In marketing and sales circles, “funnel” is a jargon that is commonly used, however, it is rarely used in customer service.
The customer support funnel picks up where the marketing and sales funnel leaves off, producing a Customer Experience Hourglass.
The traditional sales funnel that we are all familiar with is distinct from a clearly defined customer support funnel plan. You observe both your current customers and potential prospects visiting your firm through numerous channels to obtain service, as opposed to tracking the process of a lead becoming a customer.
You may provide more thorough, superior help to consumers by carefully managing your support funnel.
It enables you to create a more efficient customer support system that provides assistance as and when consumers need it.
Contents
What is a Customer Support Funnel?
A well-designed customer support funnel is a method that assists your company in determining how many consumers remained with you after their original purchase.
Businesses can raise their bottom line by developing customer support funnels, which improve client growth, success, and retention. You get to simplify the support process and provide value to your customer’s interactions with your company.
How to build a Customer Support Funnel?
You must arm yourself with the most effective strategies that align with your brand if you want to create a solid customer care funnel. In this section, we’ll go over the best techniques for quickly creating a customer support funnel.
1) Implement self-service
According to the Zendesk survey, 69% of customers try to solve the problem on their own before contacting customer care.
Self-service optimization provides clients with more convenience and power, improving their overall experience with a company. A well-implemented self-service reduces the number of support tickets, increases on-site traffic, reduces response times, and lowers total support expenses.
At each stage of the customer support funnel, you may build knowledge bases that benefit your clients. They will be able to onboard more easily and receive immediate support for the tools they use as a result.
But the real issue is where to put them to make them more useful.
Customers will view self-service and video information in three separate locations when they visit our website, as you can see on the ProProfs Chat home page.
2) Use Live Chat
In the customer support process workflows, live chat is a critical customer touchpoint. Its application in the customer support funnel differs significantly from that in the live chat sales funnel. Your goal here is to provide clients with immediate, proactive support and ensure that they remain loyal to the company.
However, before you add this customer assistance solution to your website, perform the following changes:
- Place it on pages that are more likely to pique the interest of customers or have a higher sales potential.
- Put it on 404 pages to help clients find their way back to relevant pages.
- Place it on help centre article pages to answer any additional queries the consumer may have.
3) Use Automation
Chatbots powered by AI can direct clients to the team best suited to manage their problems. A straight forward response to a straightforward inquiry can even be assembled using machine learning, or they can swiftly provide links to resources that assist clients in finding a solution on their own.
Additionally, automation gives you more information to enhance customer care. For instance, the PayKickstart platform enables you to design automated surveys that can be distributed via email to gather information about your customers or their opinions of your business.
4) Use loyalty programs
Loyalty programs can be effective in your support funnel’s post-sale stage to encourage clients to continue with your company. By providing prizes and privileges, a good loyalty program increases client lifetime value and improves customer experience.
Loyalty programs may provide the following types of customer service:
- On-site assistance
- Individualized service
- Free troubleshooting services for a limited time.
5) Use Email Support
Adding email support to your current procedure is another technique to aid your company in creating a customer support funnel.
In research by Critical Channels of Choice, 86% of respondents said they expected businesses to provide customers with the choice of email help.
Email support makes it simpler for customers to seek solutions to certain issues. The best aspect is that you can utilize email support to gather client feedback and offer discounts as a method to express your regret for making your customers’ use of your product or service uncomfortable.
Conclusion
When it comes to support funnels, there is no one-size-fits-all solution; each organization will have unique touch points and flows. The support funnel is a framework for better understanding and optimizing your client experience after the sale in order to develop and maintain happy, loyal consumers.
