Customer feedback has always been a precious source of information for business. It gives you direct insights into how your customer service team is performing and how satisfied your customers are with the service they receive. WhatsApp’s conversational nature makes it a perfect channel to ask customers for feedback and encourage them to share their experience with your business or with their customer support interactions. There are several ways you can use WhatsApp to gather customer feedback:
Ask for feedback after each resolved inquiry
You can request feedback by asking customers simple questions right after resolving an issue or completing a transaction using the ‘Quick replies’ feature. Additionally, you can include a link to a survey or feedback form previously created using third-party tools. Here are some quick examples of messages to ask customers for feedback:
Traditionally, Black Friday/ Cyber Monday (BFCM) has been the busiest shopping period of the year for businesses – and a golden opportunity to drive sales and skyrocket revenue. In 2023, Adobe Analytics reported a record $9.8 billion in Black Friday online sales, up 7.5% from 2022, while for Cyber Monday, consumers spent $12.4 billion, a 9.6% increase from the previous year.
On the flip side, the BFCM shopping season adds more pressure and stress to your customer service team. Agents get overwhelmed with Armenia Email List 105644 Contact Leads support requests and repetitive questions about product availability, order statuses, shipping details, return policies, and payment issues. At the same time, they are expected to deliver quick and efficient support and maintain high CSAT scores to keep up with consumers’ demands.
So, how can you consistently meet your customers’ expectations for instant support and excellent service experience without overwhelming your support team this BFCM season? We’ve prepared the checklist that will help you get your customer support team ready for the upcoming Black Friday/ Cyber Monday without hiring new reps. Let’s get straight to it!
Black Friday/ Cyber Monday Readiness Checklist: How to Prepare Your Customer Service Team
1. Optimize your phone support to handle call volume spikes effectively
Despite the rise of digital communication channels and increasing consumer preferences for self-service support, phone remains one of the most preferred customer support channels for consumers across all age groups in many industries. It enables your customers to get answers to their questions or handle issues almost on the spot rather than having to wait for an email response that may not come until later in the day.
However, call volume spikes that typically occur during the BFCM shopping season may create longer wait times for callers, leading to reduced Customer Satisfaction Scores (CSAT). Here’s how you can manage high call volumes on Black Friday/ Cyber Monday effectively while maintaining customer satisfaction:
Set your IVR and call routing rules
Setting an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system is an excellent way to ensure your callers always reach the desired destination while also reducing the number of call transfers. The key is to keep your IVR menu options clear and concise and make it easy for callers to navigate the menu, perform self-service actions, and reach a live representative. On top of that, setting specific call routing rules (e.g., skill-based, geo-based, or time-based) can help you route calls more effectively, improve First Call Resolution (FCR) rates, reduce the Average Handle Times (AHT), and increase CSAT scores.
✓ Improve the queuing experience
While no one likes having to wait in a call queue to be connected to a live agent, you can still improve the queueing experience for inbound callers and make it a little less frustrating. Firstly, instead of simply playing hold music, make sure to inform callers about their estimated wait time or position in the queue. In addition, you can play pre-recorded messages that provide valuable information or direct callers to other support channels or your self-service options. And what’s more, you can offer callers a queue callback option.
Offer in-queue callbacks
Based on a Software Advice study, 60% of consumers feel that even one minute of hold time is too much for them, while more than one-quarter indicated they’d always prefer a call back over any amount of time spent waiting on hold. The same study found that almost 50% of consumers expect their call to be returned within 30 minutes. By offering callers a queue callback option (and actually calling them back within a reasonable time), you can reduce the number of dropped calls and customer frustration associated with long wait times.Expand your customer support options beyond phone and email.
Today’s consumers prefer to engage with brands across multiple channels, sometimes during a single journey – and numerous studies have proven that. For example, according to Salesforce research, 71% of consumers prefer to use different communication channels depending on context. Another research by McKinsey revealed that more than half of consumers engage with three to five channels during each journey they take toward making a purchase or resolving an issue. If you aren’t yet supporting your customers on digital channels, here’s why you should consider adding the following ones:
