Examples Of Good Customer Service Skills
Good customer service is when at least 75% of the customers are satisfied with their experiences reaching out to the customer support desk.
This is the reason employers seek the quality skills that make a good customer service representative when a potential employee submits a resume.
There are 3 important qualities of customer service, which are speed, accuracy, and efficiency.
There are other 4 characteristics of a good customer service rep that will be discussed in this article.
These customer service skills examples are expected in every consumer support rep as suggested by consumers when surveyed on how they would like to be treated by a customer service representative.
Qualities of a Good Customer Service Representative
If you’re applying for a customer service representative job, you need to read the following qualities and ensure you have them.
As an employer, you should also test your employee on the following characteristics of good customer service to ensure you employ quality personnel.
- Quick Responsiveness
Quick response is one of the things your clients appreciate most in online customer service.
According to the research findings from Sitel after they surveyed over 1000 UK consumers, over 30% preferred live chat because this customer service channel provides them with the fastest response.
Speed and response time are found to be one of the most important criteria for good service quality.
In another study by Warwick University, the response time has the greatest impact on both customer satisfaction (quick response) and dissatisfaction (slow response).
Also, in the research by Havard Business Review, they audited 2,241 companies in the USA to measure how long each company takes to respond to customers and discovered that 37% of the companies responded in an hour,
This means that most successful companies want a fast customer service response, and would require speed as a quality in online customer service jobs.
The service speed depends on several factors, which include the contact channel, employee skills, employee responsibility, etc.
As someone seeking an online customer service job, you already know you’re going to be working online, therefore, you need to be able to type fast on the computer keyboard.
You need to acquire much knowledge about the company’s services toto minimize the resolution time of any request.
The more knowledgeable you’re, the fewer questions you’ll have to ask to resolve the issue.
- Be Accurate
Irrespective of the effort taken to supply data, if it isn’t accurate, it becomes void.
Regardless of the customer service speed, the answer should of course be correct.
Johnston’s study shows that most clients consider accuracy as a key requirement in customer service.
While it won’t increase customer satisfaction, inaccurate information will undoubtedly lead to dissatisfaction.
Accuracy is also about clarity and reliability, and it depends on how coordinated you’re while communicating with clients.
This can also be trained to a certain extent, but talent also plays a role here.
You should also be able to work as a team with other customer service representatives.
Customer service is like a team sport. In order to make a resolution to an issue, one representative often depends on the knowledge of other employees.
- Be Transparent
As a good customer service personnel or you’re looking for a customer service job online, you need to be able to strike the balance between customer satisfaction and reality.
There are situations when your clients will get tensed up and use foul words in communicating with you.
We all understand this annoying feeling and need to be transparent as regards the state of the service.
Transparency in customer service is just as important as speed and accuracy, the clients will accept their fate at the moment, and you’ll be able to help relieve them of their pent-up emotions.
Not knowing the reason your issue is not resolved or how long to wait can really cause grief in the heart of the client
From my experience in live chat support, I know the temptation to switch to support mode immediately and resolve the customer request directly.
However, the principle of transparency suggests first of all to explain to the customer what exactly will happen, even if it increases the waiting time a little.
- Be Responsible
Your chance of keeping a customer service job depends on your responsibility in the workplace.
In online customer support jobs, you’re almost independent in carrying out your responsibilities.
We all like to feel in control of what we do, and that’s exactly what customer support jobs online offer you.
However, you need to handle the job in your best capacity.
Customer service jobs are like humanitarian jobs, you need to work towards people’s satisfaction.
Either you’re available in the company’s physical office or you’re working from home, you need to make the working environment suitable for yourself in order to perform optimally.
- Be Friendly
You don’t need to be rigid and too professional because it’s a corporate job.
Most clients would want to communicate with you in an informal way, you should also relate with them like you’ve met them in real life.
Every quality service is based on interpersonal communication, even when it comes to self-service.
The versatility and numerous nuances of human interaction can always have both positive and negative effects on the service experience.
Kindness and courtesy are qualities that are almost impossible to train, and they’re required to make you stand out and perform exceptionally.
McDonald’s recently told its franchisees that 20% of its customer complaints stem from unfriendly employees.
This means that no company would want to keep unfriendly workers in the customer service department.
- Be Efficient
You might have experience in customer support jobs online, and have a brilliantly crafted resume.
Efficiency is a very important factor in customer service jobs online.
You should be able to predict the next question your client would ask.
You should also be able to help them in presenting their issue.
Some people don’t know how best to communicate the issue to you, when you realize this, try to help them redefine their inquiry in order to prefer the best solution to it.