10 Tips for keeping loyal customers on side, from Puzzel

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them?
Loyal <strong>customers</strong> are golden but once you’ve found them, how do you keep
Mary Phillips
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PressReleasePing - March 09, 2018 -London, UK - You often hear sales gurus say it’s easier to keep existing
<strong>customers</strong> than to find new ones or they quote the 80/20 rule where 80% of a company’s business comes from 20%
of its customer base. However, in a world with social media where negative viral customer comments can threaten an
organisation’s good reputation, how do you keep your valued <strong>customers</strong> happy and prevent them from straying to the
competition?
Here we share our top <strong>10</strong> tips <strong>for</strong> building and maintaining customer <strong>loyal</strong>ty.
Remember the customer journey - why do <strong>customers</strong> contact you in the first place? It is surprising how few
organisations actually do this exercise. Understanding what motivates <strong>customers</strong> to call, <strong>for</strong> example by
looking out <strong>for</strong> repeat-contact reasons, will give you the in<strong>for</strong>mation you need to re-align your customer service
strategy and introduce a set of relevant, effective tactics.
Drink your own champagne – check out your customer’s end-to-end experience. Try out some mystery
shopping on your own company – phone your helpline, initiate a web chat conversation and see <strong>for</strong> yourself
what works and what doesn’t. Is it easy to navigate around your company website to find the in<strong>for</strong>mation you
need quickly? Introducing this ‘outside-in’ approach to viewing your customer’s journey could be a revelation
and even a wake-up call to kick-start different ways of working within your contact centre
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Don’t ignore the evidence – contact centre agents represent the shop window to your organisation there<strong>for</strong>e
encourage them to speak directly to <strong>customers</strong> to gain first-hand insight into their needs and aspirations? Then
combine it with speech analytics and silent monitoring to capture the voice of the customer and be sure to
follow up on this valuable source of business intelligence. What can you learn from individual customer
interactions, good and bad, and what can be done to improve the overall customer experience?
Never underestimate the impact of digital trans<strong>for</strong>mation – it’s a fact that those in the 18-34 age bracket
area, tomorrow’s super-spenders, are more likely to quit a brand through a poor service experience. What is
more, it is this same Millennial generation who turn to social media when they are not happy with 47% of 18-34
year-olds admitting to using social media to complain compared with 12% in the 55+ age group![i]
It’s time to nurture this growing consumer segment who also expect to shop in a mobile, self-serve
environment. Take a look at your offering on a smartphone or tablet – is it mobile responsive and are there
features that accelerate and enhance the overall experience such as click to call <strong>for</strong> assistance?
Quality and empowerment - give agents the right tools and authority to handle <strong>customers</strong> based on their own
judgment. Standard interfaces to major CRM applications mean agents have the right in<strong>for</strong>mation at their
fingertips to deliver the quality of service that <strong>customers</strong> deserve and improve customer <strong>loyal</strong>ty.
Reduce repetition - <strong>customers</strong> find having to repeat themselves one of the biggest bugbears in contact
centres, whatever the communication channel. Keeping repetition to a minimum by enabling an agent to see a
customer’s account history, without having to switch between screens, allows them to deal with enquiries
effectively and without delay. Maximising cloud-based integration capabilities builds <strong>loyal</strong>ty from an experience
of easy interactions.
Omni-channel not multi-channel – offer customer service via the customer’s channel of choice but make it a
seamless experience. Giving people the same level of service, whatever the channel, is the true meaning of
omni-channel and it will turn them into <strong>loyal</strong> <strong>customers</strong>.
Make life easy <strong>for</strong> <strong>customers</strong> – leverage technology to reduce customer ef<strong>for</strong>t. Use IVR to automate routine
calls such as bank balance look-ups, payment of utility bills, or purchasing theatre tickets at a time to suit the
customer. Why not publish answers to the most frequently asked questions on your company website or
provide a Web Chat facility <strong>for</strong> straight<strong>for</strong>ward enquiries?
Review your social customer service – there’s no getting away from it, social media is here to stay. Turn
this to your advantage by engaging proactively via social media. Create a plat<strong>for</strong>m <strong>for</strong> <strong>customers</strong> to exchange
ideas, feedback and knowledge. This type of social <strong>for</strong>um will foster a spirit of inclusivity and encourage
learning across your customer base. Take it one step further by rewarding ‘super users’ who share valuable
intelligence to help the broader community.
Make <strong>customers</strong> feel special – last but not least, all <strong>customers</strong> like to feel valued. Encourage agents to
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follow up interactions with personalised calls or emails to make <strong>customers</strong> feel special. Why not take
advantage of routing technology, based on CRM data, to prioritise VIP <strong>customers</strong>? Both tactics will guarantee
increased satisfaction ratings and promote longer-term <strong>loyal</strong>ty.
You might find that you do all things already but why not translate them into a customer service manual, that can be
shared with the rest of the organisation to stimulate shared learning and ensure best-practice procedures? It’s also a
good opportunity to assess the underlying technology that underpins your contact centre operation, to boost
efficiencies and customer satisfaction and keep those happy <strong>customers</strong> coming back <strong>for</strong> more.
Colin Hay, is VP Sales at Puzzel UK
[i] Microsoft’s 2016 ‘Global State of Customer Service’
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Category: Technology
Region: Europe
Tags (meta-keywords): contact centre technology, cloud solutions, call centre software
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