In This Article
– 10 Best Customer Service Tips for When a Customer Signs Up: Introduction
– 10 Best Customer Service Tips for When a Customer Signs Up
– Thank Them!
– Reiterate Your Support
– Apologise Immediately
– Be Immediate In Your Responses
– Personalisation
– Offers and Discounts
– Don’t Treat Them Like Prospects, But Customers
– Ask For Feedback
– Keep Them in the Know
– Don’t Bombard Them
– Best Customer Service Tips: Conclusion
Best Customer Service Tips: Introduction
Did you know it is five times more expensive to market to a prospect than it is a customer? Your customers are the lifeblood of your business; it cannot survive without them. This is where your customer service comes in, because your relationships with customers need to function properly for your business to thrive.
Therefore, your customer service needs to be brilliant from the get-go: from when they sign up to when they move on—and afterwards. If you’re not sure how to deliver a service that your customers will truly appreciate, we’ve provided 10 tips to get you started on the path to impressing your customers who have just signed up to your business.
10 Best Customer Service Tips for When a Customer Signs Up
Thank Them!
This isn’t a big one, but it does go a long way. Thank your customers for their custom! Politeness—even and especially in a business setting—is severely underrated. It’s gratifying for the customer, as it’s a reminder that the business isn’t fearless, but run by a person behind the screen.
You can do this in multiple ways, the most obvious being an automatic email sent after signing up, but a verbal or in-person thank you is always appreciated too. This may also be a surprise for the customer, which will put you in their good books even more.
Reiterate Your Support
Your customer has signed up to your business’ service, in part, because they trust you can deliver. When things go wrong, they need to know where they can go to so it can be fixed. If customers come into a problem only to find you’re not available or not willing to fix it, they’re going to be hugely put off because you broke this trust, and are not likely to return to your business.
They should know that you can—and will—support them as best you can, as soon as you can. Make it a notable part of the signing up process and the customer experience that they receive; make your support signposted, available and easily accessible. By doing so, your customers will feel reassured that they’re in the right hands.
Note: if you deliberately obscure the support process by not making it easy to access, you’re only putting off people that need help.
Best Customer Service Tips: Apologise Immediately
In much the same vein, when something goes wrong, you need to acknowledge it. Firefighting is always a pain, but if there’s any risk of inconveniencing the customer, you are expected to be a bit humble about it, at least.
Even if things are completely out of your control, you still need to apologise for any inconvenience it’s caused. You also must let them know about what you’re doing to fix it, and what steps you’re taking to prevent something like this happening again. Ultimately, this boils down to the customer’s need to not be neglected. Showing you care goes a long way.
Be Timely in Your Responses
Whether they’re a prospect or a customer, your contacts want to know that they matter to you. When they’re newly signed up, this is even more important; they want to see proof that their decision was the right one.
So when they ask, you reply. Immediately. The general rule of thumb in marketing is never to reply later than 24 hours, no matter what channel that is through: social media, or email or forum. Their needs come first. Your customers judge you for how you respond to situations, which can make or break the next sale; if you keep your customers updated, they’ll appreciate it, and you’ll stay in their good books.
This can be a big ask for a small business that’s always got something to do, but setting yourself a time limit for responses does help. Prioritise your time each day, so you designate a specific time to communicating with your customers. As well as this, having a customer service assistant, or a chatbot, or software that can notify you of any changes (like a CRM) can help you give the right amount of attention to your customers.
Best Customer Service Tips: Personalisation
Personalising all your contact with your customers always goes down well. Your marketing and communications with them should always have it, especially from the start; again, this keeps the human touch in your marketing.
This can be achieved easily by connecting your marketing tools to a CRM, like popcorn. For example, you can add a contact’s first name to an email via a special code which brings through contact details from the CRM.
Offers and Discounts
Customers always appreciate the chance to save money. You can really sweeten the signup by rewarding them for it; giving them discount on the purchase, or the next purchase they make with you.
Offers and discounts exclusive to existing customers are a great incentive, no matter how long or short they’ve been with your business. For more information, you can read our article on customer retention here.
Don’t Treat Them Like Prospects, But Customers
The truth is, once someone’s signed up, you need to treat them differently. They can’t be communicated with as if they’re new to your business: they need to be nurtured in a different way.
Keep your communication separate from your customer acquisition efforts (unless you’re sending generic marketing material); acknowledge the new position they have as a customer, including the privileges and opportunities that come with it. For example, they can partake in reviews, and forums.
Best Customer Service Tips: Ask For Feedback
Improving your customer service is always possible. Self-reflection on your conversations and behaviours benefits your customer service, by making you aware of what you’re good at as well as what you need to improve. However, your really valuable feedback will come from an outside perspective—from the customers themselves.
Getting them involved in giving feedback will help them feel as if they are contributing. It will also let them know that you value their opinion. Customers generally enjoy giving feedback if you give them an incentive—such as discounts, offers, or prizes—but your most successful requests for feedback will be the ones you personalised. Don’t underestimate the power of personalisation!
Keep Them in the Know
Customers might enjoy staying in the know, and may benefit from joining the wider community brought about by this business. Offering them the chance to join your email newsletter, for example, could let them know about upcoming events or developments. Alternatively, a software forum is the perfect place to inform users about updates too.
Either way, keeping your customers in the know about your service is vital; if interest is lost, so too will the business. The wider a distance you put between you and your customer, the less effective your customer service will be.
Best Customer Service Tips: Don’t Bombard Them
The last thing customers want when singing up to a new service is to be bombarded by an influx of content, each bit trying to be as attention-grabbing as possible. It’s overwhelming and will bring your customer to regret their decision. Remember—they’ve recently undertaken research for what they need. They decided on you, but if you push them away, your competitors are still fairly fresh in their minds.
No one likes to be bombarded, so make sure you keep your communication regular, but not too frequent. It may help to remind them that they can opt out if you need be—so they can feel you are accessible, without you running the risk of pushing them away.
Best Customer Service Tips: Conclusion
The impression you make early on in your relationship with a newly signed-up customer can be just as important as the first impression a prospect has of you. It’s vital that your customer service is excellent from the get-go, so your customer feels affirmed in their decision to sign up with you. From this, you stand a great chance at not only gaining repeat transactions but also nurturing your customer into becoming an advocate for your brand.
Why is popcorn’s CRM the ‘heart of the software’? Find out how it can help you keep track of your prospects and customers here.
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