What’s better than a new customer? A happy one. That’s because happy shoppers come back to buy again and then tell others. It’s what Sparklight Business customer, Romaine’s Mattress King, thought they had—until they experienced a service issue. Listen to how they solved the problem; then learn how to keep customers happy at your small business.

A family-owned business from Idaho Falls, Romaine’s Mattress King takes pride in providing superior customer service for nearly 60 years. So the last thing they want customers to experience is slow service.

After partnering with Sparklight Business, Heaton traded slow internet speed and frequent crashes for high-speed response and reliability. His customer service reputation was restored.

“Now it’s crisp and there are no crashes so my customers are happy,” Heaton said.

Tips to Speed Up Your Service

High-speed internet service is one way of using technology to speed up service. Here are some other tech tips to keep customers happy:

• Give customers options after hours – Not all customer issues happen during business hours. So it’s important to provide after-hours options. Your website is a great place to start since it’s always available. At a minimum, it should include a voicemail number, an emergency contact, and an email address. Some businesses go even further by providing a live chat feature or allowing customers to schedule appointments online. Take a look at Capterra’s 2017 Review of Scheduling Products to see the range of options available.
• Provide self-service options – There are times when customers could help themselves, if they had the right information. One way to address that is to put a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) database on your website. Here customers can quickly browse a series of topics that allow them to resolve the issue on their own. For example, a home-services company might put instructions on hitting the reset button on an appliance to get it running again.
• Assess your “Contact Us” function – How hard is it to find your “Contact Us” link? Do customers get an auto response letting them know when you’ll reply? You may need to adjust your design. For example, consider making the contact link more predictable by placing it in the same place on every webpage. Test any changes with your users to see how easily they can locate it.
• Differentiate service levels – Your A-list customers deserve A-list service not available to others. For example, Zendesk offers a video chat widget that you can add to your website. Then you can help customers in real time. And it can track customers’ behavior so you can reach out to them proactively when they need help.
• Monitor social media – Some customers take to social media with service problems. So monitor your social feeds and online reviews to uncover issues. There are a number of tools available to help you monitor these sites and notify you when your business is mentioned. That lets you respond quickly.

Speedy customer service is critical to keeping customers happy. Take a page from a Sparklight Business customer by watching the video, along with these technology tips, to offer superior response times.