For organizations in the B2B technology space, customer support has always been paramount to business success.
While once upon a time that meant having technicians available from 9-5 and having an issue resolved within a week or two, today, expectations are higher than ever.
Just consider some of these stats:
- 90% of customers rate an “immediate” response as essential or very important when they have a question. (HubSpot Research)
- More than 70% of consumers believe that companies should collaborate on their behalf so they don’t have to repeat information to different representatives. (Zendesk)
40% of consumers cited “multiple options for communicating” as the most important feature of a company’s customer service department. (Business Wire)
Modern customers demand timely assistance, relevant solutions, and service options that suit their preferences. Fortunately, customer expectations are not the only thing that has evolved.
Business tools that support customer engagement and support have advanced considerably over the years and these tools provide the means to meet these growing expectations.
Customer support software is an obvious example of these tools, and having a customer support platform to aid your support processes is a must-have these days.
But why stop there? Exceeding customer expectations should always be the goal, and to do that, customer support platforms empowered with the customer engagement capabilities of CRM can be a real differentiator.
What is CRM?
CRM (customer relationship management) is a software toolset that assists businesses with the day-to-day management of their people (customers and employees), work processes, products, and projects.
Once thought of primarily as a sales tool, CRM has evolved to address the needs of many different business aspects, including marketing, customer service, and HR.
Through the use of advanced automations tools and data centralization, CRM software can help your business improve communication (both internal and external), work more efficiently, and track performance.
Using CRM to empower customer support
CRM platforms can serve as a centralized hub for all customer information and make that information easily accessible to support agents.
This can improve collaboration by ensuring that everyone involved in customer interactions has access to the same up-to-date information.
Let’s dive a little deeper to get a better understanding of the potential benefits CRM can provide.
Leveraging CRM Data Centralization for Better Customer Support
CRM platforms collect and centralize customer data to create a comprehensive profile for each customer and account. This can improve support interactions through:
- Up-to-date view of the entire customer journey- With a modern CRM platform, customer information is captured and updated in real-time, from multiple sources.
This allows support agents to see a customer’s purchase history, past interactions, and any ongoing issues so they can provide relevant and efficient assistance.
This also ensures that customers don’t have to repeat themselves every time they call in or perform troubleshooting procedures they have already tried.
Additionally, this information can help support leaders identify common issues or frustrations that can be addressed through product updates, bug fixes, training, or better communication.
- Faster resolution times- With easy access to customer information, support agents can quickly understand the context of a customer’s issue. This prevents the miscommunication and misdiagnosis of issues that can delay resolution considerably.
What’s more, CRMs maintain a complete history of every customer interaction, allowing support agents to review previous interactions and gain insights into recurring issues.
- Better personalization- Access to customer data allows support agents to personalize their interactions by:
- Addressing customers by name
- Referencing past purchases and experiences
- Tailoring communications by channel preference and tone
This makes customers feel heard and valued and can start interactions off on the right foot, leading to a better customer experience overall.
FreeAgent CRM can help you empower your customer support processes
FreeAgent CRM is designed for today’s world of work and our robust toolset is ideally suited to supporting the varied work processes of modern businesses. FreeAgent is:
- Easy to use: FreeAgent works like you expect modern apps to work, providing a user experience that feels fresh and familiar. Teams love working in FreeAgent, leading to high adoption and greater ROI.
- User-configurable: FreeAgent can be configured by you to work the way you do. This means you don’t need outside support to add a form field, adjust a CRM automated workflow, or try out a new process.
- Customizable: With FreeAgent, apps, forms, and configurations are all completely customizable, allowing you to capture and connect your data in any way you like.
To see FreeAgent in action, get a demo, and discover for yourself how FreeAgent can help you have workdays full of impact.
