Proactive Customer Service is the Future of Call Centers

Customer expectation has evolved over time but never as rapidly as in the last few years. In our ever-accelerated world, information is at the palm of our hands, with one result being that more and more is expected when it comes to talking to a business.

So, to get ahead of the competition, companies need to know what their customers want, before their customers even know it. And this means providing proactive customer service.

Below, we explore what proactive customer service is, and what benefits your business will gain by adopting it.

Proactive customer service – a new chapter in CX

When it comes to customer queries, businesses often just sit tight and answer the questions their customers ask. These days, however, there is nothing special about offering help when customers ask for it. In fact, providing reactive customer service is the least your customers will expect from your business.

To be honest, your customers do not want you to solve their problems. They want their problems to not exist in the first place.

And this is where proactive customer service, with its principles of trying to find potential problems and reaching out to customers to solve those problems before they even ask for help, comes into play.

Proactive customer service has a number of benefits for businesses: amongst other things, you’ll be able to increase customer loyalty, ease up your lines and boost your brand reputation. Sounds much better than waiting until your customer service lines get overloaded…

Increased customer loyalty

As new customers tend to cost more to acquire, keeping customers loyal to your business is critical to long-term business success. Put simply, loyal customers are better for your business because they will help your business remain profitable, while also allowing it to grow.

By providing proactive customer service, chances are you will be able to greatly increase your levels of customer loyalty. Seeing your company is willing to go the extra mile to solve problems before they even occur will definitely make your customers feel that they are valued and respected.

So, initiate a proactive attitude in your customer services team, and encourage them to try and solve your customers’ issues before they become bigger issues for your customers. You can be sure that your customers will highly appreciate your customer-centric approach and will, in return, remain loyal to your business.

Decreased customer calls

One thing is certain: customers do not like to spend their valuable time calling customer service lines and explaining their issues. To make things worse, they are, even now, often still put on hold for many minutes before being actually transferred to a live agent.

The result is that agents end up speaking to customers who are annoyed not only about the issue they may have with the company, but also about the length of time they have had to wait.

However, by utilizing proactive customer service, and reaching out to your customers before they contact you, you can take your customer service to the next level.

By doing so, you will not only decrease your incoming call volumes, but will also be able to identify and react to customer issues before they grow into bigger problems. You can be sure that the benefits will be clear, not least because your customers will appreciate that you are saving them the time they would otherwise be spending contacting you.

Boost your reputation

A strong and positive brand reputation is a must-have for any business that wants to thrive in the long term. A favorable brand reputation generates customer trust, and also encourages your customers to purchase from your business.

Providing proactive customer service will definitely allow you to establish a reputation for excellence and customer centricity, which is one of the main ways you can build trust with your customers. And, if your customers trust you, chances are better that they won’t leave you for the competition.

Last but not least, never underestimate the power of word-of-mouth: it’s common knowledge that customers prefer to purchase goods and services from a brand that is not only well known in the market, but is also popular within their social circle.

It’s worth repeating: proactive customer service is the new differentiator. With this knowledge in hand, if you aren’t already, it’s time to start harnessing the power of proactive customer service in your business.