In running your business, whether business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-consumer (B2C), customer service is one of the critical organizational units to operate. After all, your customers are the ones who will make or break your business. That is why flawless customer success is crucial in every business.
The good thing is that technology has paved the way for business software to be developed. There are a lot of different customer service tools that were introduced, and they are considered game-changers in the field of customer success.
One of the metrics considered relevant in customer service is customer retention. To be successful in business, you should be able to retain customers, not just acquire them. Today, a variety of customer service tools that can aid in retaining customers exist in the market to aid businesses with their operations. Let us take a look below at the best customer service tools for great retention rates.
1. Help Desk
A customer help desk is a ticketing system that aids customer service teams in managing incoming service requests from customers. Also called customer support center, it provides a systematic ticketing function that allows customers to receive fast and prompt responses to their issues. The customers can view the status of their tickets in real-time.
A help desk can perform many other functions. Originally, the term help desk was specific to a platform where IT-related issues and concerns are raised, there is even dedicated help desk software for schools, for example. However, this has since expanded to customer service. In essence, a help desk is meant to solve customer issues as fast as possible. And with that kind of service, clients are sure to stay loyal to you.
2. Shared Inbox
This is an all-in-one inbox solution that helps customer service teams provide better service. Its purpose is to centralize all the messages from customers from different platforms. The system provides a conversation trail and status histories of customer concerns. Thus, there is no need to go back and forth to different agents and have them repeatedly explain their concerns.
With the shared inbox, the system can have centralized contact information. This is where the customers can reach out to. It is also a centralized platform in which the different agents can manage the requests.
Having a shared inbox within your customer success department is a great way to organize your process. With this feature, your team can get more systematic. It also assists in establishing good communication among your team members. With a customer service team like that, you are also sure to provide stellar customer service.
3. Mobile Apps
Practically everyone owns a mobile phone nowadays. Moreover, almost everything is within your reach just by using mobile apps or mobile-friendly websites. Imagine how pleased your customers would be if your customer support can be conveniently reached by just using their phones’ apps?
Customer service mobile apps are becoming more popular among businesses, and with the help of an iOS app builder, it’s now easier than ever to develop your own custom mobile app. Customer service mobile apps are becoming more popular among businesses, and with the help of an iOS app builder or using another mobile app tech stack, it’s now easier than ever to develop your own custom mobile app. Its mobility and easy-to-use interface are perfect especially for on-the-go clients. All customers prefer services with fast turnaround time, as it is less stressful and less complicated for them. All these can be offered with a mobile app. And with those features, customers will likely come back to you.
4. Customer Portal
Aside from mobile apps, a customer portal is a great way to improve customer service efficiency. A customer portal may be a website or an application where customers can create their profile and portfolio. Through this portal, they can easily view all the information they need, avail services, as well as track the status of their tickets.
Customer portals allow your customers to independently manage their accounts. They are perfect for those who like to take matters into their own hands. Giving control to these clients gives them confidence in your products or services.
5. Automated Emails
With almost every aspect in business processes being automated, email automation platform can become your go-to tool. In the early times, marketing involved paper leaflets being handed out or faxed. But today, the emailing system has evolved. And now powered by artificial intelligence, marketing emails can be automatically sent at the best times determined by the AI based on the activity logs of customers.
Automated emails are perfect for customers who are subscribed to your newsletters and for software updates. It is also a great avenue for mass announcements for any promotions, marketing, reminders, and other urgent matters. For example, a customer has left an item in her online cart. You can set an automated email to remind the customer about it after a certain period.
What’s more, automated emails can also be used for personalized experience for your clients, based on their behavioral patterns and online transactions.
6. Social Media
Let’s face it, social media is one of the biggest technological innovations in the world today. And for businesses, social media is a great opportunity to reach out to customers.
In order to strengthen your brand awareness, you must be active on social media. Being engaging also gives your customers assurance of your strong presence, which in turn can create trust. It is the best tool to build personalized connections with your clients. Doing so will help in your customer retention.
Social media is also a venue for very effective but affordable marketing strategy. From Facebook to Instagram to Tiktok, these have options for businesses to market themselves and reach the right target customers.
7. Online Community Groups
Online community groups or forums give your customers a sense of belonging. When you establish a community group, you get to know more of your clients on a deeper level. And with that, you can create personalized experiences for them.
In a community group, your customers can likely find the things they’re looking for. It can be answers to their product/service inquiries, troubleshooting guide, or just to read actual customer reviews.
Do you know that online community groups can also attract you more clients? The more customers that vouch for your business, the more that people will eventually trust you.
8. Call Center Solutions
Many customers still prefer to do things the good old-fashioned way. This is why there will always be customers who like to talk to a real person when purchasing a product, availing a service, or raising a concern. It gives customers the comfort and familiarity of speaking to a live person. However, phone support can pose many challenges. Thus, call centers solutions provide automated features to aid call center operations. Some of the best call center software options in the market include CallHippo, Zendesk Talk, Five9, and Genesys Cloud, providing businesses with the tools they need to deliver exceptional customer service.
Call center solutions can direct calls to the proper agents. This feature is called call routing. Most, if not all, solutions are also integration-ready with other business software. And since they’re cloud-enabled, the solutions offer a more efficient and affordable setup. Other call center software features include multichannel support, reports and analytics, pay per call marketing, outbound calls, interactive automated response, call scripting, and escalation management.
9. Live Chat
Live chat is one of the best customer service tools created. Usually part of a help desk, live chat offers many benefits. When customers visit your website, live chat allows them to interact with your business in real-time through an online chatting system.
Along with live chat software are chatbot systems. Chatbots are smart programs designed to simulate and interpret conversations. Chatbots are like computerized customer service representatives. In the absence of a real person, chatbots take over in answering customers through online chat.
Live chats aren’t just useful for websites. You can even add live chat to apps or include live streams on apps where that kind of functionality is required. With tools like Sendbird, you can integrate real-time chat functionality for live streams with the help of their high-quality API. And you’ll want to do that, too, as you can increase live stream conversions by 450% when you take full advantage of Sendbird’s chat features.
Chatbots are used by most businesses nowadays. Their popularity due to their capability to entertain and respond to clients instantly, 24/7, even if they are away from their computer or mobile device. They save business owners time as well as personnel resources. They can also help a lot in cutting costs. For clients, chatbots work perfectly well especially if customers want immediate response to their queries.
10. All-In-One Solution
Question: Is there a better customer service tool than the ones mentioned above? Of course, it is that tool that has everything in it! An all-in-one customer service platform has “all” the features to serve customers end-to-end. It is a great one-stop-shop for those who wish to automate their entire customer success department.
This complete package tool could have everything mentioned above. On top of that, it could include customer relationship management functions. Aside from that, it can offer sales and marketing features, as well as reporting and analytics features. The latter functions are vital for making strategic decisions in your future customer success plans.
There are many all-in-one tools available on the market. They differ mostly in features offered and in pricing plans. Generally, though, this powerful software can better guarantee in helping your business achieve stellar customer success.
The Best Customer Service Tools That Fit Your Business
In reality, there are no one-size-fits-all customer service tools. You have to find the right one that fits your specific business needs and requirements. For example, if you have an online business, you should look for the best customer service tools for online business.
Choosing which of these customer service tools to use for your business is rather challenging. It would be great if you could utilize all of them. However, you have to consider a lot of factors like budget. But if these tools can guarantee things like a high customer retention rate, you should definitely go for them.
