Keep customers happy with tools for online order fulfillment and self-service. Here’s how you can invest in your customers’ experiences.
The last few years have presented many challenges for businesses: a global pandemic, war and social unrest, and rising inflation. It can be especially challenging for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) with smaller staffs and budgets to manage customer expectations and add value to experiences despite these issues. One option is to invest in digital customer support tools. Here are five additional ways SMBs can leverage technology to improve the small business customer experience:
Give customers a way to find their own answers
Today’s customer loves self-service. Help them help themselves by offering online help articles or a frequently asked questions (FAQ) section to resolve the most common queries. Customers get what they need, when they need it, and self-service help reduces the caseload for your time-strapped team, to boot.
Respond instantly with service bots
Have you tried using a chatbot on your website? It’s a lot easier — and less expensive — than you might think! Chatbots are a great first line of support for the small business customer experience. A good AI service bot can respond to customers instantly, automate routine interactions, and triage straightforward inquiries while directing more complex customer needs to a live agent.
Service bots may be the ultimate way for service-reliant organizations to relieve the pressure on their team. Bots improve employee efficiency and scale service operations — that’s a win-win.
You know the adage about meeting your customers where they already are? They’re already on social media, so why not offer support through those channels?
Providing support via social, SMS, and chat shows your business is all about fulfilling customer needs. Offering support via social empowers customers to move at their own pace, and lays the groundwork for long-lasting relationships.
Let customers know what’s happening in the field
Feed their need to stay informed on the day of a service appointment with real-time updates on expected arrival time, who is coming to help them, and location of the en route mobile worker with appointment assistance. Keeping customers in the know in real time is a great way to leverage technology to build relationships and make customers feel taken care of.
Streamline the curbside pickup experience
Does your retail operation already offer buy online pickup in store/curbside (BOPIS)? Make a good thing even better by making over your curbside pickup experience to improve the customer experience. Coupons that incentivize users to try curbside service, and text updates alerting customers when their orders are ready for pickup, are strategies that have proven successful for retailers with a busy customer base.
Ready to elevate your customer experience? Start a free trial today with Salesforce Starter and discover the power of digital customer support tools.
