It doesn’t matter if your business is flowers, transportation, IT consulting or anything else—certain qualities are crucial to your customer service success. Customer satisfaction can make or break a company. As we all know, happy clients will tell their friends about their experiences…and unhappy clients will tell even more! With that in mind, there are five key areas where every business needs to excel in order to survive.

Consistently Good Customer Service

It’s inevitable that customers will have questions or problems and occasionally will need a little extra help. Making sure that their customer service experience is the same every time they contact you goes a long way toward keeping them as clients. Intelligent automation systems that put a customer’s history right in front of your reps go a long way toward making customer service a snap.

Great User Experience

In every way possible, make your service easy for customers to use. This starts with easy website navigation and extends to ease of communication and other areas. Always be looking at your product from the user’s point of view. They come to you to solve a problem or enhance an experience, and your products and services should do just that.

Understanding Clients’ Needs

Providing this great user experience means having a deep understanding of what each client needs. Why do your customers want your service? What can you provide that will make them come to you instead of your competitors? Focusing on their needs in everything from your initial marketing through conversions to the end of a transaction makes them happier and more likely to come back again.

Personalization

Do you have a favorite restaurant where everything is always just right? Your server knows you and leads you to your favorite table every time. She knows you love the minestrone soup and lets you know that it’s on the menu today. Your favorite drink shows up unbidden. There’s a sample of an appetizer that the owner wants you to try and mints on your check at the end of the meal.

Smart contact center personalization can make your customers feel just as special. Automated menus can ask whether they’d like to skip through and repeat their most common order. If they are having a problem, the customer service rep who answers has all the details so your client doesn’t have to tell their tale of woe all over again.

Many Channel Choices

With many businesses, customers only have one or two choices for reaching customer service: they can fill out an email form (which most people hate) or call customer service. Smart companies allow customers to contact them through email, phone, chat and even SMS. The more flexibility your customers have, the happier they will be.

Those little touches that make your customers’ lives easier and their experiences smoother and more enjoyable make all the difference. Provide your valued clients with the best and most modern options available to keep them happy and keep them coming back.