Eight Tips to Make Your Online Customer Experience Stand Out

Customer experience is one of the most important elements of any online business—from an eCommerce store to a SaaS provider. SaaS customer success relies on customers getting the most out of a product, and creating a standout online customer experience contributes to this.

But no matter what online business you run, how you provide customer service will most likely set you apart from your competitors. Plus, it can ensure that your business remains profitable for years to come.

1. Train Customer-Facing Staff Effectively

This should go without saying, but it may surprise you how often it gets neglected. For example, social media profiles get handed to a junior or an intern to run with little to no training in how to deal with the public. This is a massive mistake.

Think of how often people turn to social media to complain about a brand or a product. You need to ensure that whoever responds can reinforce the feeling of accountability and handle the complaint efficiently and correctly. They’re representing your brand.

Every single person in your business who deals with your customers should have proper training in how to provide the best possible service. This includes learning the proper etiquette, the brand voice, company policies, and a clear understanding of what it is the business sells. Without this, the customer will likely get left feeling irritated that they haven’t gotten heard or dealt with correctly.

ZenTao can make managing this training easy, as our project management software can be applied to numerous different scenarios. Not only can you manage documents and feedback, but you can also track attendance to ensure that all employees have received adequate customer training.

2. Make Sure You’re Truly Omnichannel

In the online environment, an omnichannel approach to customer service is critical. To do this, you need to ensure that customers can reach you from a variety of platforms, in a range of different ways, and that each interaction with your brand is the same.

Customers want to be able to reach you in a way that they prefer, and they want the level of service on a phone call to be the same if they message you via Facebook.

This goes back to point one about ensuring all customer-facing staff know what they’re doing and how to interact with those customers. It’s not just nice to have, it’s a vital part of the way you should be operating.

3. Tap Into Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not just one of the biggest tech trends, it’s also become one of the best helpers in the customer service realm. When you deploy it properly, you’ll likely see a massive spike in customer approval ratings and in your sales. This is because AI can give your customers constant attention and be there for them 24/7. It can also provide instant answers and even assist with the sales process without the need for a human salesperson to step in.

The most common way that AI is deployed for customer service is through a chatbot. This can be on your website or on your social media profiles. Moreover, you can convert all your website text into natural human voices by using a realistic tts software. The people who don’t want to read long text can simply click on the play button and listen to everything written on the website. The key is to ensure that the chatbot is properly trained and can pick on the most important points in a customer query. This comes down to the keywords you choose and how you link them to standardized responses.

4. Provide Self-Service Options

As with a chatbot, providing self-service options can give the customer that opportunity for instant problem-solving both during and outside of your office hours. A comprehensive FAQs section on your website that allows customers to search for the information they need can be one of your biggest assets in the customer service battle. You should also consider including case studies and demonstration videos for your products or on how to use your website if it’s more complicated.

Just remember, self-service options are in addition to regular customer service channels and should never take their place.

5. Be Aware Of Customers At All Stages Of The Sales Funnel

Customer service is an ongoing process.

It should start with each customer from the moment they become aware of your brand to a time well after they stop being a customer. This means that you need to be able to tailor your message to each customer based on where they are in the sales funnel.

Customers who are just starting to learn about your brand and what you sell will need different information from someone who has bought your offering and is in need of help using it.

6. Be Aware Of Customers At All Stages Of The Sales Funnel

Customer service is an ongoing process.

It should start with each customer from the moment they become aware of your brand to a time well after they stop being a customer. This means that you need to be able to tailor your message to each customer based on where they are in the sales funnel.

Customers who are just starting to learn about your brand and what you sell will need different information from someone who has bought your offering and is in need of help using it.

7. Stick To A Consistent Brand Message

Most people only think about consistency in brand messaging when it comes to marketing. Whether you're creating an online or radio ad campaign, you need to maintain a feeling of cohesion throughout. However, this is just as important in customer service, which can almost be seen as an extension of your marketing. It impacts your sales and reputation just as much.

Going back to the point of training and having an omnichannel approach, it’s critical that all of these touchpoints for customers create a consistent and cohesive feel for the customer. The messaging, the style of messaging, the entire environment for customer service should be on brand.

If it isn’t, you could have customers wondering if they’ve reached a third-party call center that can’t really help them.

8. Ask Your Customers What They Want

Customer feedback is another key area for customer service. One of the best ways to keep customers happy is to ask for their feedback and then implement changes based on what they say. You want to know what they think of your brand, how they feel about the way you interact with them, and if there are ways that they think you could improve.

It’s so important to have open lines of communication with your customers for their input on the business. After all, you’re there to serve them and asking them what they want is the best way to give it to them.

Conclusion

The experience you create is what attracts customers, draws them in, and directs them through the sales funnel. It’s an integral part of every online business, no matter what you’re selling. A positive customer experience will help you to grow your brand, improve retention, and boost sales.

At ZenTao we can help you to create an online customer experience that’s unforgettable! Our solutions are agile, flexible, and designed for businesses of all sizes.