To boost customer satisfaction, it’s important to go beyond their expectations and make them feel special. Surprise and delight your customers by doing something unexpected that shows your appreciation and lets them know you value their business.
The old saying “If you don’t take care of your customers, then someone else will” is not just a helpful idea: it is a mandatory instruction. Consider the following:
- 96% of customers will switch companies due to bad customer service.
- 78% of customers have backed out of a purchase they had planned to make due to poor customer service.
- Businesses across the U.S. lose a whopping $62 trillion each year due to bad customer service and lack of customer loyalty.
Thankfully, however, the flip side is also true: good customer service is “the gift that keeps on giving”:
- 89% of customers say they are more likely to make another purchase after a positive customer experience.
- 68% of customers say they would happily pay more for a product or service from a company that provides good customer service.
- Customers who rate a company’s service as “good” are 38% more likely to recommend that company through word-of-mouth marketing, etc.
And so, the #1 question that EVERY business should be asking is: What can we do to significantly and sustainably improve our customer service, so that we can increase competitive advantage, sales, loyal customers, and profits?
The answer is simple and proven: upgrade from a conventional landline phone system to an all-in-one cloud phone system. Here are eight game-changing reasons why a cloud phone system will surprise and delight customers:
1. Deliver Great Customer Service from Anywhere
A cloud phone system is ideal for supporting your remote/hybrid workforce. From a home office — or anywhere else they happen to be — your employees can connect with customers through voice or text. Device options include digital phones, softphones (headsets), and smartphone apps. Learning they can work from anywhere is sure to surprise and delight your customers.
2. Check Availability Before Transferring a Call
One thing that virtually every member of the customer base really — we are talking REALLY — dislikes is when their call is transferred to someone who is not available at the time.
A cloud phone system eliminates this common customer service pitfall with a feature known as “presence.” This is an at-a-glance indicator that informs employees in real-time if a colleague a colleague is available, busy, or away. The employee can then communicate with the customer accordingly. For example, if the colleague who they want to transfer the call to is:
- AVAILABLE, then the employee can simply let the customer know that their call is about to be routed.
- BUSY, then the employee can send their colleague a quick text message asking them when they anticipate being available. This information can then be passed along to the customer, who can choose to wait or get a call back later.
- AWAY, then the employee can share this fact with the customer, and give them the option to leave a message/voicemail or get a call back later when the colleague returns to their desk/office.
3. Automatically Route Calls to the Next Available Employee
With a conventional landline phone system, incoming calls are “stacked” in a line that continues getting longer (think of it like planes on a runway waiting to take off). Naturally, some customers are either going to be unhappy about waiting — and some will hang up. This is hardly a recipe for customer satisfaction and customer delight!
Once again, a cloud phone system completely changes the game so that both you and your customers WIN instead of LOSE. This is because you can easily configure the system to automatically route calls to the next available employee (and regardless of where they may be located — their home office, in the car during the commute, at a coffee shop…anywhere!).
The result is that your customers spend little — or better yet, no — time waiting on hold. Instead of getting frustrated, they will be impressed!
4. Automatically Route Calls to the Right Department
Do you know what else customers HATE? Being “bounced around” from one department to another. With a cloud phone system, you can close this gap thanks to an amazing feature called Auto Attendant.
Think of this like your very own customizable virtual receptionist! One who answers every call and invites callers to choose the appropriate department (e.g., Sales, Technical Support, Shipping, etc.). This fosters an emotional connection and makes customers much happier. Plus, it makes your customer service team more productive.
5. Allow Customers to Reach Specific Employees
One of the biggest problems with a conventional landline phone system happens once the maximum number of phone lines is reached. At this point, adding capacity for more lines is VERY expensive. Thankfully, this is not the case with a cloud phone system!
There is no limit to the number of phone numbers (or extensions) that you can add to the system, and assign to employees. This includes temporary and seasonal workers. Imagine the surprise and delight of your customers, knowing that THEIR customers won’t have to be shuffled around to the right department. Consider these two scenarios, one without a cloud phone system and one with a cloud phone system:
- Without a cloud phone system: “Mr. Jones, when you are ready to move ahead with the installation, please call our Technical Support department and an available representative will help you at that time.”
- With a cloud phone system: “Mr. Jones, when you are ready to move ahead with the installation, please call me on my direct line at (301) 560-4407. I am familiar with your situation, and will be very happy to help you at that time.”
The second scenario is FAR better for your customers. At this point, they feel like a priority and not “just a number.” Delivering delightful experiences that foster emotional connection is not just kind and ethical — it is also very profitable!
6. Improve Responsiveness with Voicemail-to-Email
Here is another “how did we ever survive without this?” cloud phone system feature that will generate many happy customers: voicemail-to-email.
This feature automatically converts voicemails into audio files and sends them to the recipient’s inbox. What’s more, the audio file can be automatically transcribed and added to the body of the email.
First, voicemail-to-email dramatically accelerates response times. Your employees can check voicemails on the go vs. waiting for a break or the end of the day. Second, it allows employees to save messages for reference/archive purposes, as well as forward messages. Here is an example of how beneficial this can be for customer service:
One of your sales reps, John, gets a push notification on his phone indicating that a voicemail is waiting for him. The voicemail is from a customer who asks a very specific and technical question that John doesn’t have the answer to — but he knows that Mark on the technical team certainly does.
Without a cloud phone system, John would probably give Mark a call, or send him an email, trying to capture exactly what the customer asked. Despite his best efforts, John would almost certainly leave out some details, or fail to fully understand all of the nuances of the highly technical question.
But with a cloud phone system, thanks to the voicemail-to-email feature John simply forwards the audio file to Mark. After listening to it, Mark either debriefs John with the answer, or Mark calls the customer directly to provide all of the details.
The bottom line is that the customer gets the full and correct information they need the FIRST time, which is exactly what they want and expect.
7. Send Texts to Customers
Text messaging with customers is definitely on the rise (think of them like a 21st-century handwritten note!):
- 69% of customers want the ability to contact a business through text messaging.
- Customers are 4.5x more likely to reply to text messages than emails.
- 13% of customers are more likely to support businesses that offer text-back capabilities.
With a cloud phone system, your employees can send/receive SMS and MMS messages through an online portal, or through using their smartphone app. Plus, all texts are automatically organized. The result makes it easy for employees to manage multiple conversations in a single interface.
8. Track Contact Center Metrics
If you have a Contact Center, then a cloud phone system empowers you with a live reporting tool that delivers real-time granular insights into daily operations. For example, you may discover that while Monday is your busiest day in terms of total call volume, the longest calls typically occur on Thursday.
Based on this actionable intelligence, you can adjust your staffing decisions and recruiting strategies accordingly — and significantly improve customer service and overall customer experience.
The Bottom Line
Exceeding customer expectations is not optional: it is essential. Now that you know eight powerful ways that a cloud phone system surprises and delights your potential and current customers, the question you need to ask isn’t “Do we need a cloud phone system?”, but rather “How can we afford NOT to get a cloud phone system as soon as possible?’
Contact Us Today
Contact Carolina Digital Phone today and schedule your free consultation and demo of our affordable, scaleable, future-proofed, and feature-rich cloud phone system. Discover how we will take your customer service to the next level. We can visit you on-site, or connect with you over the web if you prefer. Call us now at (336) 544-4000.