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Eight Tools Every Customer Support Team Needs

Threecolts
Yoda Yee
Published
March 1, 2023
Modified
March 9, 2023
Improving customer service is the best way to boost your business

A recent survey suggests that it takes only one bad experience for up to 72 percent of customers to decide to switch services or products. The customer support industry is, as a result, becoming all the more essential to businesses and brands than ever before.

In a competitive market, an outstanding customer support team needs so much more than a few friendly faces and the willingness to help. It also requires a variety of tools to provide the most efficient support.

So, what are these tools? And how do they come in handy? Let’s take a look:

Live Chat Software  

Customers are not willing to wait long hours for help anymore.

The same survey cited above suggests that 52 percent of customers expect customer support to resolve their queries within 24 hours. A longer wait makes them impatient and more likely to look elsewhere for their needs. One of the best tools to help speed up the customer service experience, in this case, is to implement a live chat feature.

How does this software help?

Apart from being a quick and convenient way to answer commonly asked queries, it can also help manage multiple chats simultaneously, thus helping the customer team’s workflow.

Customers, meanwhile, are way more likely to purchase products when there is live chat available to answer their questions during the shopping process, as they don’t have to worry about calling a bunch of numbers or looking up the information themselves.

With tools like UseResponse, you can manage all your customer communications from a single dashboard, create chatbots to answer queries quickly, and collect user credentials and request details even when you are offline.

Helpdesk Software

While live chat is a feature that is super useful for a customer, helpdesk software is an essential tool that can help a customer support team organize both live chat and email queries in one central location. It’s a tool that no support team can- or should- live without. It can help you cut through the clutter and organize, manage, and respond to service-related requests quickly and efficiently.

Overall, helpdesk software is a win-win for any customer support team. It helps keep track of customer interactions, allowing specialists to solve issues faster and with more accuracy.

Social Media Management Software

Social media has become one of the best ways to communicate with customers. Whether it’s for support-related queries or feedback on purchases, most customers prefer using social media platforms to connect with organizations.

This could sometimes be overwhelming for support teams, especially when dealing with a large volume of queries. Speed is also essential when trying to stand out on social media. Organizations that take a long time to respond to comments are quickly forgotten about and cast aside.

However, with the help of a social media management tool, teams can monitor and respond to inquiries promptly. It also helps organize customer inquiries, splitting them up by type, and social media, saving time and effort for both customers and support teams.

Knowledge Management

Customer support teams are expected to have answers to everything. They must know the product and service offered like the back of their hands while also dealing with more specific concerns that customers may have. All the while sounding like an expert.

Given the task, knowledge management is an absolute must-have tool for any customer support team.

This tool allows teams to access all information about the products, services, and support processes on a single platform. It helps them respond to customers quickly and accurately—two essential qualities of any customer support team.

Customer Feedback Tool

Knowing your customer is key. There’s no point selling a service or a product if your customers aren’t happy. There’s also very little chance for growth and innovation. For these reasons, a customer feedback tool is a must for a support team.

This tool can help organizations collaborate with customers through a public feedback system and create a private feedback community for an internal team.  

Companies like UseResponse even offer a complete product roadmap software, for instance, that can help you get a view of the top suggestions made by customers and provide you with options on how to take that feedback further.

Customer feedback software can help your team define specific pain points, create filters and customized reports to optimize the customer support experience.

VPNs

With a VPN, your customer support team can communicate with customers over a secure, encrypted connection. This means that sensitive information, such as customer data or login credentials, is protected from potential hackers.

Additionally, a quality VPN connection can help employees access company resources and tools from anywhere in the world, allowing them to provide top-notch customer support without being tied to a physical location.

Video Conferencing Software

A friendly face guiding customers through their queries is way better than forcing them to sit through an awkward phone call. Preparing your video conferences can be helpful when such face-to-face interactions are required.

It’s important to mention that video and screen sharing solutions not only help you connect with customers in real-time but can also save you time and resources by allowing you to solve any issues the customers may have remotely.

Internal Communications Software

When working with extensive customer support teams, it’s vital to have an internal communication platform. Tools such as Slack or Microsoft Teams are already being used by most businesses to communicate with their employees, and for a good reason.

Real-time chats between colleagues can highly improve business productivity. An internal communication tool can work wonders to reduce confusion, adopt new processes, and create better customer answers.

Conclusion

Top customer service teams must constantly evolve and look for ways to improve response time and provide exceptional service more efficiently.

With the right tools, software, and expertise, it’s now possible to streamline the process, ensuring that the customer is happy 100% of the time and that the products and services no longer have to just speak for themselves. The specific tools depend on the size and needs of your organization, but any combination of the solutions mentioned above is a great start.

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