We have noticed that many clients of our customer support system disable the functions responsible for collecting and analyzing customer ratings.
In our opinion, at the same time they are deprived of an important tool for testing the hypotheses underlying their KPI system, in fact, separating KPI from real life. And in this article, we want to talk more about this and why ratings are an important element of the customer service process.
KPI system to improve the quality of customer service
We will not dwell in detail on the importance of metrics for the support service as a whole (especially since we have written several articles about support services). They are necessary to understand the situation inside and plan future work.
When it comes to employee motivation systems, major business decisions, or future plans, metrics often cannot be used in isolation. For example, you cannot force employees to thoughtlessly reduce the time it takes to resolve an application. Trying to improve their performance, employees will give unsubscribe replies or quickly redirect requests to others, instead of resolving an issue that they are fully capable of doing on their own. Or they will offer a quick temporary solution instead of eliminating the root cause, which requires more time. As a result, this can lead to a decrease in the quality of resolution of issues, i.e. we will turn the achievement of some initial goal (improving the quality of service) into the pursuit of metrics divorced from reality (improving performance on paper). And you can come up with many similar examples.
An easy way to check if you have fallen into one of these “traps”, i.e. Are you really moving towards improvements or are you just gaining virtual points - ask the clients themselves. Do they like the quality of your service? What problems exist from their point of view? How does the level of service from the customer's point of view change over time? How to change the service process in their opinion?
In addition to choosing the right goals based on metrics, customer interviews can help identify weak points in processes or people involved in their execution. In the end, your employees can comply with all SLA requirements either with a smile on their face or with outright rudeness. Based on internal research alone, you'll never know. Clients will seek help from your colleagues in the market, which cannot be allowed in an era of high competition.
Quality of customer service. How to get evaluations of application completion?
Collecting customer ratings requires some effort. But the costs of this are more than paid off by satisfied and loyal customers.
There are several ways to obtain grades. The simplest is calls from the quality service or dedicated technical support staff after completing work on the application. In addition, modern customer support software systems or systems have tools that allow you to automate this function, for example, asking for customer opinions by email or, for example, via . There are also third-party tools - online surveys, sending SMS messages with an offer in a response message to evaluate the service, etc. However, such products are more typical for the B2C market (we mention them here because they sometimes find their use in B2B).
What level of detail is required for Customer Service assessments?
For a company, the detail of the assessment is certainly important. It best helps to identify “weak” areas. But satisfied and neutral clients will most likely simply not respond to detailed surveys. Only a person truly dissatisfied with the quality of service is willing to spend 15-20 minutes conveying his opinion to management in all shades. Collecting only negative ratings is better than nothing, but it still does not provide an objective picture.
Therefore, the optimal way is to create such conditions for the client (including using the customer support system) so that he can evaluate the service in 1-2 clicks. This way there is a chance to encourage comments even from those from whose point of view the level of service fully meets their expectations.
Also, the client should not be confused by the complexity of the assessment itself. There is no need to ask him to choose the most suitable of 20 options for describing the service in 1 click. This, again, is too labor-intensive. Bad practice and space for free comment - few people are ready to formulate their impressions in writing. Sometimes even ratings from 1 to 5 are too many. Ask yourself: is it really so important for the development of the company whether the client chooses 4 or 5? Is this difference in points taken into account somewhere? Perhaps it would be easier to leave 2 or 3 values: bad, neutral, good?
Without an “outside” assessment, you can get too carried away with putting things in order not in the real customer support department, but in its fictitious model. Therefore, we recommend including this module in Okdesk and spending some resources on filling it with reviews from real customers.
Okdesk is a system for improving the quality of customer service and automating the customer service process. Mobile application, telegram bot and many important functions
Business cannot exist without customers, but despite this, many companies do not pay enough attention to the level of satisfaction of their customers. According to the American Express Global Customer Service Barometer survey, 33% of respondents believe that companies are paying less attention to customer service. 46% believe that companies make little effort to retain customers. Whereas only 25% of companies are confident in their business, and 10% of companies may not care about it at all. And only 2% of respondents believe that the level of service exceeds customer expectations. The survey also found that 73% of consumers are willing to pay an average of 12% more if a company provides excellent service and guarantees good service.
