During the height of the Coronavirus outbreak, 78% of all field service organisations completely stopped deploying technicians to customer sites because of health and safety-related issues.
Understandably, companies are now eager to return to business-as-usual to prevent any further disruption to their operations. Nevertheless, despite official government restrictions easing significantly, COVID remains a severe public health risk.
Therefore, businesses will need to consider ways to deliver a great customer experience whilst ensuring clients and technicians feel safe during these uncertain times. Failure to do so could be detrimental to organisations that took a financial hit in 2020.
Thankfully, with the latest field service management software in place, it's possible to transform your ways of working to impress customers during the pandemic and beyond.
Read on to find out more.
How to Deliver a Great Customer Experience During and After the Pandemic
The COVID-19 virus has impacted how field service businesses operate over the last year. However, if the pandemic taught us anything, it's that technology has the power to revolutionise industries and help overcome a range of challenges.
Fortunately, many of the technological advancements that field service organisations put in place to deal with the crisis have the potential to continue benefiting your business post-pandemic.
Here are some of the ways you can deliver a great customer experience during COVID and beyond:
1. Clear Communication with Customers
68% of people say it increases their perception of a brand when companies send them proactive customer service notifications. Unfortunately, it can be tricky to provide your customers with job status updates if you don't have access to all the real-time information you need.
Instead, when using a state-of-the-art workforce management system, you can use the live data it collects to see where your technicians are and send your customers automated messages.
Your customers can then ensure that they have time to prepare for the appointment, which is especially important if they need or want to put COVID health and safety measures in place.
Good communication not only creates a safer experience for your customers and technicians but also demonstrates a high level of professionalism that clients will welcome long after the pandemic.
2. Improve First-Time Fix Rates
Did you know, organisations that have a first-time fix rate of over 70% boast an 86% customer retention rate?
Aside from the benefits a high first-time fix rate provides your business, it also limits the amount of contact your technicians and customers need to make during the pandemic.
By empowering your team with the software they need to assign the right technicians and equipment to jobs, the likelihood of requiring a second visit plummets. Technicians will be able to arrive at the job on time, with the right equipment and have all the information they need to hand to complete the work on the same day.
Whilst it's essential to reduce contact with customers whilst COVID still presents a health risk, reducing the frequency of multiple visits is more convenient for the customer in general. Consequently, businesses that continue to use workforce management software to streamline and enhance their operations stand a better chance of thriving in a post-pandemic world.
3. Offer Flexibility
Many of today's customers don't want the inconvenience of sitting on the phone to book or reschedule appointments. In fact, 42% of people across all ages prefer to book online.
Straightforward appointment booking and rescheduling processes have never been more essential than during the pandemic, which constantly disrupts plans. As a result, companies have had to learn how to become more flexible than ever before.
Thankfully, with modern workforce management technology, flexibility doesn't mean you have to bend over backwards to deliver a great customer experience.
Your customers will simply log into an easy-to-use portal where they can pick an appointment that suits them or reschedule when necessary. Plus, your back-office staff won't have to worry about the headache of additional admin or paperwork because the system will handle the scheduling.
The smart scheduling assistant enables your team to allocate and reallocate resources at the touch of a button based on location, traffic information, job constraints and vehicle type. With access to the most accurate real-time data, you can rest assured that you'll always have the right resource in the right place. Every time.
Again, your customers will appreciate a high level of flexibility long after COVID, so it's worth investing in a platform that can handle the unpredictability of job scheduling to continue delivering a great service.
4. Be Respectful of Customers' Wishes
Remember, although COVID safety measures aren't as strict as they were at the height of the pandemic, many people still don't feel comfortable returning to 'normal'. For example, a recent BBC study showed that 40% of Britons want to keep wearing masks in shops and on public transport permanently.
Subsequently, you must be respectful of your customers' health and safety wishes — continuing to wear a mask and sanitising your hands if required, for instance. With field service management software such as BigChange, you can take COVID prevention measures one step further.
BigChange's platform offers a 'no touch' app, where customers can sign paperwork directly from their mobile devices instead of needing to use the technicians'. Once the documents and invoices are ready, customers can also make instant, online payments, eliminating the need for paperwork and physical cheques.
Many customers will enjoy the convenience and simplicity that contactless features offer, even once the pandemic is a distant memory.
Deliver a Great Customer Experience with BigChange
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. Deliver positive customer experiences at every level thanks to an array of dynamic product features.
Want to find out more?
Discover how BigChange can make your business grow stronger, arrange a freedemo today.
