Customer service is integral to the success of a business, and no business can survive without its customers. Today, consumers have become increasingly aware of the choices available to them, and creating a quality product just isn’t enough to effectively retain customers. No wonder many successful manufacturing companies leverage innovative technologies to deliver a consistent customer experience.
These businesses are looking for ways to be more people-oriented. Nowadays, customers expect manufacturers to provide self-service tools to diagnose and resolve simple problems without human intervention. The good news is that advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), automation, Big Data, and the Internet of Things (IoT) have revolutionized the global manufacturing sector. On that note, this article highlights four tips to improve customer service in manufacturing.
1. Outsource excessive work to meet customer deadlines.
One of the biggest stressors in the manufacturing industry is meeting deadlines. Worse yet, large orders come with many issues that include machine breakdowns and low-quality products. The best way to reduce these stressors is to work with other manufacturers to ensure customer deadlines are met. Let’s say your business is a dietary supplement manufacturer that produces thousands of dietary supplement products in a month. You may decide to outsource manufacturing to another private label manufacturer that’ll help meet customer demands.
For example, Makers Nutrition is a private label supplement manufacturing company that helps supplement companies produce ready-to-market nutritional supplement products and custom vitamins. They produce various multivitamin capsules and gummies and can also create a custom formulation. Best of all, they can help package the product and create a unique label design. Manufacturers like this are worth contacting when your production process is lagging behind.
2. Adopt new communication channels.
On-site and phone support remain critical communication channels for delivering customer service. This is mostly due to the conventional nature of the manufacturing industry. Nowadays, customers expect manufacturing industries to be available instantaneously via digital channels like live chat, live video, and email support. This ultimately allows for remote diagnostics and resolution.
Today, many manufacturers offer many proactive customer support options. They use various call center solutions to make customer service more straightforward and faster. Adopting a cloud call center solution gives you access to a more robust cloud contact center platform. Best of all, the technology gives manufacturers access to a lot of tools. For example, a customer service agent can resolve customer queries from a computer or mobile app. When it comes to contact center software, prioritize virtual call centers that offer CRM integration to enable you to deliver a better customer experience.
3. Prioritize customer feedback.
Customer feedback is a crucial aspect of customer interactions. Make a habit of requesting feedback from your customers after every interaction you have with them. This is especially important to keep you updated in real-time about their perception of your brand and the products that you offer. Additionally, customer feedback can help manufacturing companies identify lapses, optimize their processes, improve service delivery, and inform strategic decision-making.
Note that it costs a lot more to retain customers than acquire new ones. That’s why it becomes imperative for manufacturing industries to prioritize customer feedback. You might also want to create and maintain an online presence to make it easier for customers to interact with you and drop their feedback. Also, consider opening accounts on top social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
4. Use a good CRM platform.
Nowadays, many manufacturers are using customer relationship management (CRM) platforms to streamline their customer interactions. It also helps to incorporate self-service tools on your website to enable your prospective and existing customers to find information, troubleshoot queries, and resolve them without the help of your support team. More importantly, critical information regarding your company and manufacturing processes should appear on your website. Endeavor to build a user-friendly website to help customers easily browse through your website and obtain any information they need.
