10 Customer Service Rules for Web Professionals

welcome to the journey today we're going
to talk about ten customer service rules
for web professionals
[Music]
alright we're talking about 10 customer
service rules but why rules why all the
rules nobody likes rules right
especially em over here that rebel
without a cause but our rules are here
to really help you with your business
and help you grow because not every web
professional follows these rules and if
you do you really set yourself apart
alright so rule number one and that is
to respond to your customers emails
within 24 hours now mo why do you think
that is just so important for these web
professionals yeah because it is an
indication of your customer service the
longer you make that customer wait the
longer their problem is not resolved and
the longer that they're thinking about
leaving you and going to someone else
yeah and you know what you can do too
cuz I know when you hear that 24 hours I
need to respond I'm doing a million
things right a great remedy is to have a
reply email that automatically sends out
to your customers when they email you
just letting them know like hey we're in
the process of helping you out yeah and
I used to have freelance and do all
these things and my clients expected
something almost immediately and some of
those tasks it took a lot longer than
the 24 hours to resolve so giving them
that little bit of follow-up of hey I've
heard you I've got your request it's on
my mind I haven't forgot about you yeah
how goes just a tremendously long way I
Neely so this is like a perfect segue
into customer service rule number two
update update that customer on where
you're at with the product where the
status is so they just know and can
expect how long until they get that
resolved or their questions answered
yeah and it's super important I know a
lot of graphic designers or web
designers or just a lot of project
management people use tools like Trello
or asana to kind of keep track of where
they're at with that project I know a
lot of them actually have that visible
to the client and their customers so
that way they can see where they're at
on the journey and they can add their
comments and questions or just post as
those general updates because they want
to know that you're actually working on
it and you're top of mind that actually
reminds me I recent
we ordered a few bathing suits from this
new company california-based brand and I
was really nervous about when they would
arrive because I needed it just in time
for this pool-party I was going to and
what made me feel at ease was the update
at anytime I could see where my order
was even down to where the truck was
going to drop it off at which FedEx that
I could pick them up so it would put me
at ease that hey I'm gonna get this
bathing suit in time for this Beach goth
party which hence the nails and yeah you
can reverse engineer that with your own
business have your own shipping tracker
but for your projects or your updates or
whatever that looks like for you alright
number three and it's all about email
again right so specify next steps that
your customer or client has to take
don't put it in the middle of your giant
paragraph break these up what I like to
do when communicating with clients is
I'll have just the general info and
everything we're talking about and then
kinda at the very end so they actually
look at it right right things I need
from you and it's very bolded bold right
we don't want that to be missed
so just have those next steps those
actions that they have to take so
they're not forgotten so you don't want
to be a week or two later like hey I
sent you that email
where you at like I need that stuff to
move forward and they go what are you
talking about
oops yeah it's it's you're not gonna
have a good time so make sure you have
those next steps bold super clear and
not in the middle sandwich somewhere
alright number four shorter the email
the better and it's more likely that the
customer or the client is actually gonna
read it in its entirety and also keep in
mind subject lines what's gonna get that
customer to open your email in the first
place right and go ahead and look at
your inbox right now and see kind of
look at some of the emails that you've
received which ones are ones that you
would actually look at like clear or
which one would you just skim and pass
over we are the ones that are those good
examples in your inbox like okay cool
they have headlines their email
paragraphs are short and sweet they
maybe have some images or links that
have to click on keep it that short and
sweet and make it easy for your client
to take those next steps customer
service rule number five and it's one
that
I'm guilty of literally every day it's
not to answer emails or calls when
you're just not in a good place to take
them right you can be with your family
or at a baseball game or skateboarding
and you get a call from a client or from
someone you work with and your first
instinct is to answer that phone call
it's sometimes just not a good idea I
don't have the most intelligent
responses when I'm not in work mode I
have to be in work mode to actually get
good stuff done right but also goes back
to what we spend a lot of time talking
about work-life balance when you're at
that your kids baseball game being your
kids baseball game and when you're
deciding hey I'm done with work for the
day be done with work for the day it'll
actually help you to have a longer
career and also a business without
getting burnt out right so definitely
keep it separated and like Neely said
you want to be in the right headspace