The level of consumer demands, largely thanks to the Internet, is constantly growing. Consumers are drawn to companies that invest in quality service to retain loyal customers and provide them with the highest level of service. Many companies fail in the service sector by failing to adapt to a new market. What can start-up companies do to ensure a first-class level of service? Here are six tips to make your customers smile again.
1. Collect information. How well do you know your customers? One of the most simple ways To improve your service level is to collect data about your customers. The company must create at least a basic database of customers and collect information about their purchases. Communicating with consumers in a subtle way is a great way to ensure good service. Finding out customer email addresses and tracking their shopping activity is quite easy, and customers will appreciate the information that you have started the discount season.
2. Empower your staff. Not all customers like being referred to a senior manager when they complain about service. They would rather resolve this issue with the person serving them, so consider empowering your staff. Employees may also lose confidence in themselves if they feel they are unable to address customer complaints. How you respond to a customer's first complaint can determine your future relationship with him.
3. Answer emails. Customers who send their questions, complaints, and suggestions via email have to wait weeks for a response, and sometimes receive no response at all. The company needs to deal with incoming email on a daily basis. You can also talk to your clients in person or over the phone. At the same time, the company needs to find a way to reduce the wait time for a consultant to respond, or at least provide the subscriber with the opportunity to leave a message. Make sure your website includes contact phone numbers so consumers can reach you.
4. Don't forget about training. In difficult times, many companies refuse additional staff training. Meanwhile, training allows you to improve the level of service. Hold daily short meetings where you give your employees instructions on how to improve service. You can organize customer feedback to evaluate the performance of your staff. And if any employee receives a low rating, talk to them and, if necessary, send them to training.
5. Use new technologies. Many companies do not use new technologies to improve customer service. Thus, despite the rapid growth of mobile web technology, 74% of sites do not have mobile versions. Investments in technology will allow the company to provide a seamless customer experience across all business channels. For example, a client who calls you will not have to repeat again the information that he has already left on the site.
6. Hire the right people. As cliché as it sounds, hiring the right people is extremely important. Think about who you would trust to represent your company and whether the hired employees will be able to conduct business in an appropriate manner. You can hire a part-time employee and provide him with training opportunities, but this does not mean that you should be satisfied with whoever shows up for an interview. Find a way to engage your employees so that they work with interest and attract new clients.
Based on materials
Quite often, a business, wanting to save on an employee’s salary, does not form a quality department, shifting its functions to non-core specialists. As a result, the study of customer opinions about the level of quality of the services or goods provided, if studied at all, is done on a residual basis. As a result, the company loses both customers and income due to possible unresolved problems. Daria Gatina, executive director of ATManagement Group, talks about the functions of the quality department and shares her professional experience in this area
All companies have sales departments, accounting departments and production of a product or provision of a service. But few of the entrepreneurs initial stage is thinking about creating a quality department. Most often, part of the functions of this area is assigned to the sales manager or logistician, or even better, to the director himself.
But in order to improve the service, it is necessary for the company to have this division functioning.
The quality department has two main tasks:
- work to improve the quality of employee work;
- work to improve the quality of the product/goods/services that the company produces/sells/provides.
And one of the key tools that can help achieve these goals is conducting surveys to get feedback from your customers.
That is why it is necessary for the company to have an employee who conducts quality surveys. Their goal is to understand whether the client is satisfied with everything in terms of service and maintenance. When designing a survey, it is important to remember that the questions should never be in a sales nature. A quality survey only finds out whether the client is satisfied with everything and whether there is anything that could be improved in the work of your company: from the cleanliness of the premises, the manner of communication of employees - to the quality of the product itself and the timing of service or delivery. They should be interested in whether there is anything that clients would like to change.
One of our clients had a situation where quality surveys saved him millions of rubles. This client has a chain of fitness centers. And he decided to improve the level of service. In his opinion, the fitness center urgently needed to change locker rooms. It seemed that updating the lockers would increase customer loyalty and, as a result, increase revenue.
We learned about his decision, calculated how many millions such a solution would cost, and suggested that the owner, before purchasing new locker rooms, conduct a survey of visitors and ask what, in their opinion, needs to be improved or changed. As a result, the survey showed that clients of the fitness room were not satisfied with the water pressure in the shower, it was weak and this provided them with some discomfort.
