Read this blog to find out exactly how your field service business can use tech, specifically field service mobile apps, to bolster customer satisfaction.
This is food for thought…
Around half of all field service organisations use multiple platforms, spreadsheets and paper-based documents to manage their operations.
Yet, with an enormous 76% of customers now expecting companies to anticipate their needs and deliver outstanding customer experiences (CX), traditional ways of working just don’t have what it takes to meet demands.
Put simply, manual administration methods are inherently error-prone, so it’s easy for minor slip-ups to cause extensive, costly issues. Not only does this eat into your profits, but it can also have severe reputational repercussions if your customers are affected in the process.
On to the good news 👇
Modern field service management software is changing all this 📲 This digital tech is designed specifically to help companies realise their full potential and better customer experiences.
How?
In this article, we’ll look into exactly how your field service operations can use tech, specifically mobile apps, to bolster customer satisfaction.
Let’s dive in.
TOP 3 WAYS FIELD SERVICE MOBILE APPS DELIVER A BETTER CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Field service mobile apps can help in so many ways. They can provide customers with real-time updates on engineer arrival times, receive quick digital copies of invoices, and ensure the engineer has all the information they need to complete a job on arrival.
Let’s delve into how this works…
1. GET THE JOB DONE THE FIRST TIME
🔍Field service organisations that achieve a high first-time fix rate of 70% or above boast an impressive 86% customer retention rate.
With people leading hectic lives, clients appreciate it when technicians can complete the job on the first appointment.
Fortunately, with the right field service mobile app to hand, your technicians will never have to worry about arriving at a job unprepared.
How?
Once your customers have made their appointments, the booking details will appear in the system for your back-office staff. From here, they can assign the correct stock, equipment and assets to each job so your workers will have all the gear they need to complete the job during the first appointment.
The end result: Aside from delighting your clients by providing a rapid and straightforward service, your workers will also have more time each day to attend additional appointments and boost your organisation’s reputation.
2. SEND INVOICES TO CUSTOMERS IMMEDIATELY
🔍When using manual methods, it takes the average accounts receivable team around 11 hours to process an invoice.
And unfortunately, slow invoicing processes can lead to late payments and dissatisfied customers, who don’t want to wait for days — or sometimes weeks — to pay for a service.
This all changes with field service mobile apps because engineers can produce important documents in a matter of seconds.
Here’s how 👇
Once your technicians have completed their jobs, they’ll be able to pull through data from the CRM (customer relationship manager) and create an accurate invoice directly from their mobile devices.
Then, with the invoice being completely digital, your technicians can then send the invoice straight to the customer, who can approve it there and then.
Finally, using a range of convenient, electronic payment methods, clients can pay for the service on the same day.
The end result: As such, they won’t be burdened with the task of remembering to pay the paper-based invoice when it arrives long after the job is complete. And you’re more likely to get paid on time.
3. SHARE THEIR LOCATION WITH CUSTOMERS
From pizza to parcels, customers today are used to being able to live-track the whereabouts of their orders. So, why would they expect anything less from your organisation?
🔍In fact, a staggering 89% of customers say they want an ‘Uber-like’ service to track the location of their field service technicians alongside updates on their arrival times.
It’s no secret that the average workday for a field technician is unpredictable. Emergency call-outs and cancellations can mean that their schedule has to shift. But, using a field service app makes all this easier.
How? Because your workers can pause, suspend, reject and create new jobs from scratch on the field, meaning they can respond to new bookings as they arise.
Now, this might spark a new kind of fear: How can you possibly keep customers updated on a technician’s location with even more bookings? 👇
Combining GPS tracking software with a mobile app enables your workers to communicate with your back-office team so they can send out notifications to customers at the right moments. And once your customers receive their update, they’ll be able to see an estimated time of arrival and click on the live tracking link.
The end result: Keeping your clients in the loop on the day of their appointment indicates that you value their time, and they should be more inclined to use your company again as a result.
INVESTING IN TECHNOLOGY IS YOUR BEST BET TO STAND OUT FROM THE COMPETITION
🔍The global field service market is predicted to reach $4.45 billion by 2022.
And more and more companies are expected to adopt field service management tech to meet customer expectations. Plus, by focusing on improving the customer experience, businesses can see improved profit margins.
That’s because it:
- Improves efficiency - Field service mobile apps make it easier to schedule and dispatch engineers to call-outs meaning quicker response times for customers. And less down-time for engineers.
- Bolsters communication - With real-time updates, teams at the back-office can better coordinate engineers, the tools they need and stock so that jobs are fixed the first-time for the customer, saving field service companies money.
- Cost savings - Automating administrative tasks like invoicing and capturing signatures on site saves so many hours, and reduces human error which would otherwise contribute to a poor customer experience.
The key takeaway: To stay ahead of their competitors, field service companies aiming for growth really do need to be early adopters of the latest technology. Or, they risk becoming obsolete.
PROVIDE A BETTER CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE WITH BIGCHANGE
With BigChange, your field-based workforce will have everything they need to deliver excellent service. Technicians can share real-time updates on location and job statuses, guarantee on-time customer payments with electronic invoices, and enhance communication between technicians and your back-office.
And when you use BigChange’s field service management software, all your technicians see all job information in one place. You’ll also have access to the free field service mobile app that enables your technicians to:
✅ Log expenses
✅ Capture photos and signatures
✅ Check quantities of stock, equipment and assets
✅ Carry out risk assessments
✅ Complete daily vehicle walkaround checks
✅ View all information about each job on the CRM
✅ Send invoices to customers
✅ Fill out and submit timesheets
All from the palm of their hands.
Want to find out more? See how BigChange can make your field service business grow stronger, arrange a free and personalised demo today.
