Excellent customer service is crucial for the success of any company. For Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in particular, it is essential to satisfy their customers and retain them in the long term. But what makes good customer service? In this blog post, we look at the key criteria, expectations and preferred communication channels of customers, as well as some effective tips for improving the customer experience.
According to a survey by Esendex, in which 5,000 people worldwide took part, the following five criteria are decisive for the evaluation of a company’s customer service:
The survey results also show that customers’ expectations are high and that they do not hesitate to switch providers if these are not met:
Find out how you can proactively counteract a change of provider in our blog post.
Proactive communication can intercept many customer enquiries in advance. Automated post-purchase messages, video tutorials and FAQs are helpful measures to clarify customer concerns before they contact support.
With an open rate of 95%, SMS is an excellent choice for customer communication. In comparison, 12% of consumers receive more than ten emails from companies every day, while only 2% receive ten or more SMS messages from companies every day.
Self-service Self-service solutions are a key technology implementation that can significantly reduce call volume and call duration (AHT). They enable customers to resolve many of their concerns independently, which not only increases satisfaction but also improves the efficiency of customer service. Examples of effective self-service solutions include self-service apps, knowledge databases, detailed FAQs, interactive chatbots and community forums. In our article on the experience of success with self-service you can find out more.
There are many ways to use new technologies in customer service. Learn how you can use automated technologies in your company.
Live chats have a satisfaction rate of 73%. Compared to emails, the satisfaction rate is 61% and for phone calls it is only 44%. Live chats allow customers to do several things at once and avoid annoying queues.
Chatbots can answer frequently asked questions and solve simple problems in 90% of cases with ten or fewer messages. They are an efficient and fast option, especially outside of business hours.
Real-time analyses are another powerful tool. They enable support teams to recognise problems immediately and solve them proactively, which increases customer satisfaction and prevents escalations. They also help to use support resources more efficiently and predict future trends, enabling long-term optimisation of support processes. You can find out more about the importance of real-time analyses in technical customer support in our blog post on the topic.
Good customer service is characterised by fast response times, friendliness, a range of contact options, quick problem resolution and good accessibility. To fulfil customer expectations, companies should introduce proactive communication strategies and self-service solutions and invest in new technologies such as live chats and self-service. By taking customers’ preferred communication channels into account, companies can offer a first-class customer experience and retain their customers in the long term.
