Customers are blessed with a wide range of options these days. There are so many competitors on the market that it is easy for them to find a supplier that offers the best customer experience. People choose brands that offer both quality products and top-notch user experience. For example, by offering unique features or professional customer support that can anticipate their pains and desires.
In this post, we will explore:
- proactive customer support
- Advantages of dedicated customer service
- the difference between proactive and reactive customer service
- the ten most effective tools for building proactive customer service.
What is proactive customer support?
Proactive customer service is one that anticipates users' problems or needs before they are even aware of them. It sends automatic alerts when any mistakes arise or updates when the order is shipped. Proactive support also tells users about new services or goods they may like based on their purchase history and preferences. It also searches for ways to boost user experience. For example, by upgrading the passenger's seat or sending a birthday greeting with discounts.
Proactive vs Reactive customer service
Proactive customer support is very different from reactive or traditional customer service models. Firstly, it offers solutions to issues that haven't yet occurred. Second, it solves already existing problems. Below, you can find an illustrative comparison of both customer service types.
Reactive customer service:
- concentrates on complaints
- is provided mainly by email
- is often outsourced to third-party call centres
- can have a long waiting time
- doesn't act unless users ask for help.
Proactive customer service:
- follows a user-centric methodology
- is scalable
- focuses on live and technological support channels like an IVR (interactive voice response), social media, and chatbots
- offers personalised solutions
- is used to identify user's pain points
- reduces the outflow of customers
- saves time and reduces negative customer experiences
Proactive customer support advantages
Switching from reactive to proactive customer service is not easy but it is necessary because it offers a number of advantages such as:
- Solid reputation. Quality customer support turns 86% of one-time customers into regular clients and motivates them to spread the word.
- Higher retention rates. Proactive customer support can increase customer retention and customer loyalty. It also reduces costs because keeping regular customers is cheaper than acquiring new ones.
- Less workload. The support team has fewer calls and tickets to solve because a proactive approach anticipates problems so they don't pile up.
- Saves customers' time. Reaching buyers before they're even aware of a problem saves them time and energy. And, you can be sure they'll be grateful for that.
- Better decision-making. Monitoring customers' activities and understanding their behaviours helps you make more conscious and personalised decisions.
The above benefits will help you rise above your competitors and build strong and long-lasting relationships with users.
How to implement proactive customer support
Now you know what proactive customer service is and why you should make it a part of your business, we have made a list of the ten most viable strategies that your business can start using today.
1. Know your customers
This advice might sound obvious but it is the grounds on which you can build proactive support. To deliver outstanding results, you should know what problems, worries, and challenges your customers have. You can get to know them better in many ways. Start by building a buyer persona – age, gender, location, occupation, and hobbies of your potential audience. To go even further, you can use more personalised tools:
- research people who mention your company on social media to understand their background
- analyse customer complaints to identify common issues
- read customer comments on social media, dedicated forums and websites
Asking customers about themselves and their challenges and concerns shows people that you care and are not a soulless business machine.
2. Collect feedback
One of the best ways to improve proactive customer support is to collect consumer reviews. Too many companies think they know what their clients need and want, so don't bother collecting feedback. That is a big mistake! Avoid this trap by sending out surveys and asking people what they feel. Questionnaires are a valuable source of information that help to highlight aspects of your company that should be improved. Here are some of the questions you may ask:
- Did you like shopping on our website?
- What was the best part of your experience?
- What things could be improved?
If you don't have the time to collect information manually, you can hire third-party companies or purchase dedicated software that can send out and analyse your survey results based on your criteria.
3. Knowledge base and self-service
Your knowledge base should contain information about your enterprise or website, its services and products, policies, and other important topics. It might consist of FAQs, tutorials, articles, and guidelines on how users can solve problems on their own. You may be surprised but knowledge bases are a form of proactive customer service because they foresee possible problems and give users the information needed to solve those issues sooner than they appear.
Before contacting a support team, most customers will try to solve problems on their own. Thus, creating self-service knowledge base is a great way to improve customer support and offer a top-notch user experience. Larger businesses may invest in self-service portals where the information is detailed and structured to make the search easy and descriptive.
