“The customer is always right” — it’s the first rule of being a customer service rep or account manager. Whether the customer’s problem was actually your fault or a result of user error or just a miscommunication, the goal must be to defuse the situation and make it right. Your customer retention rates and referral marketing efforts depend on it.
That’s where rewards can help smooth things over with an unhappy customer. In particular, a digital prepaid card or gift card is an appealing reward for consumers and can be delivered easily and for free.
But there’s more to it than that, of course. Here are three best practices to make sure you’re arming your frontline reps to effectively use digital rewards for customer appeasement.
READ MORE: 3 Sales Challenges You Can Solve With B2B Corporate Gifting
The last thing you want to tell an already unhappy customer is that you’ll send them a coupon or reward in four to six weeks. In these times of dwindling customer loyalty, even four to six days is too long when you’re at risk of losing business. According to Zendesk, 72% of customers want immediate service, and their appeasement offerings should be no different. If you properly empower your customer service and sales reps, a digital prepaid card or gift card can be sent instantly, which is the first step in appeasing the recipient and rebuilding trust. Use a tool that lets you set up individual budgets that reset monthly. That way, you can allow reps to use their discretion to offer immediate rewards during their own interactions, without concern about overall spending getting out of control.
Your frontline reps in customer service and account management should also have the ability to personalize the message that’s included with a digital prepaid card or gift card. They can mention the specific issue that the customer had and add a human touch with a heartfelt apology. It’s important for customers to know that you recognize the hassle and appreciate their ongoing business. Again, your teams just need to be armed with the right solutions: Nearly three-quarters of agents say that having access to more tools and data would give them more opportunities to personalize their interactions, according to Zendesk.
Customer service teams typically route support requests in a rotation, so it’s possible that multiple agents will work with the same customer in a short period of time. That’s why it’s important to note any digital prepaid card or gift card that’s sent to a customer in their record. You don’t want several reps sending rewards to the same person. When you integrate a digital rewards tool with your service management platform, not only are appeasement efforts logged automatically, you can also send rewards directly within your agents’ existing workflow.
Appeasement is just one of many reasons to send a digital prepaid card or gift card to a prospect or customer. Download our Sales Playbook to learn how rewards can help you throughout the buyer’s journey!
Hannah is a reformed journalist who has more than 15 years of experience and now focuses on content marketing for innovative tech companies.
Hannah is a reformed journalist who has more than 15 years of experience and now focuses on content marketing for innovative tech companies.