As a result, it was the correction of this shortcoming that led to an increase in the loyalty of the customers themselves. And imagine what costs the owner managed to avoid!
Therefore, it is necessary to survey customers immediately after purchasing the product - to receive feedback. So to speak, work ahead. It is at this point that the client can tell you very important information. And you need to not only conduct such a survey, it is important to work with the dissatisfaction that the client may express. Imagine that the delivery of a cargo to a client was delayed - and during the survey this was revealed. Now you need to not only listen to the client, but also quickly correct this problem.
An employee of the quality department must understand that when conducting such a survey, his task is to make sure that the client shares without secrets what he is not satisfied with.
The only reason why a company does not hire an employee in the quality department is the desire to save money on it. wages. But in the end, we lose much more from dissatisfied customers.
Customer service – headache any manager, especially if he works in the service sector. The auto repair business is several times more complex than any other service business. Do the math for yourself: every month a service station performs about 1,000 different jobs, dealing with different brands, models of cars, and spare parts from different manufacturers. And if we're talking about about 5, 10, 100 car services?
Unlike other franchises, Vilgud guarantees quality of service during every visit to any car service center in the network - from Irkutsk to Astana. We provide a 2-year warranty on our work and are responsible for meeting deadlines.
Read about our approaches to customer service in this article.
Strict control of compliance with standards
To ensure that employees do not deceive clients, miss deadlines or do nothing, we have developed and implemented the Wilgood IS IT platform, which controls their actions. First, we analyzed who was doing what and how. Then they prescribed step-by-step algorithms actions in the program, set the time within which the steps should be completed. All personnel were required to work only within the framework of the program. When they work according to the algorithm and are registered in the system, they receive a bonus, which is a significant part of their monthly earnings. When they deviate from the algorithm, the premium falls.
Before implementing the software, it was difficult for us to control every action of our employees, so they could install old parts, fulfill orders past the cash register, and serve “their” clients, and not those who had signed up. Now actions are tightly controlled by the program. This increased the quality and speed of employee work.
The Wilgood IS smart IT system controls all employee actions and ensures high labor efficiency. Employees work accurately and on time, and customers receive their cars on time.
The client is the main controller
After repairs, our operators always call customers and ask if everything is fine. We clarify whether the old part was returned to the client in a package with a barcode. It is very important. The client must be sure that he has installed new part, so he must return the old one. We strictly monitor this. If the technician does not return the part, the operator records the information in the program, and it automatically deducts part of the premium from him.
24 hours to solve the problem
If the client is not satisfied with something else, the operator transmits this information to the car service where the client was served. The car service has only 24 hours to sort out the issue. If the problem is not solved within 24 hours, then access to the Wilgood IS program is blocked, and without it, the entire work of the service station stops: it accepts and fulfills orders.
The service is restored only after the client’s complaint has been successfully resolved. Reputation is important to us; we cannot ignore consumer dissatisfaction, which is why we put car services in such strict conditions.
To relieve tension, the car service manager can offer the client free additional services, such as a car wash, or a discount on the next service.
Accuracy and Honesty
All agreements with the client at Vilgud car services are necessarily fulfilled. But we make promises based on hard data. When we sign up a primary client for service, we ask a lot of questions to determine as accurately as possible what repairs will be needed and how long it will take. We enter all the data into the Wilgood IS IT program, it automatically calculates the amount and time for issuing the car.
The client receives an SMS message with the order number, the name and contacts of the technician, and the date and time the car is ready.
The key point is that the amount agreed upon in advance must necessarily coincide with the final cost. It is not always possible to anticipate all the procedures that will be required. Sometimes the amount increases. But we understand that finding a new client is more expensive. The main thing is to save the agreed amount, so we take risks and make discounts. We pay the costs out of our own pocket.
If the delivery of the car is delayed because we had to do in-depth diagnostics instead of the usual ones, we be sure to agree on new terms with the client in advance. But this rarely happens, because the IT program takes into account many parameters and predicts in 90% of cases real time service execution accurate to the minute.
Innovation
Using the order number, the client can independently track the execution status on the company’s website or through the mobile application.
