern, etc. Sending a quick text or feedback survey is an easy way to let customers know you’re in their corner. 
<h3>15. Make it personal</h3>
As you already know, personalization is the name of the game. And there are a lot of ways to incorporate it successfully–send personalized birthday congratulations, offer special discounts for anniversaries, send thank-you cards, implement generous reward systems, etc. Make sure your campaigns and communications all address customers by name and take into account their history with you. 
<h3>16. Offer self-help options.</h3>
We live in a culture <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2022/04/30/why-are-we-in-a-diy-culture-boom-16494377/">obsessed</a> with DIY. Why? Being able to help yourself makes people feel empowered and motivated. Great customer service involves this kind of empowerment, especially when your staff is off the clock. Create a blog section on your website that addresses issues or questions that have been brought up in the past, or ones you might anticipate. Provide fun, interactive videos and whitepapers that help your customers to help themselves or get the most out of your service/product. 
<h3>17. Stand behind your products. </h3>
One reason LASKI Plus is so successful across the country is because they offer a lifetime guarantee–if your surgery doesn’t provide the results you wanted it to or you need a touch up, you’re able to get service free of charge. For the rest of your life. Consider offering a guarantee that shows your customers that you stand behind your services, products, and even your employees. 
<h3>18. Have a little fun.</h3>
It may sound trivial, but we promise it’s not. While you’re implementing all of these tips, it’s important to not take yourself too seriously. Your customers want to know that you’re human–it makes you more accessible and appealing. Take the time to take a goofy staff photo for your Instagram at Halloween, or make a funny “how not to use this product” video for your facebook page. This type of low-stakes engagement helps your customers get to know you and establish stronger customer relationships.
<h3>19. Be a part of your community.</h3>
An aspect of having fun involves being actively involved in your community. Sponsor and attend local school and sports events, team up with other local businesses, and volunteer at local food pantries and shelters. Customers want to support local businesses–businesses that play an active role in the perpetuation of good in their community. 
<h3>20. Use the right tools.</h3>
Implementing many of these tips without increasing your stress and your employee’s workload can be tricky. However, with the right tools, you can make <a href="https://www.podium.com/article/improve-customer-satisfaction/">phenomenal</a> customer service a breeze for a team of any size starting at any level customer service skills. That’s where we come in. 
<h2>Boost Your Customer Service With Podium</h2>
Podium helps over 150,000 local businesses and team members provide consistently excellent customer service by giving them the tools to: 
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="3">Collect and manage customer <a href="https://www.podium.com/reviews/">reviews</a> from multiple channels in one place</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="3">Send <a href="https://www.podium.com/text-marketing/">text messages</a> to customers, enabling them to communicate quickly and easily</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="3">Create a customized <a href="https://www.podium.com/webchat/">chat widget</a> for their website, allowing customers to reach out for support or assistance</li>
</ul>
Try it for <a href="https://www.podium.com/free-trial/">free</a> today and see how Podium can help you do what you do best, better.

The Importance of Customer Service and How to Improve It

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