Customer service is the backbone for a successful business. Sometimes owners and executives in the RV industry understand this is a required department, but very little attention is given to the employees who support customer service.
Think of the many times you contacted a business or went online to find more information about a part or service, only to discover their customer service was anything but helpful. This will result in customers leaving the site or hanging up the phone. That poor experience will quickly spread online and can be very harmful to a dealership or manufacturer.
Although customer service is expensive, it’s a very necessary function. Most RV dealerships have the basic one-on-one phone caller or maybe an email option.
But having a chat room option online through your dealership allows your company to have a rep quickly answer questions and solve problems.
According to a survey by American Online Consumers, “68% (of people) engage in chats with a rep and 44% of online consumers say that having questions answered by a live agent is an important feature.”
Below are some tips to help you out, whether you already have a chat room or are considering one:
1. Chat rooms are easy and convenient for customers
This feature has proven to relieve a customer’s frustration when searching for the RV that is on your lot or need a repair service to be scheduled. Customers have a tendency to get angrier the longer it takes to get connected with a service rep.
2. Chat rooms cut down on expenses
Your support staff will spend less time than they would on the phone because they will be talking to multiple people at once. Your staff can now handle more calls per hour, and all the calls are recorded. Most chat software providers allow easy scalability with the addition of chat operators as your business expands.
3. Obtain real statistics in real time
You can usually receive transcripts of conversations within minutes after a conversation, and analyze what is and isn’t working for your business. This data will reveal where your staff may need additional training and how satisfied the customers are with your RV business. Also, it will identify how quickly issues/problems are resolved and handled.
4. Customer Service 24/7/365
Today we want to get information quickly and anytime of the day or week. Customers can contact your RV company whenever they encounter a problem. This will also reduce response times, backlogged requests all while increasing customer satisfaction.
When implementing a chat room, it’s important to train your department. Verify that your vendor has the ability to teach your staff all the facets of the program including troubleshooting.
The service reps for the chat need to know your products and services inside and out. Your senior reps should advise the chat reps about the most asked questions and problems.
Another strong bit of advice is to know your peak hours. Heavy traffic and international calls are best handled by a third party.
Also, keep responses short, not robotic. Reps in your chat room should be personable with warm greetings or responses.
