There are all sorts of ways for a customer to interact with a company. Some customers might email a company to complain about a particular product, for example. Other customers appreciate the fact that an organization can use live chat 24/7 to engage with them. Every company should think deeply about the kind of customer service that they provide, and why it makes sense for their customers.
Of course, customer service also changes as technology evolves. Some organizations have to take a more technical approach to customer service, while other companies might offer more conversational customer service because it fits within their brand. Here are some different types of customer service:
- Self-Serve Customer Support
- Phone Support
- Email Support
- Live Chat Support
- Social Media Support
- SMS Support
Self-Serve Customer Support
Businesses can also make it so that customers don’t have to actually speak or interact with a company representative. How is this accomplished? Many companies have websites that offer extensive FAQ sections that can deal with the most common customer issues/problems.
Other self-serve customer support options include knowledge bases, blog articles, and more. It’s also smart to allow the knowledge base to be searchable, for maximum customer convenience.
Phone Support
Phone support is a common way to deal with customers, and it’s a great way to build empathy with customers. If your organization hires customer service representatives that understand how to deal with customers well over the phone, it can help them have a much better opinion of your company. With phone support, customers can often become brand evangelists.
Email Support
Many companies already use email as their primary way to interact with customers. First, it’s formal written communication — which helps to protect organizations in any industry. Second, email support is very cost-effective, which is ideal for small companies that want to keep expenses down so that they can grow.
Email also allows for more information to be exchanged, which means that customers can get their issues handled quicker. This goes both ways, as well: companies can send attachments regarding their product or services, while customers can also attach receipts to prove that they purchased that product or service. Customers can also add photographs to prove that a product was defective, for example.
Live Chat Support
Let’s say that you just purchased a service for your new startup. As an entrepreneur, you are up at 4 AM working diligently only to find that this service is suddenly not working. There are not many options here in terms of customer service.
Live chat allows your questions to be answered as soon as possible, and at any hour. It’s a massive competitive advantage for any company, which is why live chat often means a higher customer satisfaction rate.
Social Media Support
There are many reasons why companies should launch and maintain a social media strategy, but social media can also be a great way to engage and interact with customers. If your company is experiencing many customer service calls clogging up the phone, companies can deal with issues through Facebook messages or Twitter DMs.
Social media is also ideal for businesses that want to reach specific customers. A wellness company may make sure to tweet motivational advice every day, while other brands might want to show more humor or personality to fit their brand. A viral tweet, of course, can also lead to actual revenue. Popeye’s chicken sandwich went viral on social media in 2019, and Apex Marketing valued that the discussion around the sandwich was worth somewhere around $65 million.
SMS Support
In 2021, it’s hard to imagine you going anywhere without your phone. That’s why so many companies are pivoting from traditional customer service methods and offering customer service through actual text messages. With over 5 billion people sending text messages every day, it’s easy to see how SMS support can be a game-changer in terms of customer service.
Consumers check their emails often, but texting just makes customer service a bit more conversational and more convenient. While it might not work for every industry, SMS support is certainly getting more popular as a customer service method.
