As a startup, you probably value your customers a lot – after all, you’ve worked hard to bring in each and every one of them and you know that you’re banking your future on their continued support.
However, how you show that sense of appreciation makes a big difference, and the key time to really make customers feel that they are important to you is when they themselves want to get in touch about something.
There are now loads of ways businesses can offer customers support, assistance, technical resolutions or information, and obviously they all have pros and cons.
However, when you are deciding which you will make widely available to your customers, it is important to think about what will be preferable to them, rather than what is easiest to provide.
Telephone support is essential
If you have ever known the frustration of having an issue and being taken to endless FAQ or troubleshooting web pages that don’t contain the help you need, and still not being able to find a way to actually talk to someone, you’ll know that the one form of customer support your business should never do without is by telephone.
Some businesses actually make it so hard to find out a contact number for them that there is even a service dedicated to finding UK contact numbers at contacttelephonenumbers.com to help frustrated users.
As you might imagine, this seems to the customer as though the business wants them to try everything else before ‘bothering them’ by phone, and that isn’t how you want your customers to think you feel!
Practical reasons people like to call
There are several reasons why it can be better to make a phone call with an enquiry or issue. For one thing, it makes people feel that there is a way they can get a response within a predictable and fast time frame.
Sure, you may respond to customer support tweets almost instantaneously, but they don’t know that, and sending an email or using social media can feel like they are putting their question out into a void with no idea what your response time might be.
For another, being able to talk to a human means that they’ll feel they have a shot at getting a good outcome even if their problem or requirement is complex and hard to explain.
Personal preference
Of course, not all of the reasons why some customers will always choose to pick up the phone if they can rather than using web chat, sending an email or contacting you via social media are practical ones – some people simply prefer this way of getting things done and trust the human element more when it isn’t hidden behind a wall of technology.
Whether or not phoning you actually is the fastest way to sort out their issue or get the info they want, some people will always see it as though it is, and resent it when companies make it hard for them to call them.
If you have thought about different ways you can provide customer service, it is important to make sure that the phone is one of them. Social media, web live chat and other methods are all great, but the phone should be your bare minimum.
