The 5 worst customer service habits you must avoid

Faith Ocampo Published on December 2, 2016

businessman facepalm speed lines

Most brands aren’t even aware of their bad customer service habits. Because of this, they may be losing plenty of profits without realizing it.

To improve customer interactions, the first thing you must do is examine your current strategies with a critical eye. This will help you identify your performance gaps and enable you to build better communication approaches.
However, it’s not always easy to spot your own mistakes. In fact, even big brands are prone to committing even the most obvious customer support errors. To foster strong and meaningful relationships with your clientele, here are the five worst habits you must immediately stop.
 

1.     Jumping on the bandwagon

business executive mistake failure pointing fingers of blame

Every now and then, new business trends are being formed to allow companies to cater to changing consumer expectations. You may feel pressured to conform to these trends especially if everybody else seems to be doing them.

However, mindlessly following the latest customer service fads, even if they sound impressive, can be detrimental to your brand. Before adopting new processes or ideas, make sure that they can add value to your current operations. They must also reflect your customers’ preferences and your organization’s values.

 

2.     Ignoring customer insights

buried face problematic businessman holding crumpled paper

With so many ways to gather customer feedback, there’s no reason for companies to be clueless about people’s sentiments, wants, and needs. Chances are, you already have so many sources of customer insights available online, such as social media and review websites, but you’re not using them.

It’s also possible that you’re failing to turn these insights into actionable business strategies. Thus, you and your team must start to work on it. Listening to your customers and incorporating their opinions into your customer support and marketing plans is the only way to build a consumer-centric brand.

 

3.     Focusing on speed over quality

office employee catching alarm clock in dark

Customer relationship experts everywhere are repeatedly emphasizing the value of fast services, and it’s easy to get caught up in the speed craze. After all, consumers nowadays want you to be present on several channels at once, including email, live chat, SMS, social media, and the phone.

But if your main goal is to impress customers or appear competent all the time, you may end up prioritizing speed over the quality of your interactions. The truth is, companies that deliver stellar services know that speed is just one aspect of the customer experience. You don’t need to hurry though each transaction, but you do need to solve problems completely and take care of every customer. Humanized and efficient services will always win over fast but valueless transactions.

 

4.     Overworking your agents

tired employee working in dark office

Only happy call center agents can make customers happy. Those who aren’t—the burnt-out, disengaged ones—are a liability for every brand.

Before blaming your employees, however, you need to find out what’s causing this problem so you can solve it immediately. Chances are, it’s merely a symptom of more alarming issues, such as weak leadership and poor team management. Worse, you may already be overworking your agents just to cope with unreasonable amounts of workload. This leads to chronic stress and poor performance.

 

5.     Relying too much on technology

screaming tech worker in office fixing computer

Technology, along with tech-aided processes (e.g., data analytics, data mining), is revolutionizing customer support. But to leverage these sophisticated business solutions, companies must have all the knowledge, skills, and resources needed to make the most of these new technologies. Otherwise, they might end up spending a lot of time and money and still fail to generate the results they’re aiming for.

Before adopting new technologies, you must study them carefully and decide whether they’re aligned with your business strategies. Remember, all your tools and processes must help you achieve your goals. Otherwise, they may disrupt, rather than improve, your operations.

 
 

Faith is a digital media enthusiast aiming to become an active part of the tech world by sharing her insights. She likes to blog about everything digimarketing, technology, and social media.
Join us on facebook
Open Access BPO 3 days ago
Compared to most industries, #CallCenters are known for providing a fun and positive workplace for their employees.
But more than just making daily ops light and dynamic, the agents, the contact center, and the clients benefit from this: https://buff.ly/3NiWbEB

----------
Let's create a program hyper-customized for your brand's goals, needs, budget, and customer demands: OpenAccessBPO.com/get-started

#WeSpeakYourLanguage
#CustomerService #EmployeeEngagement
Open Access BPO 3 days ago
Efficiency in #CallCenters involves enhancing agents' #productivity and #satisfaction.

Check out these 5 tips to boost #EmployeeEngagement and productivity in #ContactCenters: https://buff.ly/46H48KE

----------
Learn how our training, employee engagement, and culture of diversity contribute to our high-quality #CustomerExperience: OpenAccessBPO.com/get-started

#WeSpeakYourLanguage
#CSat #CustomerSupport #CX
#CustomerService #CustomerSupport
Open Access BPO 3 days ago
#CallCenters are made up of people from different cultures or backgrounds.
Each one is likely to have differing workplace habits and values, all of which can result in conflicts.

Here are the top 10 causes of conflicts in the call center: https://buff.ly/3GsT0GL

----------
Connect with an #outsourcing firm that provides great employee training and management programs: OpenAccessBPO.com/get-started

#WeSpeakYourLanguage
#CompanyCulture #EmployeeManagement
Open Access BPO 4 days ago
As more consumers turn toward online channels, businesses are struggling to provide quality #CustomerSupport for their international customers.
Partnering with a reliable #MultilingualCallCenter has, thus, become a valuable strategy.

𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 businesses must offer to remain competitive in global markets: https://buff.ly/4a7ocZp

----------
For #CustomerService and #BackOffice support in over 30 languages, contact Open Access BPO today: OpenAccessBPO.com/get-started

#WeSpeakYourLanguage
Open Access BPO 4 days ago
𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐲.

Luckily for you, #outsourcing can back you up in this battle.
Here's how call centers protect your customers from ecommerce fraud: https://buff.ly/47GJvPX

----------
Partner with an #outsourcing partner that keeps #InfoSec a top priority alongside great #CustomerSupport: OpenAccessBPO.com/get-started

#WeSpeakYourLanguage
#CustomerExperience #DataSecurity
#outsourcing #FraudProtection #FraudDetection
Open Access BPO 4 days ago
In celebration of 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐆𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡 this December, Open Access BPO Davao collaborated with the Philippine Red Cross - Davao City Chapter for a blood donation drive held last December 1, 2023.

Our collective efforts turned moments of compassion into life-saving contributions.

Thank you to all our OABPO Davao heroes who rolled up their sleeves–you've proven that a small act of giving can have a monumental impact.

----------
Open Access BPO actively promotes community involvement in the workplace by supporting the annual blood donation activity among other causes.

𝘗𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘖𝘈𝘉𝘗𝘖 𝘋𝘢𝘷𝘢𝘰 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦.

#WeSpeakYourLanguage
#OneWithHealth Philippine Red Cross
Open Access BPO