Every business needs to provide good customer service, regardless of its size or what it sells. But not every business does. The differences regarding proactive vs. reactive customer service can mean the difference between your customers feeling valued or dissatisfied.
Proactive customer service builds a connection that encourages customer loyalty. Most consumers prefer brands offering proactive interaction, especially those considering the customer experience a high priority. With that in mind, learning a few strategies and tips for proactive customer service can be helpful.
What Is Proactive Customer Service?
Let’s say you’re an experienced cyclist, and your friend also wants to get into cycling.
They buy a bike but have trouble adjusting it, a common challenge for those new to the sport. Your friend calls and asks for some tips, and you come over to help them. This is an example of reactive service—your friend asked for help, so you helped them.
In a proactive scenario, you know your friend has just brought home a new bike, and you know from experience that fitting a bike can be difficult. As such, you text your friend to offer help and encourage them to contact you if they encounter any problems.
This is a proactive service. You anticipated your friend’s needs and paved the way for them to get assistance.
This example of proactive vs. reactive customer service demonstrates the kind of extra effort customers appreciate. Anticipating a customer’s questions, following up, and making it easy for them to reach out if problems should arise can go a long way in building brand loyalty.
Proactive customer service focuses on anticipating and solving customer concerns. It gives consumers everything they need to enjoy and benefit from your product. Proactive strategies create positive impressions and build loyalty that centers on the brand, not just individual products or services.
Reactive service strategies are still important in an overall customer service plan, as they treat problems when they arise.
The Benefits of Proactive Customer Service
Businesses that only engage in reactive customer service risk becoming a monolith to their customers. Adding proactive strategies humanizes your business and shows customers you appreciate them. Other benefits of proactive customer service include:
- Improving customer satisfaction
- Enhancing brand reputation
- Boosting revenue
- Increasing customer retention
Developing a plan for proactive service requires organization and investment, but the benefits far outweigh the costs involved.
How to Implement Proactive Customer Service
To create an effective proactive customer service plan, you must first consider your customer’s expectations. Who are their needs? What do they expect when they purchase your goods or services?
Guessing won’t give you the answer. If you haven’t already done so, try sending out surveys focusing on customer needs. Once you better understand your audience’s expectations, you can begin building a customer service plan tailored to specific segments.
Predict Your Customers’ Needs
Anticipating your customers’ future needs might seem like a tall order, but it’s not as difficult as you may think. Predictive analytics is the business application of the old adage “past performance predicts future success.”
Predictive analytics will help you identify your customers’ wants and needs, which will, in turn, make them feel valued and important.
Map the Customer Journey
What steps must your customer take to connect with a customer service agent or resolve a problem?
By putting yourself in their shoes, you can understand the challenges and frustrations they face when attempting to interact with your business. Creating this “customer map” will help you lay the groundwork for better proactive customer service.
Train Your Employees Well
No amount of data collection or planning will make any difference if your call center representatives don’t understand the philosophy and goals of proactive customer service. That’s why it’s crucial to invest in solid training.
Teach employees how to use whatever tools you’ve decided to implement. For example, customer service agents can be taught to use virtual assistants and set up automated notifications to provide the best possible service.
Commit to Ongoing Growth
Commitment to growth is one of the most important tips for proactive customer service.
Technology changes quickly, as do customer attitudes and behaviors. You can’t expect the tools you employ today to continue providing optimal service five years from now. Consider reviewing your customer service programs annually or whenever you notice an uptick in customer complaints.
Guide Customers Proactively
Don’t wait for customers to contact you for help — follow up their purchases with calls, texts, and/or emails that walk them through their product’s features and benefits. Educating consumers on how to use what they buy will increase early adoption and (you guessed it) customer loyalty.
Monitor Your Social Media
Negative social media exposure can devastate your business, no matter how false or unwarranted.
Monitoring your social media accounts will help you stay on top of rumors and dispel them quickly. Follow hashtags and keywords related to your business and products. Doing so will allow you to offer proactive customer service and other forms of outreach via your social pages.
Admit When You’re Wrong
No one likes to be told they’ve failed. Although it may be upsetting to receive customer complaints, it’s equally upsetting for a customer to pay for a product or service that lets them down.
Apologies can be reactive, addressing an issue after it’s occurred, but they also provide an opportunity to be proactive. Pre-empt negative feelings with offers for discounts, refunds, and other perks to turn dissatisfied customers into lifelong buyers.
Bringing It All Together
Proactive customer service should be your company’s default.
Such strategies reduce the daily volume of customer requests your call center team has to handle by preventing complaints. More importantly, adding proactive procedures to your service model creates a loyal customer base that will stay with your company through thick and thin.
If you’re wondering how to implement proactive customer service quickly and effectively, follow the tips outlined here and, above all, listen to your customers’ feedback. They’ll tell you just what they want.