For a growing business, being able to successfully scale customer service is a challenge worth undertaking.
In the early days, when the number of stores, or volume of customers is limited, it is significantly easier to provide personalised support.
But as business starts booming, it places greater pressure on the resources you have at your disposal.
And businesses can’t afford to let standards slip in a world where customer experience is so highly valued.
As revenue begins to increase in scope and scale, so should your customer service offering.
What Does It Mean To Successfully Scale Customer Service?
To successfully scale customer service you need to strike an effective balance.
An equal footing between delivering customer service at a consistently high level and managing resources so as not to compromise other aspects of your business.
Scaling service can be prompted by any number of reasons. From customer growth to adding new channels. Launching new products or opening new markets.
Whatever the reason for scaling customer service, you need to ensure neither side of the scales tips below the other.
This requires a critical analysis of the current situation, and consideration for the scale of increased demand and levels of resources needed to maintain your standards.
Without a strategic balance, success is nigh on impossible.
6 Tips To Successfully Scale Customer Service
So how can organisations prepare to successfully scale customer service?
Anthill have explored 6 key areas for you to focus your efforts on…
#1 Organise & Align
Without organisation, and company wide alignment on approaches and best practices, you place yourself at significant risk.
An ad hoc approach will no longer cut it.
When customers stack up and multiple members of staff are handling service queries, you need an effective process.
The first thing you should do is identify and document your ideal support workflow. This then becomes your “cheat sheet”.
Likewise, to avoid spreading yourself too thin, define which service channels are most appropriate to your customer base.
If requests always come through via phone or email, there is little point investing significant time and effort in maintaining a Facebook support functionality.
Lastly, nothing facilitates organisational alignment like a single source of truth.
“A single source of truth allows a company’s data, for a particular purpose, to all be found via a single reference point.”
MULESOFT
Without being able to perform a quick health check, it becomes impossible to understand how effectively you’re answering your service queries.
#2 Set Your Standards
How can you successfully scale customer service if you don’t know what you’re measuring against?
A crucial stage in improving is setting the standard for what good looks like.
“What one company considers excellent service could be the bare minimum to another.”
HelpScout
You will need to define a consistent way of measuring what your team considers to be top quality.
When you are scaling service, your specific definition of high quality may need to change.
Picking realistic new targets, and building an environment, that still reflects the underlying values of your team and your company is the challenge.
Equally, when changes are made, remember to consider if your current, or desired standards are realistic.
#3 Analyse and Review
To scale customer service effectively and efficiently, you must analyse and review all the available data you have at your fingertips.
Assign and track key KPIs such as ticket volume and time to resolution to better understand where the service function is excelling, or where it needs improving.
“90% of customers rate an immediate response to a customer service question as important or very important.”
HUBSPOT
Likewise, don’t be afraid to tweak customer service processes as more data is collected. As time passes, you may discover that is no longer the best way for you to operate.
Only through analysing and reviewing key customer service data can you refine your process to best serve new and existing customers alike.
#4 Automate Your Service Offering
As queries mount up, and resources become stretched, pressure can begin to build.
One sure fire tactic to retain a personal touch, and scale customer service, is through the power of automation.
“Automation is proven to boost productivity by 14.5% and can lead to a 14% reduction in sales administration time.”
ADOHM
Automation can work to alleviate constraints on customer service in a number of ways.
Namely, in providing responses to common queries or in sharing useful install or setup guides to recent purchasers.
Adding feedback surveys into your workflows also helps to create a personal connection without cutting into the amount of time your staff have to handle more complex queries.
In using the right technology, you can remove significant pressure from your teams.
All it requires is an automation software to take responsibility for manual, repetitive tasks.
#5 Empower Your Customer Service Team
Nothing helps to successfully scale customer service like empowering your team.
Whether that is training or tools, knowledge or know how, make sure your team has everything they need at their disposal to succeed.
In the simple act of supplying a timely, comprehensive response, you can ensure all service issues are handled in the most effective and efficient manner.
“It’s a mark of respect on the part of management to empower trusted agents to exercise their best judgement.”
AIRCALL
Likewise, providing service teams with individual dashboards can give them agency in their actions.
From here, they can prioritise their time to best serve clients and provide the fastest possible response times.
Without the right tools or knowledge, your support function is, in essence, left to do their job with one hand tied behind their back.
Empower them to succeed, and everything else will slot into place.
#6 Empower Your Customers
Some customers don’t want to talk to you. But they still need answers.
Therefore, it is important to provide additional service channels for customers to find answers to their questions independently.
“51% of customers expect a business to be available 24/7. Adding an FAQ page can help user experience much more convenient.”
Trajectory
Once collated, and accessed via an FAQ page or help centre, these resources can also be shared with customers who actively seek assistance.
Modern support solutions should allow for easy, consistent transition across channels and mediums.
Your customer base is diverse, ensure you resources reflect their diverse needs and wants in order to successfully scale customer service.
Ready to explore how Anthill can help you successfully scale customer service? Schedule a demo today.
Intrigued to learn more? Check out our Insights Hub to keep your business at the cutting edge.
Related Articles
- May 10th, 2022