6 smart ways to fine-tune your customer support flow

Have you ever had a bad customer service experience? If you're like most of us, the answer is, unfortunately, yes.

Here's another question; if the support team didn't correct your issue, did you go back to their site and place a second order? For most people, the answer is no. People tend to avoid brands that make their lives more complicated instead of easier.

So it's clear that a strong support flow is essential for long-term growth and customer satisfaction. Despite the clear benefits of this strategy, many young entrepreneurs have a hard time getting this aspect of their business right. Consequently, new companies take longer to gain traction and see substantially fewer sales when compared to their counterparts that focus on creating an intuitive customer support strategy.

I'm here to help.

I've learned a lot about customer service over the last decade, and I thought I would share some of the techniques I learned along the way.

Let's begin!

Create a List of Common Customer Objections

When tweaking our support strategy, the first thing I did was create a list of common customer objections. When someone reaches out to your team, they will have questions, concerns, or general objections to the sales process.

If you can quickly overcome these barriers, you'll have an easier time building rapport with your audience.

I suggest reviewing your customer journey map and identifying areas where customers and prospects will reach out to your team. For instance, you should anticipate users reaching out from your product landing pages. People at this phase of the journey are likely ready to buy, but they have a few questions.

Once you identify these areas, meet with your team to discuss common complaints and inquiries. Make a list of objections and work with your team to develop actionable, value-packed solutions.

Invest in Omnichannel Support

The next topic I want to discuss today is omnichannel support. Many entrepreneurs think a live chat option on their website is enough to run their business. I'm here to tell you that you're selling yourself short if you stick to one platform.

Research shows that, on average, omnichannel marketing (including customer support) results in a 90% boost in customer retention and brand engagement.

You'll want to take advantage of the support options available through social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. An impressive 56% of social media users say they've turned to social media when they needed shopping inspiration. If your team is there to help them with any questions and guide them towards a product that fits their needs, you can expect an increase in sales, brand reach, and customer satisfaction.

There are plenty of helpful tools that you can add to your brand's social media page that will help you create a smooth support experience for your audience.

Use Chatbots to Handle Common Questions

While there's no replacement for a live support team, you can optimize their performance by training automation-powered chatbots to handle basic questions.

Here are a few examples;

• Can I change my password?
• When will my order arrive?
• How long does the warranty last?
• How do I use (feature)?

You can program your chatbot to go through these questions and help customers by providing direct answers or referring them to your FAQ page.

This strategy will give your live chat agents more time to help customers with more complicated or nuanced problems. At the same time, users with common questions can get a response in seconds. It's easy to see how this is a win-win situation for your business and customers.

There's one mistake that I want to point out so you can avoid following the same path in the future. You should make it easy for your audience to get from a chatbot to a live representative. If someone has a complicated problem and can't easily connect with your team, this could damper their experience. We include the option to talk to an agent at the start of each customer service conversation.

Find Small Ways to Reward Loyalty

Another fantastic way to fine-tune your support experience is to find ways to reward your customers for their loyalty. Shoppers appreciate it when support agents go out of their way to offer a special offer or gift.

The key to making this strategy work is to present your offer at the right time. For example, if a customer reaches out to your team from the payment page, they are obviously ready to jump on your offer. After your team answers their question, you may want to consider offering them a 10% discount or a free product upgrade after they buy a basic plan.

Rewarding customer loyalty can have a massive impact on sales and engagement. Users who are connected to brands are more likely to make repeat purchases and tell friends and family about their experience with your company.

Ask Customers to Rate Their Experience

You already know how important it is to get customers to review your product or service. But are you gathering feedback from users after they engage with your customer service team?

The simple act of asking users to share their experiences can help you learn about your audience's specific goals, needs, and pain points. You can use this information to improve virtually every aspect of your business.

There are two main ways to send surveys to your customers. The first way is to simply include a pop-up form after they wrap up the conversation with your team. This technique is great for finding answers to simple questions like, "how would you rate your experience?"

You can also send a questionnaire to subscribers who engaged with your chat team. Odds are, most people who went through the trouble to contact your team also subscribed to your email list.

If you're using social media, both of these techniques will help you learn about your customers and improve over time.

Learn from Your Mistakes

My last piece of advice today is this; acknowledge and learn from your mistakes. You could have the best mentor in the world, a hefty pile of resources, and still get things wrong. Instead of taking negative feedback or observations personally, use them as a growing experience.

Identifying mistakes and correcting them will only make you stronger. I suggest reviewing feedback from all support channels at least once a month. Look for patterns or common sentiments among your visitors. Odds are, there are a few things you can do to improve your customer support channels and your business as a whole.

Follow through on what you learn, and you'll start to hear new thoughts from your customers. I'm sure many people will have good things to say, but some will have negative feedback. Take some time to appreciate what you did right, but don't stop learning from your mistakes.