Coping with online company crises
Moving beyond the incident itself, Sony now has the job of reassuring its customers by ensuring that they have the latest, most comprehensive information about the breach and its potential consequences. Critical to this is speed and consistency – people want answers quickly and to know that they have the latest information to hand.
Situations like these demonstrate how a well-thought out customer service strategy reaps dividends. As a first point of contact, web self-service systems can take pressure off the contact centre as they allow customers to get fast, accurate answers to their questions online – without needing to call or email. In many cases web self-service systems like Eptica’s provide the ability to quickly upload new content so that it is very visible, giving customers’ immediate access to your up to date information and processes. This is often faster than the normal web update process, enabling a lightning fast response to breaking news.
Not everyone is satisfied with a self-service answer and for those seeking additional reassurance customer service systems need to provide a well-signposted escalation strategy. Customers that go on to call or email are automatically routed to the right agent or department, along with a history of the information they have already viewed.
And finally by monitoring the questions that customers ask, companies can tune the content they are providing so that it meets people’s needs as the situation evolves. Crises do happen, but ensuring that customer service is central to preparations goes a long way towards mitigating risks to both company brand and customer loyalty.
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