Customer Service Depends on Relationships Even in the Mobile Age

People access the internet on mobile devices more often than desktop computers, and that trend started years ago. It's also been well over a year since "mobilegeddon," when Google updated its algorithms to penalize websites without mobile counterparts.

With so many websites shifting to responsive design, consumers now turn to the mobile web and apps to address online shopping needs. Early adopters make purchases directly from their smartphones. Others use mobile devices to quickly look up items, consume product-specific content and discuss options with peers -- any time, anywhere.

The mobile browsing experience is remarkably different from surfing via desktop, and it's about much more than screen size. It’s about immediacy and creating “micro moments” along the journey to purchase. A recent study shows that 63 percent of adults in the United States use their mobile devices several times in a given month to obtain customer support. Ninety percent of them reported poor experiences when interacting with customer support via mobile.

To maximize sales, customer satisfaction, repeat business and referrals, you must master the art of customer service for mobile. Here are three mobile realities to keep in mind, along with a few tips to help you handle them.

Nobody has time to wait for your slow reply.

The average response time for customer service requests is 17.5 hours. In the mobile age, instant gratification is the standard. Differentiate yourself by always responding within a few minutes.

• Make sure your chosen customer-service software has a companion mobile app. You'll want to receive alerts when people reach out to you and reply quickly, even when you aren't at your computer. Nearly all leading service platforms, including LivePerson, offer this option.

• Send an automatic response to every inquiry. Simply confirm you've received the message and you intend to reply within a specific amount of time. This lets your customers know their emails haven't disappeared into the abyss and assures them you have a target timeframe for addressing their issues. If you're uncertain you'll have an answer within the range you initially promised, make sure to let the customer know. Keep him or her updated on progress to show you're working to find the best possible solution. People don’t always mind waiting, so long as they know they aren't being neglected or ignored.

• Develop and maintain an extensive, up-to-date and easily navigable library of resources for customer-support team members. Your staff can refer to this approved library as they search for answers. Additionally, your team can link to this information as they offer in-depth explanations to customers and prospects alike. 

Different people prefer different platforms.

Individuals will prefer to connect and communicate with you in different ways. For example, older people generally rely on their smartphones to make phone calls, while younger generations also depend on their devices for social media and texting. 

To reach the most people as effectively as possible, provide the options they want for where and how to reach out to you.

• Use a tool such as Bontact to offer many communication channels, all with a single platform. This allows people to choose their preferred means of contact (Facebook Messenger, Skype, email, text, phone and more). These tools also enable you to track individual relationships and carry the same conversation across multiple channels.

• Everywhere you can, encourage people to reach out to you. Highlight these access points on your social media posts, the "About" blurbs for all social profiles, website footer, sidebar buttons and more. Let your audience see you’re open and responsive to customer contact and feedback.

• Create a thorough, rich knowledge base and FAQs library -- enabled with semantic search -- so people can locate answers before reaching out to you. Many people like to find the answers on their own before speaking with a customer-support agent. In fact, nearly one-third of millennials rather would clean a toilet than deal with customer service.

Your customer might or might not want to be your friend.

A cheery tone and emoji can be effective in a number of situations, but not all of them. While emoji are standard fare on mobile, they don't have a place in all mobile interactions. A customer who reaches out to you via your company's Facebook page doesn't necessarily want to be your friend. 

Allow customers to take the lead when it comes to discussion tone. Remain friendly and courteous, without too much formality. But also keep in mind that a chummy tone might not be appropriate for some situations. Your assumed familiarity with customers depends on a number of variables, including your industry, the customer's age, his or her mood and even the channel you're using to correspond.  

• Make certain you are genuinely courteous. People know how authenticity looks and sounds. If you come off as anything less than truly genuine, you’ll run the risk of turning away the customer.

• If you notice someone is eager to be chummy with you, it’s OK to do the same. Just make sure everything is done in good taste. Use light humor, GIFs and emoji where appropriate.

• Remember, interacting with your prospects and customers is like any other relationship. As much as you want to endear yourself to them, building trust is even more important.

The bottom line.

Focus on making it easy for customers to get the help they want and need, whether they're using mobile devices or desktops. Create a rapid-response, professional and real relationship with the customer. You'll get a lot further than you would if you simply fixated on closing the sale.

Source: www.entrepeneur.com
Photo Credit: Shuttershock

ABOUT WNFP
Westchester Networking for Professionals (WNFP) is a business networking association dedicated to helping small businesses and entrepreneurs develop, expand and grow. We offer affordable opportunities to help create a positive impact and advancement in your business interests and personal quality of life to take you to the next level.
Stay Connected with WNFP!

