Page 57 - GS131001
P. 57
Inspiration
Boosting customer retention
iven that acquiring new customers is far customers' welfare can go a long way toward establishing
more expensive than retaining existing ones, long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with the
payment professionals continually strive to merchants in your portfolio.
G limit churn in merchant portfolios. However,
sometimes retention efforts miss the mark. If this is true
for your business, it could be time to revisit four basic
questions you may not have addressed lately:
1. Are your staff members properly trained to handle
all issues they must address? In the
dynamic payments environment,
where new products and services
roll out with regularity, it's important
to ensure that all members of your
customer service team are up to
speed on your current offerings so
they can troubleshoot effectively.
2. Do you make it easy for customers
to contact you in the ways that they
prefer? It's smart to offer a mix of
media for customer interaction.
This could include telephone, email,
social media and live chat, because,
for example, if a merchant wants
to speak with a live representative
by phone and finds out the only
available option is email support, the
merchant could become frustrated
and turn to another provider.
3. Do you instruct your telephone
representatives to do everything
possible to swiftly resolve problems
to each customer's satisfaction? And
do you give them enough authority
to make reasonable decisions on the
spot so they can make that happen?
If reps must stick to canned answers
or have no authority to take remedial
action, this could also contribute to
portfolio churn.
4. Do you encourage reps to
apologize when your company has
made an error? Even the best of us
make mistakes. Remedial action
should be taken as soon as errors
are brought to light, of course, but
customers also need to feel that you
truly care about any inconvenience
or upset the error could have caused.
A sincere apology will help soothe
feelings and foster lasting goodwill.
Taking steps to ensure that you
demonstrate a sincere interest in your
57
Boosting customer retention
iven that acquiring new customers is far customers' welfare can go a long way toward establishing
more expensive than retaining existing ones, long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with the
payment professionals continually strive to merchants in your portfolio.
G limit churn in merchant portfolios. However,
sometimes retention efforts miss the mark. If this is true
for your business, it could be time to revisit four basic
questions you may not have addressed lately:
1. Are your staff members properly trained to handle
all issues they must address? In the
dynamic payments environment,
where new products and services
roll out with regularity, it's important
to ensure that all members of your
customer service team are up to
speed on your current offerings so
they can troubleshoot effectively.
2. Do you make it easy for customers
to contact you in the ways that they
prefer? It's smart to offer a mix of
media for customer interaction.
This could include telephone, email,
social media and live chat, because,
for example, if a merchant wants
to speak with a live representative
by phone and finds out the only
available option is email support, the
merchant could become frustrated
and turn to another provider.
3. Do you instruct your telephone
representatives to do everything
possible to swiftly resolve problems
to each customer's satisfaction? And
do you give them enough authority
to make reasonable decisions on the
spot so they can make that happen?
If reps must stick to canned answers
or have no authority to take remedial
action, this could also contribute to
portfolio churn.
4. Do you encourage reps to
apologize when your company has
made an error? Even the best of us
make mistakes. Remedial action
should be taken as soon as errors
are brought to light, of course, but
customers also need to feel that you
truly care about any inconvenience
or upset the error could have caused.
A sincere apology will help soothe
feelings and foster lasting goodwill.
Taking steps to ensure that you
demonstrate a sincere interest in your
57
