Why our Customer Service team prefers email
Why our Customer Service team prefer to email
A survey of 3,000 consumers of Youstice.com has revealed that the most popular way of contacting a company about an issue is via email, with 67% of those surveyed preferring this over social media or phones[i].
While some people prefer to talk to a person on the phone, the vast majority of people’s experience otherwise. It shows that customers get a more accurate response by email. Often phone calls to companies cause more frustration. Being forwarded between departments, put on hold and promises are made over the phone that never turn in to reality.
At Dunster House, we have designed a system that gets our customers the best response possible as quickly as possible.
We supply 10’000s of garden building every year. The vast majority of our customers have no issues or reason to contact us. Other than to thank us and send photos! However with that many products designed, manufactured and delivered every year, occasionally an issue does arise that needs resolving.
Some customers at this point are then surprised to find that we deal with all Customer Service issues in writing. Preferably by email. Sometimes this can lead to customers getting frustrated that they have to contact our dedicated Customer Service team by email. Rather than by phone.
Why do Dunster House choose to operate in this way?
Our Director, Andrew Murphy, explains.
“We have previously dealt with customer services by phone rather than by e-mail. However we found this to be ineffective for a number of reasons:
1. Our products are quite technical and photos are often needed to help explain issues. This means that e-mails are needed in a lot of cases anyway.
2. With the more complicated issues, e-mails give us the opportunity to involve several members of staff to help answer a query. We get it right that much quicker.
3. Even simple queries such as missing assembly instructions are vital through emails. So in these cases it is necessary for a customer access their e-mails anyway.
4. We also find that dealing with issues in writing gets rid of a lot of the emotions. Therefore it helps to concentrate on what the actual problem may be. This helps us to retain trained staff who otherwise become demoralized by dealing with a small minority of customers who can be abusive over the phone. By retaining our trained staff it means that ALL of our customers can enjoy a better answer to their queries.
5. It allows our customers and ourselves to keep a record of what has happened so that we do not give empty promises which may otherwise be the case in a heated debate over the phone as with some other customer services departments.”
“We are very proud of our Customer Services Team and far from seeing communication by e-mail as being to the detriment of this service we see the benefits that this brings to our customers.”
[i] http://youstice.com/en/blog
Alex Murphy
Hello, I’m Alex, I love rabbits… and cars, erm, enjoy designing, GSOH, hang on this isn’t a personals ad, also GSOH is debatable, I have a sense of humour, but is it good? My son means the world to me as do my family whom I am lucky to work with, Mummy, Daddy and Baby Brother, except Baby Brother’s in his 30’s and an inch taller than I and as I too am hardly a child ‘Mummy’ and ‘Daddy’ are terms of endearment to them. I haven’t gone ‘ga ga’ in quite some time, though again some may debate this. When I say I love rabbits I don’t mean in a creepy way but as children, at time of writing I have 7, I actually have 2 sat next to me in my office as we’ll be going to the vet for a check up later. All of my rabbits have a sob story of one kind or another and I love mangling my home to make it more rabbit friendly, they all have large indoor and outdoor spaces to run and jump in and I keep extending their accommodation which my wife would prefer I stop. I love designing, I never fail to have a project on the go (or frequently 3 or 4 meaning boxes and tools all over the house), my rabbit accommodation is intricate, I’ve pulled down and built walls in my house and this is why I love my job where I get to design for other people. I constantly review the market and ensure that we always sell the best product for the price. My extremely clever brother and father do so as well, meaning you always get the best available, designed in the UK FOR the UK! Find Alex Murphy on: Google+
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