In this blog, we look at exactly how field service businesses can deliver great customer experiences.
Even with the best product or service in the world, if your customer service isn’t living up to expectations, your reputation will suffer… And you could lose business as a result.
🔍In fact, 96% of people say that customer service is crucial in their loyalty to a brand.
So, to ensure your customers come back to your company time and again, field service businesses need to consider ways to ensure the customer experience is top-notch.
Luckily, thanks to the latest workforce management technology, it’s never been easier to deliver outstanding service.
Let’s look at exactly how field service businesses can deliver great customer experiences.
THE SECRET TO DELIVERING GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE
🔍54% of people say that they have higher customer service expectations than they did just one year ago.
What does this mean for field service businesses? Put simply, they have to find more innovative ways to stay ahead of the curve.
And the solution to this? Using technology 🌟
More specifically, let's look at the top five ways you can leverage field service management software to:
- Create a personalised customer experience that will impress your clients
- Boost the reputation of your business.
THE EXACT METHODS FIELD SERVICE BUSINESS USE TO BOOST CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
1. RESPOND PROMPTLY TO CUSTOMERS ⏰
🔎70% of customers, speed of service matters the most.
With this in mind, the first step is to review your current processes and eliminate anything that slows down the workflow.
Hint: For most field service organisations, inefficiencies are often caused by manual administration methods and outdated legacy systems.
This is where field service management software comes in. 👇
You can streamline your processes and free up your employees’ time to respond more rapidly to customer requests.
For example: As soon as your customers have booked an appointment, your back office team can schedule and dispatch a worker based on real-time data, such as the location of the technician or job constraints. They can also send automatic notifications to clients to inform them of the technicians’ whereabouts.
The bottom line? With technology enabling you to respond to your customers instantly, you can rest assured that you’re delivering excellent service.
2. PERSONALISE YOUR SERVICE 🎨
🔍80% of customers are more likely to purchase a product or service if the brand provides personalised experiences.
Unfortunately, spreadsheets and paper-based documents make it much more challenging to provide communications tailored to each of your customers.
But with tech, this all changes.
For example: With a modern CRM (customer relationship management) system, you can pull client data into company-branded templates. This means you can automatically send emails and other routine communications — at the click of a button.
The end result? A personalised customer experience will make your clients feel more valued and increase the likelihood of using your business again in the future.
Plus, clients who are impressed with your service may also recommend you to their friends, family and professional network.
3. GIVE CUSTOMERS THE TOOLS THEY NEED TO HELP THEMSELVES 🛠
Historically, customers that wanted to book or reschedule an appointment had to take time out of their busy days waiting on the phone to speak to someone.
But thanks to technological advancements in recent decades, it’s now much more straightforward for clients to manage their bookings.
🔍Unsurprisingly, 67% of customers say they prefer self-service over speaking to a company representative.
As such, to deliver the best customer service possible and stand out from the competition, you should offer tools to help your clients help themselves.
The good news is that many modern workforce management solutions include built-in self-service customer portals where people can easily manage their appointments online, and so much more!
For example: As well as appointment scheduling, customers can also view the live progress of their technicians’ locations and download job cards and invoices once the work is complete.
The end result? With full visibility and control over their booking, customers will enjoy a convenient service that will make them want to keep using your company over others that don’t offer self-service options.
4. KEEP IN TOUCH WITH CUSTOMERS ONCE THE WORK IS COMPLETE 📩
🔍70% of the customer experience is based on how the client feels you are treating them each time they make contact with your business.
The key takeaway here is that field service businesses should make an effort to check in with customers at every stage of the buyer journey — even after the work is complete.
For example: With field service management technology, you can send your customers a satisfaction survey when your technician has completed the work to ensure they’re happy. If required, you can also set up recurring jobs with automated reminders so your customers don’t have to remember to book a new appointment each time.
The bottom line? By keeping your customers engaged throughout the customer journey and beyond, they’ll feel appreciated and will maintain a more favourable impression of your company.
5. BE HELPFUL AND ANTICIPATE CUSTOMER NEEDS 🆘
🔍Organisations that prioritise the customer experience outperform those that don’t by a staggering 80%.
Clearly, it pays to anticipate your customers’ needs and deliver on their expectations.
But, how can you anticipate your customers’ needs if you don’t have the necessary data or tools?
In today’s digital world, clients are now used to businesses helping them solve problems they didn’t even know they had. So, manual administration methods and paper-based documents just aren’t going to give you the information you need to delight your clients anymore.
Fortunately, with cloud-based field service management software, you’ll have access to all the data you need in the palm of your hand as it will log every interaction you have with your customers.
The benefits? This tech allows you to:
✅ Schedule and dispatch workers depending on the customers’ requirements
✅ Provide real-time status updates to keep clients in the loop
✅ Create digital documents which reduce the risk of human error
✅ Send online invoices the same day
✅ Allow customers to pay electronically instead of waiting several days for a paper invoice
The end result: By anticipating your customers’ needs and offering helpful service, they will feel your company cares, making them more inclined to want to use your services again.
📕 Ready to learn more? Read this blog on how to perfect customer experience at all stages of the buyer journey.
DELIVER A PERSONALISED CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE WITH BIGCHANGE
We hope you found these hacks useful. We’ve personally seen field service businesses grow rapidly by focusing on improving customer experience. Not just because of the uplift in repeat custom and recommendations, but also because these changes have boosted productivity.
Final takeaway: Make sure you choose the right tech to optimise customer relationships. 👇
Because some systems manage relationships. BigChange helps you master them.
Our fully integrated CRM system gives you a 360˚ view of every account, contact site and contract. Put simply, our software allows field service businesses to deliver the best possible customer experiences at every point of the customer journey — thanks to an array of dynamic product features that we are super proud of.
Want to find out more? See how BigChange can make your business grow stronger, arrange a freedemo today.
