Losing valuable customers, after having worked very hard to acquire them, is often the result of a poor experience for them. Keeping track of customer inquiries or complaints is often challenging for the small business owner, who may be juggling all aspects of the business.
Nonetheless, every business owner understands that customer support is one of the most important aspects for any enterprise. It always has to be provided in a timely, accurate and cheerful manner.
The variety of tools available can help every business to start or reorganize and then manage a customer support system. Trying to wade through the options can be daunting for any busy entrepreneur and this article offers 10 solutions.
According to the needs of the business, any one of these, or a combination of some, can be adopted and employed for satisfied customers that continue to bring valuable business.
- Freshdesk
Freshdesk is a support ticketing system that offers all-in-one support. Companies of all sizes can now offer great customer service on the Freshdesk cloud-based customer support platform. Its support ticketing system offers scheduled reporting with reports issued according to schedule; dynamic ticket forms for a faster ticket resolution, and complete integration for the support team that even includes translations.
- SnatchBot
With SnatchBot, artificial intelligence and powerful machine learning are used to interact with customers. The SnatchBot platform has free templates and bot building. Smart bots can be published to mobile devices, web apps, social media, chat apps, and other popular channels. Chatbots help users and drive engagement. The service offers many administrative and safety features. (See what Avi Benezra, AI specialist and researcher has to say about it)
A simple and accessible way to offer and grow customer service is through Twitter. This is ideal for the businessman that is not ready to invest in full-scale customer software, but would like to improve and increase client service efforts. Twitter is easily accessible for consumers to communicate in real time and it’s used by large and small brands alike.
- Helpjuice
The knowledge based software designed by Helpjuice is easy-to-use and customize. It guarantees 50% less support emails and an increase in happy customers.
It has an external knowledge base for customers and an internal one for the business. It can do a fast and intelligent search, and offers advanced analytics.
- Keap
Following up on leads and clients can be difficult for all types and size of business. Through all other business applications – QuickBooks, Outlook, Gmail and Xero – Keap’s software recognizes, organizes and prioritizes client activity and steps of interaction required. Customer services follow up, which include billing, up-sell opportunities, meetings etc., are also managed by the app.
- Zingle
Since texting is something that everyone is doing, Zingle embraced the idea. It introduces instant access to products and services, and fast responses. Their service also includes date and time stamped confirmations. This is what customer satisfaction is all about.
- Survey Monkey
Feedback in the form of online surveys help businesses understand where things need to improve and what is being done well – all from the viewpoint of the customer, whose opinion counts the most.
Survey Monkey includes features such as survey templates, advance logic, custom logo and branding, data analysis, a mobile app, and target market surveys.
- Muut
With Muut commenting and forums can be used for improved user engagement, to attract visitors and increase the sense of community. The embeddable commenting and forums can be added to blogs, online stores and picture galleries; and the forum uses single system aggregation on the discussion. It also features custom integration, mobile responsive and Google Analytics integration.
- Google Voice
This is a free service from Google that allows the small business owner the freedom to manage communications even when away. Since not all business owners can have a customer support team or expensive software, Google Voice gives one number for all phones of the entrepreneur. U.S. long distance calls are free and international calls are charged at low rates. Google Voice gives every businessman the ability to search and prioritize calls, share them with a team, specify when to receive calls; and receive email notifications of calls and test messages.
- Basecamp
This project management system software can also be used to create a customer support system. It can be utilized in the creation of to-do lists for finalizing orders, ongoing maintenance, progress check-ins. It offers team and clients collaboration, strengthened communication, keyword filters, due dates, file downloads and project catch up.
Customer support is about keeping them happy and coming back. For the small businessman, one of these tools may be enough to ensure just that.
