You are a small business owner with a full-time job or you are working on your side hustle with limited operational cost but you keep hearing about the importance of customer service. As a small business owner, I can totally relate. Just a few years ago, I was in your shoes. I had a full-time 9-5 job while I was working on a small startup on the side. Most of the business articles that I was reading at the time were all about the importance of customer service.
Almost all my business mentors also tell me that I need to improve my customer service if I want to retain my clients in the long run. This was mainly because I was investing heavily in brand awareness and I was getting a lot of queries every day.
However, with my full-time job and drying operational budget, I was unable to find a suitable recruit to deal with customer service. All these things started piling up and the next thing I noticed, my online presence was being bombarded with negative comments.
For any brand, this can be very overwhelming and most people in my shoes might even decide to give up. However, I started reading case studies of big brands that were focusing on their customer service. My goal was to replicate their customer service strategy on a budget for my business. For instance, big brands like Optimum have dedicated 24/7 Optimum customer service. Their customer service is not just meant for registering complaints but also offers complete online guidance on technical issues and for paying bills. These holistic customer services are so far the most effective and help with customer satisfaction and customer retention as well.
How to Recreate a Big Brand Customer Service within a Broke Budget?
Design a Simple Process
Designing a detailed process for a business is one of the most daunting tasks. While most brands have a big QA, team for the sake of process, and designing, small businesses cannot do the same. This is where you need to invest in workflow management systems. Most of the workflow systems either offer free services for small businesses and startups or offer free trials.
With a strong process at hand, you will be able to just copy and paste responses or automate the responses so you do not have to think about every response separately. You can also use templates that are available online or just leverage the big brands’ templates by reaching out to them for a one-on-one interaction just like a customer.
Make Automation Your Strength
For most people, automation might be a threat to their job but for small businesses who cannot recruit people right now or they are struggling due to limited budget, it is a blessing. As a small business, try to leverage AI as much as possible, and use automation and Chabot for customer service. This will eventually help you bring your response time to seconds, which is a great win for customer service.
Personalize the Communication
When you design a marketing strategy, try to replicate it in your customer service as well. This might seem a little complicated but it will bring your results. For instance, if you have a brand with Gen Z as your targeted audience, your marketing language will most likely be informal. Try to bring this informal tone within your customer service as well. It is one of the best ways to improve communication with your audience and reach out to more people within the same audience section.
Ask For Feedback
Feedback is one of the most effective ways to update and upgrade your product based on the demands of your customers. While most big brands spend millions on conducting detailed market surveys to know about the customers’ expectations, a strong feedback loop will easily help you with this. A simple tip is to actively seek feedback after an interaction with your customer or after you make a sale.
Moreover, according to one of the best names in the digital marketing industry – Neil Patel you can schedule a call or email after a few weeks, a month, or a few months and ask for suggestions.
Get Everything on Your Phone
This tip is especially for solopreneurs. If you are always on the go and still want to tend to your business, get applications for customer service. Almost every business and customer service tool that you will come across is now available in application form. The best thing about these apps is that you can use them on the go and open in anywhere you want.
In some cases, you might have some limitations with the mobile application but overall you will be surprised how effectively you will be able to handle this without affecting your day job or adjusting your schedule.
Bottom Line
To sum it all up, you just need to work on designing the process and then automate the simple tasks. During this process, your focus should be on using tools rather than conducting everything manually as your customer is looking for ease.
