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Gone are the days when customer service was just about being nice and courteous to customers. In the age when customer experience is a differentiator between success and failure, ignoring the importance of fostering positive customer relationships through customer service has become a really bad idea for businesses.

As today’s consumers increasingly demand more from the brands they do business with, customer service has become a critical component of customer experience. Consumers want immediate, efficient, omnichannel, proactive and personalized customer service anytime, anywhere across the channels of their choice. Brands that fail to deliver on these expectations risk destroying customer relations and falling behind the competition. In fact, providing quality customer service is an important part of creating a successful customer experience strategy.

As consumers are more knowledgeable, tech-savvy and demanding than ever, providing quality customer service has become essential to thriving in this consumer-driven economy. However, while 80% of businesses believe they provide excellent customer service, only 8% of customers believe they are actually receiving excellent service. So what stands for outstanding customer service in the eyes of consumers and why is it so vital?

With the abundance and availability of similar products in the market, customer service has emerged as the real brand differentiator for industries in both B2C and B2B sectors. A business that wants to thrive today must focus on delivering customer satisfaction, as the consequences of poor customer service can be truly detrimental.

What is customer service in today’s realm? Business leaders believe that it has gone far beyond simply offering support to customers. It’s a philosophy that must be embraced by everyone in an organization – from top management to frontline employees.

While at first glance customer service and customer support seem quite similar, understanding the nuances between them is fundamental to deliver outstanding customer experience. cu

In the competitive world of business, creating a business that puts customers first is crucial. Consumer power should not be underestimated, and customers will vote with their feet if they don’t feel valued by a brand. Consequently, it pays to create a customer-centric culture that is oriented towards the consumer.

Every business has to focus on growing their customer base, but the quality of those customers is what makes the difference between brands and lovemarks.

Consumer behavior is the study of individuals and businesses and how they select products or services. The purpose of studying consumer behavior is to better understand consumer psychology and motivations that go into selling your business to prospective clients.

In this article, I want to dive deep into the nitty-gritty of customer satisfaction. Why it matters. How to deal with it, and what are some of the best practices with real-life examples.

Customer segmentation – grouping customers together according to certain identifiable characteristics -has been a tried and tested marketing tactic for decades in both B2C and B2B sectors. Without a deep understanding how a company’s best customers are segmented, a business would struggle to effectively allocate its financial and human resources, achieve its marketing goals and remain profitable over the long-term. Customer segmentation can be utilized by almost any business in any industry regardless of the size and whether it sells online or off.

The matter of every business lies in the hands of the customers. The market is competitive, and the expectations of customers are sky-rocketed.

Today’s customer service involves much more than face-to-face conversations or answering phone calls. With the proliferation of digital service channels and the growing demands of tech-savvy consumers, customer service roles have become more challenging.

Learn about ways to improve your customer service empathy.

When it comes to business, one can say that any method of stimulating purchases is fair enough. One of the tools that can be used to stimulate purchase or improve customer retention is using customer incentives.

In today’s digital, hyper-connected world, advocacy represents a huge opportunity for businesses. Cultivating brand advocates or brand ambassadors who are excited to share their positive experiences with their social circles can be a truly powerful low-cost, high-return marketing strategy. Though these are mostly a company’s most enthusiastic, happy and engaged customers, unhappy ones can also become brand advocates – however, turning them into loyal promoters might be challenging.

While it has been reported that up to 60% of customers will stop dealing with a business that they feel is indifferent to them – taking customer appreciation seriously is of great importance. When it comes to customer appreciation strategies, however, many businesses are missing out on many ways to express gratitude to their loyal customers. Thank you emails, in particular, still remain a largely underestimated marketing tactic.

Though sending thank you cards and handwritten thank you notes to customers seems to be the lost art in today’s highly digital business world – the impact it can have on building long-term customer relationships should not be undervalued. Even the most basic quick thank you note following a purchase can go a long way in delighting customers, changing their perception of a brand and making a business stand out from its peers in the industry.

In today’s increasingly competitive global economy business gift giving has become almost critical as any company’s financial stability greatly depends on customer satisfaction and how customers feel they are being treated. John Ruhlin, the author of ‘Giftology: The Art and Science of Using Gifts to Cut Through the Noise, Increase Referrals, and Strengthen Retention’, writes in his book: “Gifts are symbols of the value you place on the relationship. When you act generously, people take notice. They’ll begin to feel appreciated, and in turn, they’ll want to pay it forward. It’s a natural inclination for us to want givers to succeed because we can appreciate the generosity that was shown to us.”

Today’s consumers routinely receive dozens of automated thank you emails from the brands they have relationships with. Most of them either get little notice or appear in trash folders without ever being read. An old-fashioned letter however, has much higher chances to get a customer’s attention and leave a lasting impression. Though thank you letters have become a rare business practice these days, they still remain a powerful marketing and customer retention tactic.

Customer loyalty programs have become an integral part of almost any business’s marketing strategy. When implemented correctly, they are a great way to engage current customers, drive more band loyalty and improve customer retention. Not only do loyalty programs provide tangible benefits for businesses, they have also become an expected part of the consumer experience.

