The COVID-19 crisis forced many businesses to do the unthinkable: lock their doors and send everyone home. Those organizations that could asked their entire workforce to operate from home.
With so many people staying home, peoples’ lives, needs, priorities, and spending behaviors changed overnight. Today, as the pandemic recedes, we are just beginning to understand that there will be no return to “business as usual.”
Among the business functions hit the hardest by the pandemic was customer service. Companies experienced dramatic increases in both customer service requests and customer anxiety.
Such a dramatic increase in customer effort is bad news, as the chance of any sort of new sales plummet. A recent study found that difficult interactions had only a 6% chance of resulting in a cross-sell or up-sell, compared with a more than 80% chance with an easy interaction.
For businesses to weather the crisis and preserve bonds with your customers, you must thoughtfully re-think your future model of customer engagement – NOW. Business as usual is no longer enough: the game has changed too much.
The good news is there will never be a better opportunity for companies to restart, re-energize, and reimagine the customer experience. You can set the foundations for enduring success.
To achieve sky-high customer service, survey the technological landscape and the tools available to you so you can always be prepared for the unexpected. Then engage in sustained communication with your customers.
Harvard Business Review suggests using the HEART framework of sustained communication. The HEART framework identifies five key strategies that help companies weather crises and preserve their bonds with consumers:
- Humanize your company
- Educate about change
- Assure stability
- Revolutionize offerings
- Tackle the future
Give your customers your HEART during this difficult time. It will cultivate long-lasting goodwill with your patrons and help ensure they will stay with you in the future.