April 28, 2022
By Sharon Jazmín Ardila, Alix Osorio, and Angie Rosas, Quality Assurance,
along with Matías De Zan, Senior Team Management at Xtendo Group.
One of the company’s central goals is to achieve full customer satisfaction, which requires providing error-free service by investing not only in its goods/services but also in aspects related to its customers.
Positive experiences are built by designing an appropriate organizational structure and addressing all customer interaction factors. Many companies focus on marketing but neglect after-sales service. In this regard, aligning processes aimed at users will create a better experience that can be replicated in our customers’ consumption.
Every profitable company must achieve total customer satisfaction, committing to achieving the highest quality levels and constantly exceeding the expectations of those who purchase or use the goods or services it provides.
It is worth mentioning that this process can take a significant amount of time and effort from both the business organization and employees, but it is certainly worth it.
Find out how to achieve this in this article.
What are customer service processes?
These processes are a set of generalized practices to address inquiries, concerns, and suggestions from users who purchase products and services from a company.
Quality in customer service is one of the key factors in adding value to a business. A functioning company is one that constantly brings value to its customers, including them, containing them, advising them, and meeting their diverse needs and expectations.
These actions are part of a set of strategies that ensure total customer satisfaction while simultaneously generating greater opportunities for the company. These strategies include the following activities:
- Management and implementation of improvements aligned with consumer needs.
- Raising awareness within the organizational structure and all company levels, as well as the direct/indirect impact of their policies on customer service.
- Continuous feedback on consumer satisfaction thresholds to ideally plan improvements in the products and services offered.
- Systematic planning of customer interactions.
The core mission of customer service control is to support the quality of all interactions, without focusing on the complexity of the matter or the emotions involved in each situation.
It is imperative to clearly understand the different stages of the process and the key aspects of its functioning that we must master at each stage to facilitate the development of high-quality service.
Why is customer service so important?
Its significance comes from considering the consumer as the most important factor, and the constant pursuit of their satisfaction is the most desired goal, one that companies work tirelessly to achieve.
A Zendesk study based on customer experiences and preferences revealed that 50% of users and customers would buy from a competitor after having a poor experience with the chosen company. This percentage would rise to 80% if those negative experiences were recurrent.
Thus, customer service has become essential due to the competition, as the more options customers have, the more likely they are to shift their preferences towards the required products or services. This is where the importance of continually improving and adjusting to market trends and consumer habits lies, because ultimately, customers will have the final say in the decision.
The fundamental parameters of quality and efficiency provided by a company are as follows:
- Establish generalized service practices.
- Continuously strengthen the bond with users.
- Enhance the customer experience.
- Increase customer loyalty rates.
- Foster customer loyalty.
- Ensure perfect technical support conditions.
Stages of customer service
To design an effective system where customer service can win loyal clients, it depends on the various customer service phases aligning with the type of product or service offered, as well as the needs of the consumers.
To develop this strategy, emphasis should be placed on customer service stages. The most significant ones are:
- Capturing demand: This phase refers to the initial contact between the company and the user. The goal is to capture the customer’s interest by addressing their desires and needs while providing courteous, respectful, and efficient service.
- Managing and executing the purchase: This stage configures the customer’s demand for the good/service—mostly online. To ensure a successful execution, the company must offer good advice and guidance, focusing on the most practical solutions for the users.
- Monitoring the transport: An essential stage of the customer service process, as it ensures that the order is always located and can be tracked along its route. This reduces uncertainty and increases customer satisfaction. Real-time communication will facilitate a positive outcome.
- Receipt: At this stage, the product is delivered to the customer. While the logistical service ends here, the customer still has the right to request a return or exchange in case of a defect or non-compliance.
- Demand evaluation and reports: In this subsequent phase, the company creates a record that includes user requests and complaints. This helps to form a more comprehensive understanding of the questions, concerns, and issues that might lead to customer dissatisfaction.
The realm of quality
Quality is always defined by the customer’s perception of the product or service being offered. This perception can vary depending on the expectations set for what is being offered.
As in every domain, quality is discussed, but it is important to break down each stage and identify the qualitative biases that help locate a threshold of total quality. This is achieved when:
- Planned Quality: The level of quality that the company plans to meet all customer needs.
- Delivered Quality: The quality each employee delivers to the user based on their genuine efforts and their interpretation of what is most suitable.
- Received Quality: The quality the customer perceives when purchasing the service.
Satisfied customers
Certainly, having a comprehensive customer service plan is one of the most effective ways to maintain a strong bond between customers and companies.
Managing comprehensive plans focused on the customer means setting a high-quality standard for interactions with our target audience at any point of contact.
According to data from the Harvard Business Review, four out of five consumers resolve their issues through self-service before contacting a company representative. At the same time, the complexity of the issues that reach company representatives is higher, as simple matters are resolved through help centers, forums, or chatbots.
The auditing process
When discussing the auditing process, it’s necessary to inform users that if they disagree with a finding, they can debate it.
Standardizing processes and the plans designed by agents is possible through some parameters that quantify the process’s quality:
Scorecard
A planning and management tool that links strategies and objectives to measure process quality. It allows:
- Redefining better internal communication so all members adopt the communication style required for customer service.
- Reorienting processes under a common objective and clear company standards.
- Reproducing better solutions in the processes designed by the company.
This method is related to two main values:
- Management
Used to evaluate compliance with the established procedure and the agent’s identification of the specific SOP relevant to the user’s disconnection. - Communication Style
Fosters assertive dialogue, enhancing areas such as empathy and human warmth.
Optimizing company performance with better internal auditing
Knowing the state of a business is essential for taking the right measures at the right time.
The sophistication of daily business operations, combined with competition, makes it necessary to have a technically supervised perspective through internal audits.
This oversight is carried out by individuals who thoroughly understand the processes, protocols, and communication manuals, ensuring a clear view of how previously described methods are being applied, areas for improvement, and actions to achieve the defined objectives.
The internal auditor works within the framework of ensuring compliance with legal requirements, giving the team confidence that their expertise and results will contribute to improving controls and outcomes for the company.
When conducting an internal audit, factors such as:
- Effective internal control execution
- Dissemination of accurate and reliable information
- Efficient, timely, and honest task completion
The benefits of conducting internal audits in quality service management
The benefits of internal audits in customer service quality management are so significant that they build solid bonds not only with customers but also within the organization.
In modern business, there is a need to audit volume, geographic reach, and complexities that are impossible for the management alone to handle.
The importance of following processes: high and low-impact errors
Any company aiming to harmonize employee tasks should have a step-by-step plan.
For the evaluation area, this is an irrefutable link essential for audits, as it ensures that all team members are correctly guided in each process.
There are two types of errors:
- High-impact: Used when an operator starts an inappropriate activity, deviating from the guidelines that are necessary for a particular action.
- Low-impact: Used when an operator omits an action required by the process, but it does not directly affect the process management.
Although both errors have different levels of impact, the evaluation team treats each with equal importance, recognizing that both contribute to the overall process, and guides operators towards completing processes in the ideal manner, ultimately improving customer service.
Both classifications are implemented in the operators’ communications. The goal is for each employee to have their own approach to notifying actions and solutions, ensuring customers feel their concerns are resolved uniquely.
These high and low-impact errors allow us to identify critical mistakes and those that do not significantly affect management or communication processes.
What matters here is knowing how and what we will measure to improve customer service.
It is useless to invest large amounts of money in creating a business, beautiful spaces, and environments if we do not consider all the elements that contribute to successful customer service management. The soul of the company is always the consumer, and that is where our focus should be.
