Why B2C customer support is paramount to your success

B2B CRM systems

B2C (business-to-consumer) companies must manage their customer relationships very well in order to become or remain a leader in their industry. Finding the perfect way to handle customers might take a couple of tries before you actually get it right mostly because B2C customer support means being able to manage individuals in such a way that they feel acknowledged, appreciated, and valued. Getting that right means you need to be properly equipped with a customer relationship management team who has the skillset and operational tools to keep every customer they engage with happy.

Customers deserve your help

B2C customer support is all about assisting customers with any of their queries or complaints regarding your business’ value proposition. Sounds obvious right? Well it is, but it’s not simple. Each one of your customers deserves assistance in using your products and services in a cost-effective way. This means you must be available to assist with setting up, installing, troubleshooting, training, maintaining, upgrading, and even disposal of your offering.

Related: What is the difference between B2B and B2C customer support?

Break it up to find what works

Finding out what type of B2C customer support is important for your company is easiest when you break it into two parts. First, your customer relationship management team’s skillset and second, tools and solutions.

The skillset of your staff

Your customer service employees are one of the most important teams you have in your business. Whether they’re a tag-team manning your helpdesk or a large group of people operating in a call center environment, they need to be trained to make sure that every customer feels good when interacting with them. This is what your customer will remember. And, no matter what, if it’s a bad interaction your entire business will be seen in a pretty negative light.

There are key elements to include in the training your B2C customer support staff that’ll ensure your customers are experiencing the best interactions. These include teaching your customer support staff the value of empathy, including positive language and always acknowledging the customer’s pain points. A good trick is to create a positive “sandwich” with your words. Acknowledge the positive and thank them for their valuable feedback, deliver the bad news or negative response and close the conversation with another affirmative comment or point them in the direction of where they might find the correct assistance.

Similarly, when instructing customers on how to go about sorting out their particular complaint or query make sure you are crystal clear. Helping the customer feel good about their interaction with you is important. But even more crucial is that they’ve completely understood what they need to do next. This results in problems being sorted out quickly, queries handled with quick turnaround time, fewer emails, and less admin. Of course this ultimately positively impacts your bottom line.

Tools and solutions

When considering which tools you need to implement, you must look at the customer relationship management (CRM) tool or system you use. This system will underpin your engagement with your customers. If your customer service staff are delivering excellent customer experience, your CRM solution needs to further deliver satisfaction. It’ll embed your processes, automate, and lessen administrative tasks and offer an efficient, highly effective service to your customer base.

Robust CRM solutions will capture detailed, up-to-date information about your customers. It’ll offer insights into their behavior and assist you with how to manage your marketing strategy. You can manipulate the system according to your needs and ultimately replicate the personal touch you want your customers to feel when interacting with you.

If you would like to find out more about how to satisfy your customer’s expectations, download our comprehensive guide on CRM. We specifically tackle mobile messaging in a CRM environment and delve into the details of how to use these tools to benefit your customers.