Retail businesses have been known to thrive on great products, in-store experiences, bold marketing tactics, new customers, and repeat purchases. But if you deliver good customer service in retail, you can turn casual browsers into buyers and eventually loyal customers.

According to Forbes, 44% of companies focus on customer acquisition, while only 18% focus on customer retention. However, research has also found that just one bad customer experience can lead to customers leaving your services for a competitor. It’s no secret that customer acquisition comes at a cost. However, when you focus on customer retention, you can bring down customer acquisition costs significantly, as well as lay the foundation for forecastable revenue via repeat customers.

A help desk software is designed to streamline customer conversations from across channels into one view, keep track of service requests, and resolve customer issues efficiently. Hence, it’s important for you to choose the right help desk software and implement the best practices to make the most of your investment. With help desk software, it becomes easier to delight your customers and keep your agents happy. But are you satisfied with your help desk service provider?

One of the main roles of a customer support team is to identify customer needs and find solutions to customer problems. Dissatisfied customers will bring their issues to your attention by sharing negative feedback via social media, chat, email, while other unhappy customers won’t even report their issues but simply switch to one of your competitors.

Customer service is often associated with consumer-facing companies, like Amazon or your favorite e-commerce store. When mentioned in relation to schools, it’s often overlooked. However, good customer service in schools can help build stronger ties with existing students and parents, as well as earn a reputation as a preferred educational institution that lasts for years to come.

‘What’s the big deal with technical support emails?’ you might ask. Aren’t they simple? In theory, they are, yet many customer support agents manage to make a significant mess. Though it’d be ideal to hand-craft every email you send, it can also be time-consuming and counterproductive. We know our share of agents in tech support, and some of the support conversations they’ve recounted have ranged from terrible to occasionally hilarious.

The ways in which most businesses now operate and interact with customers is drastically different from what they were a few years ago. For example, customers can research their options, learn about other brands, and make purchases all from the comfort of their own homes. And though this has meant a lot of change and adjustment for businesses, many of those changes have been for the better. This is because digital transformation and customer experience influence each other.

In any profession, success comes to those who are constantly evolving, staying updated on current trends and learning best practices. We often look to leaders and industry experts to show us the way forward whenever there’s a roadblock, and if your work profile is dependent on keeping up with evolving customer trends and expectations, you need ongoing guidance.

When it comes to customer service metrics and call center KPIs that measure team efficiency, no metric does a better job than average handle time (AHT). A high average handle time signals critical red flags that need to be attended to immediately. This includes warnings about process inefficiencies, the quality of the training you offer, the ease of access to information and resources, and more. So it’s essential to monitor your average handle time, at all times, to make sure it stays low.

If you’re looking for an upward career movement in customer service, you need to be prepared to deal with difficult situations from day one. Be it face-to-face, over phone, email or even chat, whenever something goes wrong, a customer service manager will be the first point of contact for customer support agents trying to solve uncommon or complicated customer problems.