Getting customer service can often be a rather frustrating experience for consumers. While some companies are more customer-friendly and try to go out of their way to deliver outstanding service, others don’t seem to care much about pleasing their clients when it comes to customer support.

Deep down, it’s in human nature to be liked and seek affirmation from others. Unfortunately, as hard as we try, sometimes we have to disagree or refuse to do something and say no to the person on the other side. This can be incredibly difficult for those people that fear backlash.

Communication with customers can make or break a business. On the one hand, the ability to communicate clearly and effectively leads to more satisfied customers, referrals, and better overall online image.

Dealing with an angry customer is no fun. They sit across from you with very hostile body language: the cross their arms, they give you short and curt replies, and they keep sighing as if the mere exercise of talking to you is exhausting. I remember being in such a situation back when I worked at Rush Essay. It’s easy to tell when a customer is getting angry or frustrated, and they typically get like that for a whole host of reasons. Some of those reasons make sense and are, quite frankly, justified. Some of them don’t make any sense at all. All the same, there’s one thing that will always remain true no matter how angry your customer is and for what reason they are angry. That is the fact that the customer is always right.

To apologize or not to apologize? It shouldn’t really be a question. So many people think that when sales reps make a sincere apology to a customer it means that they are admitting their business was at fault. Well, maybe their business or staff really were at fault.

We all know that customer satisfaction is essential to the survival of your business. But how do you find out whether your customers are satisfied or not? It’s very simple – just ask them!

For any and every business out there, collecting feedback from their customers is very important towards their growth. Feedback can help you improve your products/services and the way you treat your customers altogether.

Are you collecting customer feedback in your LiveAgent help desk? That’s great! Now, what do you do with it?

Before you can head into the interview stage, you must first think about what makes good customer service. There’s a big miscommunication going on, because despite 80% of businesses believing they deliver outstanding customer service, only 8% of customers feel like they are receiving it. That’s a massive gap and one that companies need to start bridging.

The Internet made working remotely really easy. 70% of the global workforce works remotely at least once a week, IWG finds.

Customer service and CX conferences are perfect for all customer service professionals who want to network with peers, learn about the latest trends, and get inspired by experts. But what else can customer service conferences give you and how are they related to education? Read this article to find out more.

Every business needs a proper customer support team. It is by far one of the most important departments within any company, even though some owners do not seem to realize that. Needless to say, it is never enough to just have it – you need to know how to successfully operate it.

Many managers think that if a person is on their phone, they must be procrastinating. In many cases, it’s true. But given the technological advancement of mobile phones these days, you can work on it.

Customer service representatives can be found in just about any business in nearly every industry. Their job duties as well as role titles can greatly vary depending on where they work and which responsibilities they are assigned. Since some customer service roles include functions that overlap, and the role titles may range from straightforward to hardly comprehensible, it might be challenging for businesses to choose the names for their service team members. The following article breaks down the most common job roles and titles in customer service and some factors to consider when picking the right name for customer service employees.

In a broad sense, customer service employees are supposed to interact with customers on behalf of an organization through various support channels available to them and resolve their issues quickly and effectively. Depending on the position and company requirements, however, customer service duties, functions and responsibilities may greatly vary – from responding to customer inquiries, troubleshooting tech problems and handling complaints to building strategies for improving the overall customer experience and fostering loyalty.

With the rise of the digital age, more and more people are choosing to work in customer service. It’s a simple but well-paying job that has many benefits for those who are only joining the workforce and career switchers alike. Here’s how to become one of the many customer service workers.

Outstanding customer service naturally starts with exceptional customer service employees. Even with the best tools, systems, finely tuned processes and training in place, a company won’t be able to provide excellent service experience without having the right people in their customer service teams.

Customer service education is a set of activities and procedures that every contact center should have to keep the quality of services and the satisfaction of customers at the highest level. Today, we have so many options for educational tools and platforms to select from, that it is a bad thing not to use them wisely. Let’s see why educational programs are so necessary.

While there are dozens of help desk software solutions available on the market today – ranging from simple tools with basic set of features to advanced systems – the majority of them commonly share three fundamental parts: ticket management, automation suite and analytics. Furthermore, many help desk software vendors provide additional capabilities such as built-in self-service options, multiple contact channels, CRM integration, sophisticated reporting, collaboration tools and more. Choosing the right help desk software depends on your business needs, specific requirements and the budget.

Is there a clear distinction between help desks and service desks? As the information technology field rapidly expanded throughout the early 2000s, and most IT professionals were new to the industry and failed to recognize the difference between the ‘help desk’ and ‘service desk’ – thus, the terms were interchangeable.

Every business has its unique goals, customer service strategy, capabilities, and budget resources. Thus, the requirements for help desk software may significantly vary. While some systems include a basic feature set and may appeal only to a small market segment, others have an impressive array of features and advanced functionality that can be suited to every market’s needs.

Even a help desk or support center needs help from time to time

Every day a huge number of businesses, both large and small, in nearly any industry rely on help desk software to track and solve customer issues. The way help desk is implemented and managed ultimately determines whether an organization is able to effectively handle customer service operations, timely address customer queries and deliver a seamless support experience today’s consumers are looking for.