4. Be honest
Our next advice can be used by all types of customer services because nothing creates a more trusting relationship than honesty. Customers want genuine connections with companies they buy from, so cultivating honesty and transparency is a great way to grow a proactive support team. Here is what you can start doing:
- inform users about a problem as soon as it happens and apologise before they contact you for an explanation
- offer a discount or money return if an apology is not enough
- give regular updates and tell customers what you do to solve their problems
- assure them that it won't happen again
- check that users know how to contact your support if they have any questions
Hiding or ignoring a problem is not the right way to go. Eventually, the truth will come out and you will lose the loyalty and trust of your customers. If any issue occurs, be one step ahead and reach out before customers even realise that something is wrong.
5. "Products you may like" feature
Most online businesses successfully implement the recommendation feature without knowing it is a proactive customer service strategy. You advise users on what will solve their potential problems or improve their lives. Instead of spending time and nerves searching for new services or goods, you let them know what they might need.
Nowadays, there are many tools and programs that offer personalised recommendations based on computer algorithms. Users get proposals based on their purchase history and search engine queries, so feel heard and listened to. Using this simple strategy will not only drive more loyal customers to your business but will also increase revenues because people will make additional purchases.
You can use the recommendation feature not only for products and services but for content the customers might like. For example, related articles and posts or video tutorials based on their interests.
6. Send out newsletters
Proactive customer support uses all types of communication channels to reach their clients. One of the oldest and the most effective ones is email. Sending out newsletters is a great way to keep in touch with your customers and provide them with useful information without distracting them with phone calls. They will read your email when they can and return to the information in the future. Your newsletter may include any valuable content: articles and blog posts, news, product announcements, upcoming events, discounts, etc. Such letters give proactive support and help solve problems that users might face in the future.
There is a whole science behind writing email newsletters because they should be brief, catchy, and follow the right structure. Adding emojis and images where appropriate is also a great way to stand out. There are specialist email writers these days who know how to create catchy and unforgettable newsletters.
7. Use chatbots
Chatbot is a mixture of artificial intelligence and natural language processing that understands users' questions and answers them. This technology is already used by millions of online stores, so implementing them today ensures the success of your customer service tomorrow. You can use chatbots for real-time conversations round-the-clock or when the support team is unavailable. AI bots also greatly reduce the workload and help managers focus on more complex questions or VIP support.
This technology can also give advice and tips. For example, users can ask Sephora's chatbot for product recommendations or for make-up video tutorials. AI technology is also used for understanding purchasing habits better. It helps analyse the information obtained and offers viable solutions for business growth and development. With AI bots, you can also define what issues should be resolved in the first place. This, in turn, helps customer support become more proactive.
8. Train your support team
You will probably agree that long and complex answers to support queries are very annoying. Many users will give up if they find such interaction difficult. Businesses can't afford increased bounce rates, so should do everything they can to have a skilled and knowledgeable support team. Customer service teams with a deep understanding of the company's products can resolve problems more quickly and efficiently. But that's not all. Customer support agents should have a profound understanding of the product and various skills such as multi-tasking, empathy, and the ability to actively listen.
9. Co-browsing
If you want to impress your customers, consider co-browsing. This instrument is not often offered by support teams because businesses find it more energy and time-consuming. But for proactive customer service, it is a must! Especially when there is a problem with using software or filling up registration or purchase forms. The support agent simply connects to the client's personal computer to see what is happening on their screen. Here are some of the advantages of co-browsing:
- problem solving in real time
- improved user experience thanks to personalisation
- issues are easier and faster to fix - as if the manager is sitting beside the customer
- it's a great way to collect reviews and feedback
10. Well-established internal processes
It is difficult to imagine quality customer support without proper synchronisation between different departments. Support agents should have a deep understanding of your services and goods and about possible problems and current developments. Remember that all your teams ; from marketing and sales to developers and SEO - bring value to users, so they need to work together.
To achieve better results, hold offline meetings and team-building sessions. Your employees will build stronger connections and will be more naturally inclined to help each other. If offline meetings are not possible, regularly communicate online to share experiences and knowledge. Send out updates on your vision and future plans – providing the information is not classified.
Copyright 2023. Featured post made possible by Alena Nikitich of Mellow Promo, a marketing agency in Estonia which drives more traffic, generates conversions and increases sales for small to medium-sized businesses.