Simple Customer Service Marketing Tips

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Regardless of whether you sell a product or service, run a solo business or have employees it is essential you have a customer service program in place as part of your marketing program.

 The best customer service programs are simple to understand and implement and are focussed on adding value to your customers. So here are a few tips to consider when implementing a customer service program:

Customer Service Support
It is important that your customers can reach you if they have an enquiry or complaint. Make sure that on all your communication to customers you include your customer service number (preferably toll free or the cost of a local call) and what your customer service hours are.

If you have a website, this is the perfect medium to provide answers to some frequently asked questions (FAQ) by customers. Stipulate how long it will take you to reply to their email eg. within 24 hours and ensure you keep to this.

You should also have your full contact details clearly visible on your website.

Training Employees
A customer service program is of no use unless all of your employees are aware of it, understand it and use it. All employees need to be trained and given the necessary tools to be able to provide the highest level of customer service.

Rewarding Employees
It is important to reward and recognise employees who have shown to provide excellent customer service. An employee of the month or quarter program could be implemented to reward and recognise employees who have provided exceptional customer service.

 Dealing with Customer Complaints and Enquiries
As the old saying goes, the customer is always right. All customer complaints and enquiries need to be handled sensitively, respectfully and in a timely manner.

To deal with a complaint, identify what the problem is and resolve it. A customer will only be satisfied with how you handle their complaint, if you provide a solution that suits them.

Tracking Customer Complaints and Enquiries
Keeping a record of your customer complaints, enquiries and their positive or negative feedback, provides you with valuable information needed to continually improve your customer service and business operations.

Tracking customer feedback also provides you with information needed to reward and recognise your employees.

Key Customers
Your Key customers are the best advocates of your business and the strong relationships you build with them can also lead to great referrals for your business. They are also a valuable source of information on how you can improve your business operations.

Continually ask for their feedback and how you can better meet their needs.

Warranties and Guarantees
If you have a high quality product or service you need to stand by it. Determine what your customers expect from your industry with regards to warranties or guarantees and make yours better than your competition.

Your Competition
To finalise your customer service policy, analyse your competitors’ customer service policies and how they differ or are better than your own. What do you like about their customer service and what do you dislike? Do they understand their customers’ needs and do they satisfy these needs better than you?

Standard Industry Policies
Your industry or market may have a standard customer policy i.e. a minimum level of customer service expected from all businesses. Make sure your customer service policy, at the least, includes these standard policies.

 Do you have any customer service marketing tips?