when answering that call and it might be
very well tempting to just take it I'm
driving between point A and point B I
see a client is calling I'll just take
right now but you might not be in the
best headspace to handle that call in a
professional manner now one thing that's
really been helped me a lot lately is I
have our smart line app where I have
that second phone number so I have my
office hours right office hours so I'll
get calls from X time to X time when
it's not that it goes straight to
voicemail it's really helped me to make
sure I don't answer those phone calls my
so smart light has it I know Google has
a smart line type phone offering so if
you have a second line they have those
office hours that might be a good idea
to customer service rule number six do
not respond to angry emails when you
think about responding yeah
don't be mealy honestly what helps me a
lot and even in your personal life if
you're feeling a little disgruntled
about something write it out make a
draft and then walk away go do something
else for a little more press send Jo
press send yeah give it some time to air
out let it breathe keep the Zen but
don't respond
in a way to an angry email and I know
you're thinking back like ah you have
that one client that one customer that
just sent you that email pretty recently
how did you respond did you give it that
second or did you just fire off that
quick email and that what you probably
shouldn't have
alright so rule number seven and that's
to offer some type of ongoing support or
maintenance for your clients or
customers now if you build websites you
can offer like a website maintenance
plans we update plugins do random
service requests if you're a graphic
designer maybe adjust logos create brand
content social media whatever that looks
like because most of the time if we
don't do that that's just one client one
and done we offer that ongoing
maintenance that's a client forever
you're getting that recurring revenue
helping grow your business and we all
like business right we all like making
money all right that brings us to
customer service rule number eight which
is have the ability for your customers
to schedule a call with you don't rely
solely on email and I know I get emails
sometimes and it's hard to know the tone
and how is that person yelling at me and
my friends are we not friends just
unfriend me
I can't tell so avoid that confusion and
have that ability there's some online
scheduling opportunities out there as
well so it makes it really easy for the
customer to schedule in your calendar
give you a little 15-minute call here
ten minutes whatever you need I like a
good thirty minute call to really hash
things out but again you don't want to
just rely on email for this so boost
that customer service and give your
customers the ability to schedule a call
with you in a protip I know your time is
so so so valuable if you want to make
that that scheduled call a premium
service you have every right to do so is
a 15 or 30 minute conversation cost
money or is it free it's up to you to
decide but it's a potential way to
increase your your dollar dollar bills
alright
customer service rule number nine and
that is to take the blow from the blame
I know you'll end up getting that angry
email they'll say you were wrong you did
this you did that and what we don't want
to do is when going back to that
fire off the angry email and we don't
want to place the blame on them or just
fire back and escalate this right you
want to try to defuse a situation you
don't have to say I'm sorry you can say
I'm sorry for the situation let me do my
best to figure this out for you and try
to figure out that way forward because I
know they're venting they're angry but
they want a solution and they also want
to be heard so let them know hey I know
what you're feeling I'm sorry this is
happening I'm sorry situation let's
figure out a game plan let's get this
fixed all right love that last rule but
now we are here for rule number ten
which is educate your customers educate
them and think about it they'll love you
for it you're gonna bring value to the
table I know I love it when I follow a
lot of my favorite local businesses on
social media and actually this came up
recently with the hotter temps in
Southern California I live in San Diego
and well it's getting warm everywhere
wait wait I'm in Phoenix what is hotter
temps 112 right now all right
I'll stick to my low 70s the point is
its heating up all across the US and I
noticed some local auto repair shops on
their social media pages and in their
email newsletters they were giving tips
about like hey with the warmer temps be
mindful of XY and Z with your car
maintenance and that was super rad cuz
it's like you know I just don't think
about that stuff naturally oh yeah I
should probably pay attention to that
about my car does that give you tips on
baking cookies in your car no is that
Arizona thing you can't do in Arizona
that is so think about it what do you
know you know what time you're an expert
in your field what do you know that you
think your customers would want to know
or maybe they need a friendly reminder
of yeah absolutely and those can be just
videos that you've already created it
can be quick calls it can be email but
you want to make sure you edit them
early on and sets the expectation that
you're here for them not only to provide
your service but that ongoing
adjudication all right well that was my
favorite rule what was yours go ahead
and leave us a comment below with your
favorite rule
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