Whether you realize it or not, there are two kinds of customer service — proactive and reactive. If you have a customer-facing business and customer service is part of your business model, it’s essential that you understand the distinction between the two and why proactive customer service is so vital in today’s marketplace.
Reactive Customer Service
Reactive customer service is the standard method of customer service that companies have used for decades. It essentially involves waiting for something to happen and then dealing with it. Reactive customer service representatives don’t take steps to correct issues until they get a call, e-mail or chat with a complaint.
Proactive Customer Service
Proactive customer service takes a preventative approach. Companies with proactive customer service models anticipate potential customer service issues and take steps to manage problems before they occur. For example, some businesses use customer surveys to gather feedback on what people do or do not like about their services. The businesses then make changes based on the survey responses.
Businesses can also provide proactive customer service by creating comprehensive help databases that list answers to the most commonly asked questions. Bulletin boards and forums are another great proactive customer service step because they enable customers to have discussions amongst themselves that can lead to resolving issues and sharing solutions regarding your products or services.
Why Proactive Customer Service Is So Important for Your Business
A good customer service department will have both proactive and reactive elements. You will, of course, always need to have some reactive measures in place. When a customer encounters a problem they can’t solve, they need to know that you’ll be there to resolve it. However, we live in an on-demand society where people expect to get things exactly when they want them, and even before. Many companies have seen tremendous success implementing groundbreaking customer service policies, and we can all learn from them.
When you take a proactive approach to customer service, you let your customers know that they’re important to you. You let them become an active participant in your company’s process, and it’s this kind of agency that can lead to greater customer retention and even customer growth as your satisfied customers share their experiences on social media and bring more potential customers into your orbit.
It’s okay to start small with your proactive approach and expand as you learn. If you have a website, adding an online forum for your customers to interact is a simple way to find out what your customers are thinking and what their needs and concerns are. From there, adding elements like customer satisfaction surveys, live chat pop-up assistants and other proactive measures can further enhance your ability to help your clients and increase customer engagement and satisfaction.
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