The success of customer activation and retention depends on how well your user onboarding creates successful users, and how well your support team can deal with tickets from those with setup issues.

High-quality customer service is an essential component of a successful business. It ensures brand loyalty and high customer retention rates, which are instrumental to growth and profitability.

If you work with customers at any point during the sales cycle, you already know customer satisfaction is important to retaining the customer. How do you train your employees to ensure that they deliver a high standard of customer service and ultimately satisfaction for the customer?

Do you think your product or service is the best thing about your company? There is a limit to how far you can go with an excellent product. It is a necessity but not a sufficient condition for long-term success. Why? Because it is just one part of the consumer purchase experience. Nowadays, you need to excel at it all. Only then can you attract and retain customers.

Most of customer support teams will eventually come to a point where the volume of incoming support requests becomes greater than their ability to process them quickly and effectively. Though the never-ending flow of support tickets is generally a good sign indicating that a growing number of people are using a company’s products or services, their satisfaction largely depends on how fast your support agents are able to answer customer inquiries.

In this day and age, consumers seem to be on the lookout for new brands and new ways to communicate with these brands. Ultimately, this creates new ways for potential customers to make all kinds of businesses realize their wants and needs.

Strong customer management and support software are essential to the success of any business.

A ticketing system is a software tool designed to organize and distribute incoming customer support requests. Find out more about the ticketing system here.

A tool that facilitates communication between companies and customers.

A huge number of organizations are still ignoring a ticketing system. This is mainly due to the lack of understanding of what ticketing can do.

Below is an 8-step, ticketing system checklist to assist you in picking up the most appropriate ticket management system for your business.

Here are 12 ticket management tips and best practices you can adopt today to enhance your customer support Learn about best practices now.

Live chat software is a service that enables immediate customer support.

Want to keep your customers delighted? Convenience is the key!

Choosing a live chat tool is necessary for most businesses today

Since live chat has become an increasingly preferred customer service channel for a growing number of online consumers, having a live chat widget on a company website is almost a necessity for businesses of all sizes in nearly any industry. Not only does it allow you to offer quick and timely assistance to customers – when used strategically, it can greatly contribute to increasing engagement, boosting customer satisfaction and improving sales, while also reducing your customer support costs.

Live chat etiquette is a manual of how to be polite in an online conversation

The recent proliferation of self-service technologies has enabled today’s tech-savvy consumers to handle many product/ service issues on their own. In fact, being available 24/7, customer self-service portals are fast becoming a preferred option for a growing number or consumers to interact with companies. The most forward-thinking businesses have already recognized the numerous benefits of offering dedicated self-service portals to their customers.

A well-designed customer self-service portal brings all the company’s self-service options to a single place and allows consumers to easily find answers to most of their product or service questions on their own, at any time. Its functionality mostly depends on the industry and the type of company. The following article describes customer self-service portal features based on the example of LiveAgent’s customer portal software. Other customer portal software solutions available on the market today may include a different set of features and functionalities.

FAQ’s are the most frequently used self-service options available today. When used strategically, a FAQ page can truly add value to consumers.

Did you know that 70% of people prefer to use the company’s website to find an answer rather than sending an email or call? While 51% of customers prefer technical support through a knowledge base. If you don’t have a knowledge base, you’re probably missing a lot of potential customers and opportunities to reduce your churn.

Knowledge base proved to be one of the best ways to provide customer service

Customer forum is a prominent feature offered by many help desk software providers within their self-service portals.

No one knows what works and what doesn’t work regarding your product or service better than your customers themselves.

Despite the increasingly growing popularity of self-service, live chat, and social media support channels; the phone still remains a preferred method of communication with businesses for a considerable number of consumers from all demographics.

Today’s digitally savvy consumers typically use an array of communication channels.

Phone still tops the charts as the most used and preferred method for consumers to reach support teams of companies they engage with. Read how to use it.

When it comes to call centers, there are basically two types – inbound and outbound call centers – both using advanced software to improve the efficiency of operations and maximize the effectiveness and productivity of the agents working in a call center.

Implementing the call center software does not have to cost hundreds of bucks

Measuring and analyzing call center key performance indicators is critical when accessing the effectiveness and efficiency of call center activities and operations.

Set up your call center with these design and functional ideas.

Successful call center management requires much more than scheduling agents to answer customer calls-

A call center software is a product that is meant to take care of the business phone conversations, and that is what we specialize in at LiveAgent. It is possible to use the software to perform outgoing calls, attend incoming calls, track various parameters about each call, and provide automated scripts for the team. Even with the presence of different communication channels like live chat and social media, the phone remains an integral part of business communication. Yet, there are a couple of challenges that are associated with the call center software and every user needs to be aware of the same.

Wanna know how to do a call center audit? Below is a basic call center audit checklist you can use in your own audit process.

A study by Gartner found that most solution providers focus too much on product features and technology, rather than the benefits. What consumers really want from organizations is understanding the real value the product promises to deliver.

Measuring the efficiency of your customer service with these metrics

Customer service reports provide businesses with a full overview of all customer service requests.