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That’s a LOOOOOOONG Time to Wait

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According to a 2018 study from SuperOffice, the average company takes 12 hours and 10 minutes to respond to a customer service inquiry. That’s more than half a day!

Tock.

Even worse? The same study shows that:

  • 62% of the companies surveyed do not even respond to customer service emails.
  • 90% of companies do not acknowledge that they’ve received a customer’s email.
  • Only 20% of companies are able to answer customers’ questions in full on the first reply.

Are your staffing customers turning into skeletons, waiting for your reply?

Clients and candidates demand speedy response – and your staffing firm should deliver it. Use these tips to shorten response times and create a better experience for every employer and job seeker who contacts you:

General Tips

Regardless of the communication channel, these tips will speed your response times and efficiency:

  • Create a bank of pre-written templates employees can customize to quickly answer common inquiries.
  • When replying to customer inquiries, try to anticipate – and answer – what their next logical question might be. While you want to avoid being overly presumptuous (we all know what happens when you “assume” things), you can greatly reduce back-and-forth by providing complete information, the first time.
  • Triage new inquiries. Obviously, your customer resource services are limited, and you have to tend to the most serious problems first. In this post, we review triage tips staffing firms can use to improve customer service across a variety of channels – whether inquiries come in via email, phone, social media or your website.

Email Tips

  • Establish clear email policies, including: acceptable response time frames; rules for replying; processes for resolving or escalating service issues; and responsibility and accountability.
  • Set up an autoresponder to acknowledge email receipts, so customers know their inquiries and/or documents have been received.

Social Media Tips

  • Assemble a social monitoring and response team with team members from each department.
  • Create a set of policies for responding on social channels, using your email policies as a starting point. Keep in mind that customers expect quick response on social channels, so be sure you have adequate coverage.

Website and Job Board Tips

  • Add a chatbot. Chatbots are automated, conversational bots you can install on your website and/or job board to assist visitors outside business hours, streamline interactions and properly route/escalate incoming inquiries. Technology options range from simple script-based bots to true artificial intelligence; we partner with three chatbot providers to deliver the right tech for your needs.

Need help implementing any of these tips to speed up your customer service?

Contact one of our marketing educators to learn what Haley Marketing can do for you.

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