According to several recent surveys, customer service is getting better, but it’s still not great. It is a fact that only 4% of unhappy customers call or otherwise contact businesses to sound off about negative experiences. Still, to say that most customers are complaint-free just isn’t true. Here’s what customers don’t like, whether they’re taking the time to say something about it or not:
- 68% can’t even find customer service numbers in the first place (i.e., company websites are difficult to navigate or contact pages only have an impersonal email form).
- “74% have been driven batty by disconnected phone calls placed to customer service lines,” according to TIMEmagazine.
- 66% are up in arms about long hold and wait times.
- A staggering 75% of customers are unable to speak to a live person when they need to.
Of course, it is also entirely within businesses’ control to do something about all of these things. Call handling services, for example, increase customer satisfaction without requiring extra equipment and employees on location. Here’s what to expect:
Short Hold Times, Strong Connections, And Live Customer Service Representatives
Live telephone answering services, including small business telephone answering services, may be the solution to all of your problems. If you hire a third party service to tackle customer service or technical support for you, that is their sole responsibility — meaning someone will always be on the other line of the phone when customers call in. Hold times are significantly decreased, thanks to more manpower and trained operators with years of experience.
As for live phone operators, businesses generally have two options. First, you can employ a 24 hour answering service. This may include representatives from different U.S. time zones or countries to accommodate all calls at all hours. The second option is to have live answering services most of the day (from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., or even until 9 p.m.) and have automated services to provide general information (e.g., hours, services, special announcements, etc.) and allow customers to leave detailed messages.
Having great customer service is entirely possible — but you may need a little help to do it. Enlist the help of 24 hour answering services and/or live telephone answering services to answer customer queries as efficiently and thoroughly as you can.
