4 tips for good customer service during corona

The COVID-19 virus brings more than health measures alone. The majority of people are working from home, freelancers have to halt a large part of their work and the hospitality and events sectors are closed. Unless companies help each other and effective action is taken, organisations will come to a standstill. Read how you can make sure your customer contact does not suffer under these unpleasant circumstances.

An increasing number of questions and internet traffic

The number of consumer questions is rising: ‘Is the event still going ahead?’, ‘Is the shop still open?’ or ‘Will the shipping time stay the same?’. There is a lot of uncertainty in the air and that is precisely why it is important that you communicate well with your customers in order to keep the calm. E-commerce giant Amazon is responding to the extra number of internet visitors by temporarily hiring 100,000 extra staff to cope with the internet orders and questions that come with it. That a giant like Amazon can afford this does not mean every company can apply it. The right resources can already make a big difference and make sure your organisation is not at a standstill but ready for your customers.

1. Be there for both your customers and your home workers

Many customer service departments are now struggling with enormous peak moments in combination with understaffing in the team. Prevent your customer service from being flooded with customer questions, and bring in a live chat. Your staff work from a single dashboard and can therefore easily keep helping customers from home too. All messages from different channels come in in the same place and are sent from the same place. That way you have access to all the information you need, from one central point. Avoid fragmented information provision via different channels and reach your customers in the same effective way.

2. Supply your customers with an immediate answer

Besides bringing in a live chat, as an organisation you can also benefit from automation. Many customers come with the same questions, which is very time-consuming and takes attention away from the complex questions. A Conversational Assistant easily catches your first-line questions fully automatically. The Assistant answers the question straight away, or guides the customer to the right contact person. Thanks to artificial intelligence the Assistant understands the intent of the question and your customer is always dealt with immediately. While your live agents focus on complex issues, your Conversational Assistant picks up several questions at once. With this software you take tasks off your customer service's hands and deal with your customers immediately and 24/7.

3. Be there 24/7

As an organisation you want as broad an availability as possible when it comes to pressing questions. By making use of automation you make sure pressing questions are seen after working hours too. Your Conversational Assistant answers and guides visitors to the right address after working hours. That way you have a point of contact for your organisation before and after closing time too.

4. Always have access to the latest and correct information

The measures and updates around the Coronavirus change at a rapid pace. Less than three days ago the Netherlands was still sitting on the terrace, or we were walking through busy shopping streets. Now there is no possibility of that any more. You of course want to keep your customers informed of new developments as fast as possible and avoid second-hand information provision. When you add (new) information to your Conversational Assistant it is processed and trained within the software straight away. The information is immediately ready to answer questions with on all the channels your Assistant is active on. Avoid miscommunication and offer an automated system that is built to provide consistent and correct answers.

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