6 Steps to Avoiding Customer Service Nightmares

Over the past year I have had run-ins with customer service at various companies. I have experienced both the positive and the negative. In dealing with an insurance company after a tree fell on my home I endured the nightmare that happens when a company doesn’t have a decent process in place. On the other hand, I work daily with a SaaS based software company that has a five-star customer support process. The differences between the two are like night and day. They quickly illustrate an issue we help solve here at Information Mapping: developing efficient, effective customer service policies, procedures and processes.

So what are the keys to developing a good customer service process? View our slide deck or follow the list below to learn more.

Six Steps to Avoiding Customer Service Nightmares

1. Create a clear process Make sure it is obvious how to reach customer service directly via phone, email, chat or instant messaging
2. Provide easy access to a comprehensive Knowledge Base Make sure CSRs can find the information they need quickly and correctly. Build a topic-based, structured knowledge base that is easily navigated by CSRs and customers.
3. Provide a path Make sure CSRs know when to escalate, when to disengage and when to just…listen.
4. Follow Up Send a confirmation email or letter after every contact outlining the problem.
5. Check in Always check back in with the customer to make sure the problem is truly resolved.
6. Case Closed When the problem is thoroughly resolved, ask for feedback.

It is stunning what a difference a positive customer service experience can make in an opinion of a company and a product.

The real keys to this solution are building a comprehensive, easily searched knowledge base, and laying out clear procedures for the customer service team to follow. Developing a knowledge base structured to provide both an overview of topics and accessible detail creates major time savings on customer service calls.

Continuous improvement builds better customer experience. Here at Information Mapping we too are striving to improve our customer service process. Check out our Information Mapping Help Center which we build on daily to help respond to the problems our customers face.