Keep Your Customers Informed

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Keeping customers informed is critical in delivering positive experiences. Whether in person, by phone or email, when you are processing a request for a customer and it is taking longer than expected, it is best practice to keep them updated on how the situation is progressing.

A simple “Please hold on sir, i am still processing your request, it is taking a bit longer because…” would do wonders in reducing the customer’s anxiety and prevents them from making erroneous assumptions. Customers are more likely to become impatient with a service rep if; they wait for a long time, don’t know what is happening or how much longer they have to wait.

If your organization offers a service and for any reason a service failure occurs (Read: How to handle service failure), do not wait for the customers affected to find out by themselves, take the proactive approach and reach out to them first, this can be done via Email or even SMS, it is such actions that make a business stand out from competition.

A simple mail or SMS saying something like;

“Dear Bill, please be informed that our servers are currently down. We are working hard to fix this as soon as possible. We apologize for all inconveniences”

would go a long way in saving the customers anxiety and the stress of reaching to your organization. This also reduces pressure on your contact channels.

Email sample

I once went to a bank to carry out a transaction, i filled the required form and handed it over to a teller, she picked it up, punched some keys on her keyboard and i stood watching her do her job, while waiting for my receipt.  She seemed busy on her system, but 3 minutes later i still didn’t have my receipt and she is still busy on her system!

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At that point i began to wonder;

Is she actually processing my transaction?
Has she forgotten about me?
Is there something wrong? 

I asked why it was taking so long, at which she replies “We are experiencing network challenges, please hold on”. After a few more minutes (of awkward silence) she hands me my receipt and i leave.

I understand that such challenges occur, but what a difference it would have made, if i had been informed about it before i  asked.

Providing positive customer experiences is not magic or sorcery, sometimes it’s those little things that make an experience a positive. When you fail to keep customers informed, you are setting them up for a poor experience which can cost you their loyalty. Proactive communication is a simple way to ensure customers are satisfied, even if things are not going as planned.

Kelechi Okeke
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