Email is often the preferred service and support channel for customers. There are two things customer service representatives should do to guarantee world-class email customer service.
1. Question Strategically. Strategic questioning is the skill of intentionally using open and closed questions to reach a specific outcome. When employees question strategically, email communication with customers will be more efficient, and more beneficial to both the customer and the company. Representatives skilled at strategic questioning are better able to isolate and resolve customer issues, which will reduce resolution time and increase customer satisfaction.
Open questions are designed to encourage the caller to speak freely and are useful when the customer service representative needs to gather general information. Here is an example of an open question: "How did you discover the problem?"
Closed questions are useful when a specific piece of information is needed to continue, or a simple yes or no answer is desired. Here is an example of a closed question: "Can I please get your shipping address?"
Face-to-face and telephone customer interactions naturally lend themselves to the use of open and closed questions. When communicating via email, it is best practice to group questions into one email message to make the dialogue more succinct and time efficient for all parties.
When email customer service communications are not logical, and only one or two questions are asked per message, the email thread will quickly become lengthy, which leaves room for error. When the number of emails increases the time to resolution will also increase. Customer service employees skilled at strategic questioning are not only able to better serve customers, they are also able to serve more customers.
2. Show Value. Along with asking the right questions it is also important to show customers the value in supplying the needed information. Showing value means letting customers know how they will benefit from doing what is asked.
Here is an example of showing value to a customer: "To guarantee that I give you the correct information, I need to know the specifications of your data storage system."
Customers are sometimes reluctant to share information, even if it is not personal. Showing value encourages customers to answer questions honestly and completely.
To keep email customer service streamlined at your company, be sure to keep these two best practices in mind.