Customer Service from Scratch: Submission Channels
In the last part of this series, I covered building block 1: Contact Types & Establishing your Service Voice. In this article, I will talk about one of my favorite topics: Submission Channels. I love submission channel selection for two main reasons. Reason one, is that it is truly one of the most impactful decisions you can make for the customer experience. The second, is that it entirely defines the complexity of the type of business you are going to run.
With that, let’s get into building block 2: Submission Channels.
Phone
Most new business owners are itching to launch phone support. There is a perceived luxury to the channel and often people romanticize the human element of a phone interaction. The reality is that new businesses are the least equipped to take on the challenge of phone support, and doing so out of passion is how companies get into an operational nightmare.
If it is not relevant for your business — you should not implement phone support; it is expensive to staff, technology must be premium, and if mis-managed, it is hugely problematic. The only reasonable businesses that should consider phones are real time businesses and even then, chat is a preferred option.
I have been in countless business situations where I was charged with removing phone support which is much harder to do when customers are accustomed to using it.
You can leverage this as an easy to set up channel, but a much more efficient way to intake written messages from customers is using a contact form. If you get an email — the likelihood that a customer will provide the right information up front that you actually need to solve the case is very low. So you are already spending customer and agent time for the initial contact but will most likely need a few more responses to get it right.
Form to Case
The reason I like a form to case is that you can set a very simple set of drop downs for the customer to complete, prompt them to provide some key pieces of information and you get a few things:
- You get initial data from the form (so you can see out of how many contacts which are related to order or product, etc)
- You ensure that the agent is set up to solve the issue because they have the order number or account name, etc.
- You also set expectations with the customer that support is not a black box you can shout into but an organized team ready to act.
Chat
If you want a live channel — chat is great. Agents can handle up to 3 chats at a time (way more efficient than phone), you can also get a chatbot + live chat functionality that can drive automation. Chatbots fall into two categories today; real AI and flows. Real AI is still new, but the idea is that the chatbot tool will review your own help center and service answers to the customers based on existing knowledge. Flows are pre-defined flows you can build and manage internally based on top customer questions, you train the bot to recognize prompts and service the right flows. There is always an option for a customer to ask for an agent at any point — and they can talk to a person.
Social
You will need to manage the comments on ads customers leave and make sure to get them into your preferred support channels. The support agent will likely need to lead in resolution rather than be simply responsive.
Community
This is down the line for most businesses. Community is a great way to build a culture for your customers but note it needs good oversight and monitoring. You will also have to be ready to action on product suggestions if you offer an outlet for that online.
In summary — choosing the right submission channels will set you and customers up for long term success. Being passionate about customers is always a priority, but don’t allow your passion to draw you to the wonder of live channels if you’re not prepared to deal with the complexity of those channels. It is always easier to add channels, verses removing them!
We’ll be covering building block 3 next time: Support Infrastructure
Photo credit: freepik.com
