Before you can head into conducting interviews, you must first think about what makes good customer service. There’s a big miscommunication going on because despite 80% of businesses believe they deliver outstanding customer service. However, only 8% of customers feel like they are receiving it. That’s a massive gap and one that companies need to focus on more.
Why? Well, studies have indicated that;
In short, bad customer service is losing you money as well as customer loyalty.
It’s actually quite simple:
They are actually really important because they let you really understand what customers feel about your business. You can gather clear and unbiased information effectively and keep it on record to make improvements where necessary. How about a little more detail on the reasons why, though?
The first part of any successful interview is planning. This is a vital part of any interview process because you need to plan out your questions and the way in which you are going to actually conduct the whole interview.
Form an interview team. You should have at least two people and no more than three in an interview team. You are there to ask the questions, the other is there to make notes, and the third is often an industry expert that is there for support, expertise, and additional questions.
Decide on the depth of the interview. Do you want the questions to be broad or more detailed? You have to determine what kind of interview you are conducting before you can even write the questions. You can use it to focus on customer problems and complaints, or even specific products that you want to know more about in terms of appeal and reaction.
Find the right customer. This step takes the most time because you need to be careful and make sure that you get it right. You need a good balance of customers, including those who nearly bought and ultimately decided against it. Take the time to get to know them and what they will be able to bring to the interview process.
Write a script. The finished piece should contain around ten questions; not too long and not too short. The best way to come up with the perfect questions is to think of as many as possible and write them all down; cutting out the poor or irrelevant ones as you go. Make sure the questions are open and not leading the customer to answer in a certain way. Their views need to come across clearly and with strength.
Prepare yourself. It’s good to have a little gift for the customer as a thank you for coming out and completing the interview. You should also run through it a few times with your team to practice for the real thing.
Now you’re ready to interview your customer, and it can be done in a few very easy steps using the interview you have built in the previous section. Here’s the rundown for the actual interview:
Welcome them. Thank them for coming, ask if it is alright to record them, and reassure them that said recording will only be used for internal use.
Soft questions. This is like the warmup where you ask the soft questions that build up before things get more serious. See it as an introduction to make your customer feel at ease.
Meaty questions. This is where things get more serious, and you can get into the deeper questions that you want customers to answer. This is likely to be the longest part of the interview process, and you can really go into detail with your customer.
Observer questions. If you have an observer/expert in the room that wants to ask questions, it is during this stage that they should do so. They should be designed to prompt a deeper level of thought and reflection for clear results that you can work with.
Customer questions. Does the customer have anything they want to ask you or discuss with you? This is a great way to make them feel important and a bigger part of the process.
Finishing up. Now you can thank them for coming, give them their gift, and wrap the interview up.
Discussion time. When the customer has left, take the time to go over the results and see what everyone thought. Take a good 30 minutes to read through each question and see if there are valid points and changes that could be implemented to better the customer experience. Ask why and how instead of just glossing over them.
I hope that this has given you deeper insight into how to conduct customer interviews, as well as why they are such an important part of running a business. Your customers are everything, and if you do not take care of them, then you won’t be able to retain them. Something that businesses often forget is that existing customers are just as important as new ones (perhaps even more so). With these steps and advice, you are sure to be able to conduct a fantastic customer interview that provides you with a plethora of vital information.
Knowledge is important, but only when put into practice. Test everything in our academy right inside the LiveAgent.
Try out LiveAgent for FREE
Handle all customer inquiries from one interface. Start improving your customer service with a 14-day free trial right away!
FREE TRIALBe the first to receive exclusive offers and the latest news on our products and services directly in your inbox.
We appreciate your recent sign up for a LiveAgent.
A message will be sent to your email address containing login details, right after your account is installed.
If you wait for a while, after installation is complete you will be able to access your account directly from here.
After the process is over, we will send the login details to your mailbox.
Our website uses cookies. By continuing we assume your permission to deploy cookies as detailed in our privacy and cookies policy.