Everything is moving along nicely with your company and then – out of nowhere – an emergency pops up. For some companies it could be their software is having login issues, but one emergency many companies are working through currently is the emerging concern and uncertainty created by the Coronavirus (COVID-19). Events around the world are being postponed or cancelled, and it’s fundamentally changing the way people work and interact with each other.

As a customer, hearing the answer “go read this self-service article” from a support agent can be a frustrating experience. So many companies do self-service poorly that this type of response can feel like the agent is brushing the customer aside to focus on another issue. However, a great self-service experience can change this feeling of being ignored to one of feeling satisfied and empowered.

Everyone in the business world has had an experience where it didn’t feel like they mattered to a vendor or business. It’s a difficult feeling knowing your voice isn’t being heard, or even worse ignored by someone you’re trusting to meet your business needs. However, these situations can be avoided with your own customers by hiring support team members who legitimately care about them AND know how to properly display this care in conversations.

All companies strive towards having a strong corporate culture. People make a business what it is, so keeping them happy, motivated, and positive has an impact on operations that is difficult to measure and describe. A great culture fuels a level of growth and productivity that all businesses want to achieve. When it comes to customer support, a corporate culture can have a wide array of impacts. Here are some ways good and bad corporate cultures impact customer support operations.

The concept of “customer churn”, or customers leaving a business, is something that keeps executives around the world awake at night. Especially in the B2B (business-to-business) industry, losing just one major customer can make or break a business. So, what can companies do to ensure churn rates remain as low as possible? Here are six tactics.

The new year is here and with it comes our annual list of key customer service trends! Our 2019 trends article was a huge hit, so here’s what is set to make an impact in 2020…

Automated phone technology, such as interactive voice response (IVR) menus, can save businesses time and money on customer support. These solutions route callers to the right people without the help of a human operator. Larger businesses should consider IVR menus to streamline the customer support experience. They should not replace account managers and instead are optimized for streamlining after hours and emergency support communication.

As we look forward into the next decade, let's first reflect back to the previous one and the impact it had on customer support. The 2010's was a decade driven by the emergence and evolution of mobile technology, making it easier to communicate than ever before. It also launched "big data" into the mainstream, and support teams had more information about their customers than ever before. We've looked at annual customer service trends in the past, but now it's time to look even further down the road.

While 90% of business-to-business (B2B) leaders recognize the importance of customer support, fewer than 25% of companies excel at helping their customers. It’s a concerning statistic as B2B markets thrive off long-term relationships with their clients. Phone calls are a vital component of any B2B customer support strategy, as it’s often the fastest way to resolve problems.

Simply put, your business needs customer service strategies that improve their productivity and customer satisfaction. The right strategies help your customers resolve their issues faster and enable your agents to provide better support. Here are five of the winning customer service strategies every business should be using.