The client can also monitor the progress of the repair thanks to the web cameras installed in all car services. The broadcast is available 24 hours a day. If a motorist has not visited us yet, but wants to look at the interior, he can always do this from his computer or mobile phone.
Customer Rewards
In the Wilgood mobile application, the client can not only place an order, track the status, check the order history, but also leave a review. We award him 300 points for his reviews. We also give 50 points if the client makes an appointment the day before the repair and arrives on time.
The cost of one point is 1 ruble. Clients use accumulated bonuses to pay for services.
Lower prices, longer warranty
Everything works for us and there is no downtime, we have increased efficiency and were able to reduce the cost of work. Therefore, prices are on average 30% lower than dealer prices with the same quality of service. Since every employee is interested in working in rubles, we know for sure that he will do his job efficiently, tighten the nuts well, and install everything correctly. Therefore, we confidently provide a 2-year warranty on repairs.
Result
Over more than 2 years, the popularity of the brand has increased 6.8 times: the number of requests for the keyword “Vilgud” in Yandex in December 2014 was 1.18 thousand, in May 2017 – 15 thousand.
Transparency and clarity of the service and strict fulfillment of stated deadlines and promises ensure very high loyalty: 70% of clients come back to us again. According to surveys, two out of three customers recommend service in our car services to their acquaintances and friends.
In the following posts, read how we work with complaints, as well as what steps the client goes through in the service from a request for repairs to the delivery of the car, and how we build processes at each stage so that the client remains satisfied.
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Positive and high-quality customer service can generate real loyalty among your customers, but how can you guarantee that you are doing your best to achieve this?
What people think about your business is vitally important, and accordingly plays a big role in shaping the growth of your business. In this article, we are going to describe five great ways that you can really change your situation for the better.
1. Hire the “right” people
It takes a long time to teach skills, but it is much more difficult to teach a mood. This means that when looking for staff to serve and communicate with clients, you need friendly, open and “customer-oriented”, and these should be key requirements when choosing a candidate? The ability to solve problems and prevent the escalation of any client problems is an excellent quality for any employee . When interviewing candidates, you can ask what they would do in a specific situation to see and understand how they can help you keep customer satisfaction as high as possible.
2. “Get the whole team on one bus.”
If you want your customer experience to be high and worthy of excellent, make sure your employees treat it as a priority from the very beginning of their employment with the company. Include “customer service standards” as a key part of your training. It should be natural and simple. If someone has chronic difficulties with communication and does not strive to improve the level of customer service, either find him the right seat or simply “throw him off” the bus, otherwise this person will simply constantly prevent you from moving forward.
Employees simply need to know how to communicate with customers, listen to customers, and respond accordingly. If your priority is fast and efficient customer service, think ahead about some explanations in case of service delays and some solutions that you will offer customers in this case.
Above all, if you understand that excellent customer service is the key to business success, why not encourage it. How about prizes and incentives for employees who are the best at it?
3. Give clients the right tools
Sometimes it is not always possible to quickly help a client with some information about your services or working conditions, so it is useful to have important information always at hand.
You can create specific web pages to explain certain points, pages where you can even add a FAQ section to your website that you can fill with answers to customer questions. This helps and saves a lot of time.
4. Focus on the customer
If you think your customers aren't always receiving the best service, it may be worth creating a simple customer service plan and process that will help make your business more focused on their needs and expectations.
List for yourself what clients want from you. Using this list, think about what would be necessary to provide the best customer service in each situation. Answer the question - what do you think is the best?
Draw conclusions and make real decisions to change processes, training schemes, internal rules and procedures.
5. Be active
Instead of simply reacting to something that doesn't quite go according to plan, how about identifying customer problems before they arise or become real?
To make sure you're doing it right, all you really need to do is ask your customers. You may even want to ask them a follow-up question or two about what improvements could be made to your service or perhaps something your customers are missing. Draw conclusions and make changes to your internal processes and review your training plan.
Always respond quickly and adequately to messages on social networks; very often clients leave feedback here.
Conclusion: if other people see that you strive for improvement, care about clients, and are also a professional in your field, your business is guaranteed to grow in the coming years and everyone will recommend you.
