Enhance Your Customer Experience at Any Company Size [Video]

General Assembly recently hosted a live-streamed panel on maintaining a stellar customer experience. The webinar featured Justworks’ own Stephanie Bono, along with Bonobos’ Adam Covalt and Olark’s Karl Pawlewicz.

How Customer Service Impacts a Business

At any company size, positive customer engagement will only help your business. You’ll develop a network of brand advocates, for starters. And you’ll grow customer loyalty and retention. In fact, a study by Kayako found that almost 60% of consumers are unlikely to return to a business they’d experienced poor customer service from.

Watch the webinar to get the full discussion on enhancing customer support, at any company size. Or, read the highlights below.

What Should a Solo or New Entrepreneur Focus on First When Getting Started?

[Timestamp: 7:00]

Define Your Brand Voice Early On

Bonobos’ Adam recommends having a specific point of view on what your voice should be. In all communications with customers, make sure your voice is consistent, pleasant, human, and specific.

Define Your Communication Channels

Identify your primary modes of communication early on. And when resources are limited, focus on the channel you want customers to interact with you. At Bonobos, Adam’s customer care team prioritizes chat.

Define Your Mission and Values

At Justworks, the values of compassion, openness, grit, integrity, and simplicity shape communications with customers. Having the company mission and values front of mind empowers the team to feel that they’re the voice of the company.

Once Companies are Ready to Scale Their CX Teams, How Should They Go About Doing That?

[Timestamp: 11:45]

Hire the Right Way

Customer experience management shouldn’t just race through the hiring process, Stephanie said. Think about who you want to bring onto your team, and clearly identify how many people you need to add. Look for your company values in the candidates you interview.

Build Processes

Put processes in place as soon as you start scaling. Prepare a training program for new hires, and consider an internal resource for go-to questions and information.

Set Benchmarks

Have a firm point of view on your key metrics and set benchmarks early, so you can clearly track success as you scale. At Bonobos, Adam’s team prioritizes measuring contacts per order, total orders, and response time.

How to Sustain Excellent Customer Service

What Should Entrepreneurs Keep in Mind as They Scale Globally or to a 24/7 Model?

[Timestamp: 43:30]

Choose Team Members Carefully

If you’re expanding customer support hours, be sensitive and thoughtful of the people you hire during that shift. Make sure you trust them absolutely - they’ll be in a quiet, empty office. You also need to make sure to have an experienced manager in the office as a resource.

Consider Outsourcing

Bonobos used to keep customer support lines open from 7am to midnight, but recently brought it back. If they were to scale hours up again, Adam said, he’d consider hiring remote workers on the West Coast to alleviate some of the pain of a late shift (the Bonobos team is in New York City).

Get Everyone Together Regularly

Olark’s customer support team prioritizes a team-wide meeting at least once a week. Having a round table helps keep a strong team dynamic, even if employees are working different shifts.

Bonus Question: What Are the Go-To KPIs You Measure?

[Timestamp: 48:45] Stephanie, Adam, and Karl all shared the go-to metrics they measure daily and monthly:

• Response time

• Resolution time

• Resolutions per hour

• Contacts per resolution

• Number of chats

• Abandoned call percentage

• Net Promoter Score (NPS)