Developing Customer Communication Skills: Importance of Fast Reaction and Communication With Customers. Approaches, Tools, Learnings.

As was said by Milton Erickson: “The effectiveness of communication is not defined by the communication, but by the response”. And we would argue that it is even more true for communication with the customers than for day-to-day communication. Response, its quality and its timing are crucial for the UX and, ultimately, for the success of the product.

As an outsource support company, we know the importance of setting up and maintaining a smooth communication flow in resolving customers’ issues and inquiries fast and efficiently. In order to do that, we implement what is called customer communication management.

What is customer communication management (CCM)?  

CCM is a strategy that helps us build and subsequently improve inbound and outbound communication with our end users. 

It is important to note that in order for our connection with the customers to be efficient, we use all the possible means of communication, such as chat, email and voice calls (out clients’ systems can be integrated into our QCRM seamlessly). This helps us embrace all the channels of communications, so that the customers can contact us whichever way is the most convenient for them at the moment.

How to keep CCM effective?

Having a dedicated CCM is simply not enough to ensure that your customers will be satisfied with the resolution of their tickets and with the communication that they have received. 

There are several other steps that need to be taken for the customers to be satisfied with the services they receive from the customer support. What are they?

1. Set up a perfect customer service communication

The first step is always setting up a perfect, or next-to-perfect customer communication system. In order to ensure that we have no breaches in our communication and information flow, we have developed our own aforementioned QCRM system. And today it helps us manage almost the entire flow of the customers’ tickets and inquiries without any roadblocks and breaches. 

2. Know what type of end user you are dealing with

How do you interact with different customers? It seems that we have to look for different approaches to every customer. And it is, in fact, true. Developing different approaches to different customers will display the care and help the consultants choose an appropriate tone of voice for every situation. 

But, regardless of this, there are several points that all the consultants have to adhere to, no matter whether they deal with an “🏅 Achiever” or an “😠 Angry customer”:

• Remain calm and polite, no matter what;
• Show respect and be open to the conversation;
• Listen actively without interrupting;
• Avoid negative language;
• Do not sound or seem robotic. Use a universal approach, but with a personal touch.

Following these points and adding a personal touch to them will ensure that your team has all the personalized verbal tools they need to be efficient and to satisfy any customer that comes their way. 

3. Find the golden mean

For sure, the efficiency of the support service lies in their ability to answer inquiries correctly and timely. The thing here is that these two travel together very seldom, and it is not always possible to have them in the response at the same time. The ability to find a timely and fast answer is truly the recipe for professionalism. A recipe that SupportYourApp has developed over almost a decade now.

Developing customer service communication skills

How do you interact with customers? After all, this process is not always pleasurable and the more difficult it gets, the more likely it is, that a consultant is going to start burning out. In order not to let that happen, there is a severe need to ensure that a smooth communication flow is established and that communication skills are developed.

❓ But how can we make sure that these crucial skills are not only present, but are also developed and improved along the way?

• We encourage the consultants

Saying things like ‘You made the right choice here’ or ‘I like the way you communicate with the customers’ as well as encouraging the consultants with the possibility to grow professionally within the organization will make sure that there is always a motivation to establish effective communication and to take ownership.

• We expand the team with the right people

We only hire those who share our values and who display excellent communication skills during the interview and onboarding process. Along the way we at SupportYourApp merely cultivate these skills.

• Team building is a must

In order to ensure that the consultants are going to be communicating with the customers effectively and resolving their issues in a timely manner, it is important to establish a friendly atmosphere within the team. For that we developed a lot of team building activities that help our consultants build personal relationships and become a real team within a matter of days.

• Regular QA is always welcome

Unfortunately, the only practical way of making sure that the professionals in your team are communicating with the end-users perfectly is to conduct regular but random QA, where every email, chat or phone conversation can become subject to a check. This way 100 percent of the conversations are going to be conducted in a smooth and professional manner. At least that what we at SupportYourApp have found.

Communication is the key

When it comes to communication with the customer, the most important thing we always keep in mind is empathy. There is a person and a particular problem that bothers them behind every ticket and every request. For sure, we are to treat them accordingly.

At SupportYourApp we know that time for ticket resolution is crucial. The fast-changing environment is always pushing us to learn to sustain fast and efficient communication flow to decrease both time and steps required for ticket resolution. Developing the ability to work within these scopes and further maintaining them is what makes our job pleasurable and UX scalable. 

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