If you’re asking this question, you’ve already realised that customer service management is far more complex than the term seems to imply. Customer service management focuses on customer needs, coordinating customer service-related activities across internal departments. It deploys people and technology to serve customers, and strives for continuous service improvement. This article examines how this looks in practice and explores how businesses can serve their customers better.
What is the Difference Between Customer Service Management and Customer Relationship Management?
There are overlaps between customer service management and customer relationship management. However, the focus is different. Customer service management focuses on processes that resolve customer queries and issues.
Customer relationship management is much broader and includes matching sales and marketing activities to customer profiles. Thus, CSM has more immediacy while CRM is longer-term. Needless to say, it’s impossible to build good customer relationships without strong customer service.
Customer Service Management Systems
Several systems contribute to effective customer service management with more or less human intervention being required based on the issues raised and the outcomes achieved.
Self Service Options
Self-service options will help to reduce pressure on your teams, so your customer-faced knowledge base will matter. Admittedly, a customer who helps themselves is unlikely to be thrilled with your service, but if they can easily find relevant resources, they can resolve issues faster and are less likely to be unhappy.
Chatbots can also help with routine queries if adequately trained, but beware of relying on them too much. Customer queries and issues can be complex and non-routine, or they may struggle to formulate their requests in a way that chatbots will comprehend.
Ticketing Systems, Workflow Automation and Collaboration Tools
Even in smaller businesses, a ticketing system helps to avoid dropped balls. This customer service management software categorises, prioritises and tracks customer enquiries and requests for support, helping you to organise customer service-related activities better.
Automation tools that assign tasks and provide automated responses to clients can be linked to ticketing systems, helping customers to know what to expect and activating workflows. Collaboration tools should form part of this software suite, allowing for information sharing and coordinated responses.
CRM Software and Analytics
Your customer relationship management software has a role to play too. It keeps records of interactions, and this can prevent frustration for customers and wasted effort for team members.
For example, if your business concludes that a ticket is resolved but the client is still struggling and requests support again, you can prevent a repeated cycle of actions that fails to address an issue from being initiated. Your CRM software will also help with reporting and analytics, helping you to evaluate customer service performance with an eye to future improvements.
Omnichannel Support
The ability to unify customer service records and communicate across channels will facilitate customer service management activities. Instead of focusing on individual channels like telephone, email, social media, and live chat, omnichannel support is customer-centred and places requests for service in context. This helps you to resolve customer service requests more rapidly and results in better outcomes for customers.
Customer Service Management and Automation
Despite advances in automation, many customers are frustrated with automated responses and feel disempowered rather than nurtured. While automation can help both businesses and their customers, customer service management must recognise its limitations and manage customer service accordingly. The limitations of automated customer service include:
Lack of Empathy
Your chatbot may say “We are sorry that you are experiencing this issue,” but from a customer perspective, just how sorry can a bot be? Now consider the perspective of a customer with what they feel to be an urgent issue who receives an automated mail saying their ticket will be resolved within 24 hours. Even if you feel this is an adequate response, your customer may not agree.
Delays in Handling Complex Issues
Your system can escalate complex questions to human representatives, but there may be delays while it attempts to follow routine protocols. Meanwhile, customers experience growing frustration and delayed service delivery. In an automated ticketing system, your client may have been unclear in their written description of their issue, leading to longer waits as requests are misinterpreted and relevant action is delayed.
Increased Customer Effort
Instead of improving service delivery, automation can have the opposite effect, making it more difficult for customers to get the assistance they seek. Blending automation with human intervention to minimise customer effort will be among the challenges customer service management seeks to address.
Preference for Human Interaction
Just about everybody loves technology, but when they’re looking for service, human help is often preferred. Illustrating this, the Spanish Government sought to pass legislation banning automated customer service in 2022.
Customer Satisfaction, Customer Retention and Customer Service Management
Your business’s reputation rests on its ability to serve its customers. Automation can be helpful, but it will be important to get your priorities right. Automation and tech tools can save costs but should prioritise customer experiences, helping them to achieve faster, more efficient service. If they fail to do so, they become a bureaucratic obstacle for customers to overcome rather than a helpful feature.
According to surveys, two thirds of customers will seek alternative providers after experiencing poor service and are willing to pay more to get it. Businesses, on the other hand, invest a great deal in customer acquisition and getting repeat business and referrals costs them less than finding new customers. The message is clear: it pays to invest in customer service.
Customer Service Management Best Practice
Effective customer service management ensures that customers receive priority attention. Many customers are happy to begin by interacting with resource bases and automated customer service features. However, if they want to talk to a human, they should be able to do so at any time they please. When they do decide to interact with representatives, they will expect open channels, rapid responses, and empowered, knowledgeable assistance.
This can present scalability issues for businesses. After all, calls for in-person service are variable, and when there’s a spike in customer service requests from customers who require human intervention, they don’t want to be kept waiting. In addition, they will expect agents to be aware of their histories, a requirement where technology can lend a helping hand.
The challenge in customer service management is to achieve a blend between technology and human resources that match or exceed customer expectations. Customer convenience and satisfaction takes precedence at all times, and without this mindset, businesses will fail to provide satisfactory service.
As research published in the journal of Humanities and Social Sciences concludes:
“Customers need to feel that they are still receiving a personalised and human touch, despite the automation of certain tasks. This can be achieved through effective communication and by using Robotic Process Automation to complement rather than replace human interaction.”
RSVP: Making Round-the-Clock, Scalable Customer Service Possible
Lack of capacity and overconfidence in technology are among the reasons why many businesses are becoming over-reliant on automated customer service. However, the cost of having dissatisfied customers can be very high indeed. Lost customers, poor reviews, negative word-of-mouth, and even legal challenges can be among these.
Implement scalable, accountable, and above-all high quality outsourced customer service as an effective solution. At RSVP, we pride ourselves in our ability to partner with businesses and nurture their customers, creating the positive experiences you’d like your clients to have. After all, customer service is our core business and we work hard to build on our proven track record and industry-leading position. Uplift your business’s customer service reputation and watch your customer satisfaction metrics rise when you work with RSVP.