Many companies now give customers a variety of options for getting hold of them including phone calls, emails, texts and instant messaging. When these communication channels get busy, it can become a challenge to respond to them all. This can often lead to missed calls, late replies and unhappy customers.
Fortunately, there are ways in which you can contain and control the flood of messages. Here are just a few tips for staying on top of customer communications.
Centralize all messages
Rather than having to check different apps and devices for messages, consider centralizing all your messages in one place. CRM software can provide a single platform from which you can answer calls, reply to emails, respond to texts and manage instant message chats – along with other communication channels like social media direct messages and comments. Consider looking into such software if you don’t already use it. Be wary that to manage phone calls via this platform, you will likely need to be using a VoIP number.
Establish a ticketing system
A ticketing system helps to turn each message into a ticket. Each new ticket then goes into a queue, so that you attend to each message on a first come first serve basis. There are ways which you can prioritise certain tickets – such as setting up an emergency hotline and automatically prioritising these calls to the front of the queue. You can set up different ticketing systems for different communication channels or integrate them all into one queue.
Hire staff to help
Having more people to respond to messages will help you to keep on top of communications. A lot of one-man-band businesses realise that they need to hire their first employee once they can no longer keep on top of all the messages. Hiring a secretary to take care of this for you could allow you to focus on your core duties. If you already have a secretary who is struggling, consider whether it could be time to hire an extra staff member. Larger companies typically need teams of staff to handle all of the customer enquiries while carrying out the core duties of the company. Outsourcing tasks like call handling and email response is also a possibility.
Know when to automate replies
Many companies have started setting up AI chatbots to respond to instant messages via their website rather than hiring a dedicated staff member. Certain email responses may also be possible to automate – such as out-of-office replies – while it may also be possible to set an automated phone receptionist. However, it’s important to not automate too much of your communications, as some customers may not take kindly to automated replies and robots. Creating ema templates that you can personalize could be a better way of dealing with frequently asked questions.
Create an FAQs page
On the subject of frequently asked questions, you can also consider setting up a FAQs webpage. This may help to reduce general enquiries by providing customers with the answers they need. You may even be able to create webpages that you can link customers to.
