In today’s digital era the use of technology has grown exponentially. In recent years, with the advent of smartphones and tablets, we now have access to a wealth of information and resources that were previously unthinkable. When it comes to the accessibility of information, we are arguably at a high point—all thanks to the availability of today’s technological advancement.
This increased availability of technology has changed not only how we communicate, but also how we learn and work. Businesses can now leverage people’s familiarity with technology to help them deliver a better customer experience.
Any business can improve its customer interactions by building a team that goes the extra mile; when it comes to field service businesses, there is no exception to this rule. By creating a customer-centric culture and implementing feedback received from clients you will not only create a better experience for customers, but you will find an increase in repeat business and retention rates.
Here are some statistics that show the impact of customer satisfaction:
- 93% were more likely to become repeat customers at companies with excellent customer service. (HubSpot Research)
- 78% of consumers will do business with a company again after a mistake. (Salesforce Research)
- 64% of business leaders say that customer service has a positive impact on their company’s growth. (Zendesk)
How Is Customer Service Different from Customer Experience?
Customer Service
When it comes to customer service, you must understand the customer’s problem and offer a solution; ignoring a known problem could be devastating for a company, so you need to be mindful when a customer tells you that something is wrong.
An unhappy customer has little reason to use you a second time and when they seek a better experience elsewhere should not surprise you. But you don’t just lose them. Unhappy customers talk about their bad experiences, and that can cost you business you didn’t even know about! Understanding—and immediately correcting—a customer’s issue is essential to avoiding a bad reputation.
Customer experience must be our highest priority when someone reaches out for help. In the field service industry there are many providers to choose from, so interactions must be customer-centric. Being kind and empathic with customers is as important as responding quickly; the response a customer receives either helps to build trust or lays the groundwork for a bad review—choose to build trust.
Putting yourself in a customer’s place will put you on the right track to ensuring that their interactions with you result in a memorable customer service experience—in a good way. By delivering that sort of response that you would want in a similar situation, you will not only keep existing customers happy but potentially gain new ones—word-of-mouth advertising can be powerful.
Customer Experience
Customer experience is what the customer feels after interacting with your company; it is the collective experience of their interaction with your business and its representatives. Anything that happens throughout the service process can count as customer experience.
These can be things such as the ease with which they can contact customer support, or the ability to easily use a payment method familiar to them. Everyone in your company is responsible for providing a positive experience to your customers, regardless of where they are in the organization; if they are a touchpoint for customer interaction, then they are part of the customer’s collective experience with your company.
Customers want to speak with someone who can solve their problems. The trick is connecting your customers with employees who are engaging, empathetic, and know the company and its offerings well enough to resolve customer issues the first time they contact you. This is where employee training, regular meetings, and internal surveys can all help.
By increasing employee knowledge through training, you put them in a better position to help anyone calling in for help. Regular meetings help everyone to keep abreast of changes in policy and make sure people are aware of opportunities to refine their knowledge and learn new techniques for dealing with the public.
Customer service matters. It matters so much, that frequently customers are willing to pay more if it means having a better experience overall. If you are going to offer a better experience in the future, it is essential you understand what weaknesses you have today. Once you understand how customers experience your service right now, you can decide what solutions are most appropriate to implement for better customer service tomorrow.
5 Tips to Improve Customer Experience
1. Reduce Redundant Tasks
By connecting your ticketing system to field service software, you can automatically turn tickets and service requests into work orders. Software integration of this type will reduce double entry and minimize manual processes, reducing errors. Additionally, automating processes in this way allows providers to access their data when needed all from one central system without switching screens frequently.
2. Give Your Technicians the Complete Picture
Providing your technicians with up-to-date information about a potential job or an active job site is key to a great customer experience. Realizing a technician already has notes about previous visits and job resolutions available will be a relief for your customers. Field techs will be able to review notes as necessary without burdening customers with any more questions than necessary. The information that your techs need will be right there—at their fingertips. Navigating to the work site with the right tools to complete the job quickly and efficiently won’t be unusual; your customers will come to expect it.
3. Plan Schedules and PPM Automatically
By sending the most appropriate field technician to the correct job site based on their skill set, you can optimize your resource utilization. If it becomes necessary to reprioritize a job to expedite its completion, you can also allocate jobs based on who is geographically closest to a job site. Zuper also allows you to set up recurring jobs on a weekly or monthly basis. You can schedule planned preventative maintenance (PPM) periodically to avoid failure of the devices or assets. Creating and managing PPMs will help the field technician complete the task efficiently.
4. Share Estimates and Invoices Online
When you are in the field, you need to have the right application and tools if you are to offer the best possible service. Zuper allows you to create and send out estimates and invoices quickly and efficiently with a list of ready-to-use templates. You can easily add services, parts, taxes, and discounts to any invoice or quote that you create. Finally, you can share all this information with your customers via SMS or email.
5. Keep Your Customers Informed Proactively
Providing your customers with the information they need when they need it is essential, and it is also equally important that they have easy access to this information. This will also minimize repetitive questions and improve customer satisfaction, ensuring you spend your time efficiently. With Zuper Field Service Management software, you will be able to share project details and documents, request and process payments, and respond to service requests without any delay.
Final Takeaway
Providing a great customer experience is very important for any business. With access to so much technology, we must look for ways to use it to our advantage and provide our customers with the best experience possible.
By abiding by a few simple principles, we can offer the best possible experience to our customers. Redundant tasks can be reduced, if not eliminated. Field technicians who are provided with a complete picture are better prepared when dealing with returning customers.
Planning and scheduling regular visits and reminders become much easier and help your customers feel cared for. Over time technicians gain a better sense of what customers need and are better able to provide a service that is more personalized—a service that customers will remember.
Zuper’s field service management software offers you an array of customization and extensibility options for you and your field service teams. What’s more, Zuper provides seamless integration with many existing products, like Zendesk, that you may already be familiar with. By using an integration, you don’t have to abandon what you already know, but it allows you to take advantage of the exciting benefits that Zuper has to offer. When you are ready to learn more, take a look at the Zendesk and Zuper integration to get a sense of how the integration works.
