Technology has changed everyone’s habits- including the habits of your clients and customers! We expect to get what we want almost the exact moment that we want it, especially Millennials and Gen Z who have grown up with technology at their fingertips. People use multiple devices to browse, read reviews, compare prices, and ask for recommendations before moving on to actually purchasing a product or service. That leaves your company with a lot of opportunities to impress future customers — or give off the wrong impression entirely.

What can you do to ensure that a bad Google search or customer review doesn’t ruin your reputation? You can have strong digital customer service, for starters! But you might be surprised to learn about the significant role your technology — and its speed — has on your ability to leave a positive lasting impression on your clients.

What is digital customer service?

Digital customer service means creating a positive impression on your potential customers through the sum product of all of their interactions with your company, from social media to reviews to your company website. Things like messaging with a company representative via your website, browsing social media sites, or watching videos about your company or products may all be part of a future customer’s digital customer service journey. Every piece fits together to form the completed puzzle of your comprehensive digital customer service strategy.

Making customer service digital means more than just creating a company Facebook page and calling it a day: to offer great customer service digitally, you need to make sure you maintain your standards, too. According to a recent study by the Northridge Group, a staggering 72 percent of people would switch to a competitor after just one bad experience with a company. Meaning that your customer service could be the difference between a lost client and a lifelong customer!

Why should you care, and what does your technology have to do with it?

Consumers increasingly expect to be able to communicate with businesses the same way they communicate with friends, family, and colleagues: via apps, messaging platforms, and social media. You need to change your customer service to meet the generational demands of your clients, as well. Relying on the same old traditional customer service strategy that you’ve used since the beginning of time isn’t going to cut it when it comes to attracting younger customers! Millennials and Gen Z represent a significant portion of the market, and responding to this age group is extremely important for your company’s reputation.

Take texting and using other messaging applications, for example. According to a recent Gallup poll, texting is the dominant way of communicating for under 50. “Sending or reading a text message” is the preferred method of communication for 40 percent of the people surveyed, and the number is even higher when it comes to Millennials (the most prominent generation in the workplace, as of 2015). If you don’t offer some form of text or messaged-based support (aka a part of your digital customer service strategy!) then your company is already missing out on contacting potential customers!

So where does your technology come into play? Well, do you think you can keep up with the demands of managing multiple avenues of client contact on slow, aging computers, or with a weak internet connection? A slow response time — exacerbated by your technology — can be a death sentence for a positive customer experience. Just think about when you call a company and you’re put on hold for an hour: even before interacting with anyone at the company, you already have a bad experience due to their slow response time. The same thing can be said about your business, if your out-of-date technology means you can’t respond to customers when they need!

How do I start?

If you’re worried that your slow, out-of-date technology is serving as more of a hindrance than a help, it’s time to get a plan in place to replace it. With decades of IT planning under our belt, TechBldrs recommends a yearly review of your computers and other technology. Think of it like a yearly physical with your doctor: you want to check on the health of your systems to make sure that everything is running as it should be, and that your company’s productivity — and your ability to respond to your clients — isn’t being affected.

There are a few easy steps you can take to start increasing your digital customer service presence today. Firstly, if your business doesn’t have a Facebook page, go make one! There are over 60 million active business pages on Facebook, so you’ll be in good company. The ability to engage with a company over social medial has become a necessity in today’s social media-obsessed world. People expect to see companies on Facebook, and appreciate the convenience of being able to message companies on Facebook to get answers to their questions. Make sure you keep your page updated with information about your company, holiday closings, sales on products and services, and other things you think your customers and clients would find interesting.

Another necessary step is to create a listing for your business on Google. By making a Google business profile, you can easily engage with people who search for your business specifically or search for businesses like yours. Adding your business address, your website, your hours of operation, and your telephone number will make you seem accessible and will allow customers to easily contact you — a convenience that today’s quick-acting population will appreciate!

There are other businesses that do what you do, and offer similar products. That’s why your differentiation needs to be more than following traditional customer service strategies. Making yourself and your company accessible with fantastic digital customer service can offer clients a lasting connection and put a smile on their faces for years to come.

Interested in an IT plan to assess the health and productivity of your business systems? Have any more questions about digital customer service (including how to make sure that customer information is secure!), cybersecurity, or managed IT services? You can call TechBldrs at 610.601.8017 or email us at info@techbldrs.com. And remember to check out our blog at www.Techbldrs.com/blog for more tips!