The Surprisingly Best Times to Send Your Email Marketing Campaigns

Long-standing advice amongst email marketers when asked, “When is the best time to send email?” has always been, “Tuesday through Thursday morning, between 8 and 10am.” Sure, it’s common knowledge throughout the industry that people tend to open their email in the mornings, but “the times, they are a-changin’,” as Bob Dylan would say. Let’s visit some current email marketing trends that are creating shifts in open rates, and how they’ll impact your next email send.

A 2012 Experian email marketing benchmark study across all industries found that recipients are surprisingly active late at night. Unique open rates averaged 21.7% from 8pm to 11:59pm and 17.6% for 12am to 4am. Moreover, this late night group was more likely to click-through, with open rates of 4.2% and 3.2%, respectively. These night owls also had the highest click through rates for all times of day. Revenue per email was also the highest in the 8pm to 11:59pm group. 

Additionally, in 2015, Experian’s quarterly email marketing benchmark release showed that 54% of emails are now opened on a mobile device, and a 2014 ExactTarget mobile behavior report found mobile activity peaks between 9pm to 12am. With consumers becoming more and more active on their mobile devices, especially outside of standard nine to five working hours spent at an office desktop, testing sends outside the traditional morning hours is essential.

As for which day of the week performed best, emails sent on Mondays had the highest ROI, but emails sent on Friday had a higher click through rate. Ironically, Saturday and Sunday had the lowest volume rates, but the highest open and click through rates in the study. So even though the weekend was not the most popular time to send emails, those who opened were much more likely to engage with it and click through or purchase.

Based on these findings, you might want to experiment with sending your emails at unconventional times – such as 11pm or 6pm and on the weekend– to see if it yields better results.

Weekend Warriors

Fewer promotional emails are sent on the weekends. This has created an opportunity for some businesses to scoop up some email love when there is less competition.

Experian’s email marketing study found that recipients responded more to promotional emails they received on the weekends – when the send volume was the lowest. The unique open rate for Saturday and Sunday was 17.8% for both days, the highest percentages of the week.

Email data from Harland Clarke also supported this finding in their recent study. Although 26.9% of emails were sent on Wednesdays, recipients viewed only 15.6% of those emails, whereas Saturday (a day when only 5.5% of emails were sent), they viewed 32.5%.

Before you change all your email launches to Saturday and Sunday, we recommend you test it first. (Remember that open rates on these days are still lower.) Try splitting your list in half and send the same email to group A on Sunday then group B on Monday or Tuesday. Repeat this a few times to see where you get better results.

Mobile Matters

The same study by Experian we touched upon earlier found that not only are 54% of all emails viewed on a mobile device, but this percentage is on the rise, growing two percent between June and September 2015. Because mobile click through rates are lower, you want to be sure your call to action is clear and direct, and that your links are easy to spot and click (no matter what time of day you’re sending).

Harland Clarke’s study also found that the email open rates depended on the device the recipient is using. They found that tablet users, for example, were more like to open emails outside of business hours (from 5pm to 8am), while desktop users were more likely to open during business hours. Tablet users were the most active from 8 to 9pm, while desktop users and smartphone users were most active between 3 and 4pm.

Finally, when considering the importance of mobile in your email sends, remember that if your customers can’t read your emails, they’re not likely to continue to interact with them, affecting your future campaigns. Litmus found that by testing a non-responsive versus responsive email design, they were able to increase click-throughs by 130%.

So consider your audience in your email marketing. Try sending a split test to half of your list in the morning during work hours and the other half at 7 or 8pm and note any differences. Be sure your emails (and landing pages) are mobile-friendly.

Timing Isn’t Everything

If you’re noticing a dip in your open rates, maybe other factors are contributing to the decline. Here are some additional email marketing tips to help with your open and click through rates:

1. Test your email to make sure it’s rendering properly in multiple browsers and email service providers 

2. Review your email list. How old is it? Are there emails that should be removed? How can you grow your email list effectively? Here are some tips for good organic email list growth: 10 Steps to Build Your Email List the Right Way

3. Are you effectively rocking your subject line? The subject line is your one brief opportunity to get someone to open your email. Be sure you know the best practices when creating this magic line. 

4. Frequency. Are you sending too often? Be sure to play it cool and segment your lists so you aren’t bombarding your recipients with unwanted email (or, dare we say spam!)

So when is the best time to send email? As you can see, there is no one right answer. If you’re ready to see some improvements, start by doing some simple email split tests and see which times your recipients respond to best.

Not a Constant Contact customer? Start your free 60-day trial today!

source:www.verticalresponse.com

ABOUT WNFP
Westchester Networking for Professionals (WNFP) is an organization consisting of professionals and entrepreneurs which focuses on the success of our Members. We help our Members establish lasting relationships and generate new business opportunities towards the growth of their business.
Stay Connected with WNFP!