A lot has happened in the past three years. The world took us on one heck of a roller coaster ride with a lot of twists and turns and ups and downs. So it’s no surprise that people nowadays want something familiar and comfortable.
On the other hand, the pandemic and the quarantine that followed it led to the creation of new business ideas, marketing plans, logistical solutions, and all kinds of tricks. Even as the world continues to recover, that surge in creative juice is still going strong.
Connecting customer comfort and strategies, one underrated method of improving your brand is being creative on the customer support side. Seeing as it involves a lot of client contact, it makes sense to insert some creative strategies into it, no? Also, the representatives can get a general idea of who your customers are, which helps not only your customer service team but also your marketing plans.
Customer support doesn’t just involve asking, “This is brand customer support; how may I help you?” and nor should it. It’s an important part of both after-sales and ongoing business, especially for proactive customer service. It shows your clients that you can be trusted, how good your work is, and that you care about customer satisfaction. In addition, it also involves a lot of customer service skills in order to deal with the myriad of personalities and the questions that go with them.
All in all, a well-trained team of customer service representatives and some innovative customer service ideas can be a recipe for better customer satisfaction and retention. That being said, here are some simple tips that can help you get started.
How To Be Creative In Customer Support
- Personalize your interactions.
Customers enjoy having their needs attended to. They are extremely grateful for, and even anticipate, any kind of individualized attention that is given to them.
It demonstrates that you care about the quality of your service as well as the customers themselves when interactions or transactions are personalized. It is convenient for the representative as well as the customer because it makes transactions more efficient by eliminating repetitive or unnecessary queries. This makes the transaction more convenient for both parties.
This is best achieved through omnichannel communication. Omnichannel communication is like a spider web of connections where data gathered from all the communication channels is centralized. For example, if your last transaction was over the phone, the information is kept and used as a starting point when you send an email to customer service.
Personalization can be done in several ways:
- It can something be as simple as a customized greeting or immediately recognizing the customer’s name.
- Custom recommended products based on previous transactions.
- Sending help guides for the product purchased or instructions for a service.
- Adhering to preferred communication channels.
- Commit to a theme or style.
Flavoring your customer service with a theme related to your brand can add a certain charm to it. As Jordan Peele’s movie “Nope” illustrates, people are drawn to spectacle.
This commitment to a style can go hand-in-hand with personalization. At times, people try a service, product, or establishment just for the experience alone, turning the spectacle into a customer attraction. Whether it’s the uniforms or the actual interactions, the novelty can bring in customers who want to experience them themselves.
You might have also encountered videos of how products are made or at least been recommended some while scrolling through YouTube. This shows that there is an audience for this kind of thing, and so some establishments provide a window where customers are encouraged to watch the products being made in real time. Some customers are even asked to participate or are given freebies. This is mostly seen in handmade candy shops and pizzarias.
This glimpse behind the scenes gives your clients an idea of how things are run and made and also serves as an assurance of their quality. This also helps as a basis for when they contact customer support, as it provides precision when pointing out a possible problem or inquiry.
Of course, you have to be mindful, especially when dealing with complaints; you never know how a client may react. Instead of entertaining them or slightly cooling their temper, the themed interaction might set them off instead.
- Change your style every once in a while.
Of course, it doesn’t hurt to shake it up once in a while. Lean into special themes based on holidays, the season, or a specific occasion. Really lean into it, like everything but the kitchen sink.
Go another mile and create limited-edition offers or events that get people going like it’s a Black Friday sale. Coupled with the right words or copy in your customer support interaction, it creates a sense of urgency to decide and purchase while the offers are still available.
- Play with customer feedback gathering methods.
Surveys and questionnaires are good and all, but they can be boring and tedious on the customer’s end.
Giving a personalized reward is one way to encourage them to answer and even give correct answers. If your budget allows it, a freebie or a voucher will do nicely. Even better if the voucher or freebie is tailored to their purchasing habits.
Another way to help with the proactive side of support is by asking the customers themselves about their preferences. But instead of a direct question, make a game or user-generated content. Create quizzes, polls, questions, and activities that your customers are likely to be willing to answer.
And from their answers, you have an idea as to which customer prefers which. This helps in knowing what to recommend and can also be a reference point for reactive support.
Conclusion
Customer support representatives carry a lot of bulk in customer interactions. Customer support is also part of the overall experience. So adding some creativity to these interactions prevents them from going stale and boring.
You want your customers to have a positive experience. And with those positive experiences, they come back for future transactions and might even become fans of your brand. Those little bits of creativity can go a long way.