How to Provide Great Customer Experience as a Remote Workforce

Mar 24, 2020

Does working remotely lead to inefficiency? No, in fact, many famously productive teams like Buffer, FlexJobs, InVision, and Toggl are fully remote. Modern technology enables employees from all over the world to work from any location. In fact, using video conference tools, like Microsoft Teams, can often be more effective than traditional meeting rooms for delivering instructions to employees and engaging customers. How can you use the strengths of technology and a remote team to provide great customer experience?

Help Your Customers Before They Need Customer Support

The lack of a physical location often means that support needs to be done over the phone or digitally. The problem is that your customers are probably already having a bad experience by the time they contact support. Instead of waiting for issues, businesses can proactively take the support directly to their customers. For example, brands can use a comprehensive FAQ page, a welcome email with helpful tips or your customers’ favorite social media platform to proactively share information.

Give Your Team the Tools They Need

You wouldn’t expect a carpenter to build a house without the right tools, so don’t expect remote employees to give the customer a great experience without the right software. Think about what ruins a customer experience and what tools can help your employees counteract them. Consider the following causes of bad customer experience:

Long hold times
Impersonal communication
Unresolved customer issues

How can the right technology help you solve these CX challenges? The right technology tools can help your team members take a proactive approach.

Cloud VoIP software: Leveraging cloud-based VoIP software (software that allows people to use the internet to make calls) can help you better distribute inbound calls across your remote team. This software gives you the ability to group individual reps into teams, reduces excessive wait time and records calls to allow for more personalized training.
Team chat software: Software like Microsoft Teams can help replace one-on-one and conference room meetings with customers/prospects. Video creates a personal connection without requiring attendees to be in the same room.
Modern ticketing system: Advanced ticketing systems are more than a take-a-number concept. They allow your company to track errors, send tickets to the right people and ensure tickets don’t stay open too long. A ticketing system also gives employees the ability to quickly learn from colleagues and resolve issues faster.

When your team has the tools it needs, it’s possible to provide customers with the best experience wherever your team is working from.

Customer Experience Is the Same for Remote and In-house Teams

It’s important to remember that providing a great customer experience doesn’t change based on your team’s location. For a great CX, employees must understand the buyer’s journey and how it aligns with your brand identity. This understanding will help your team communicate effectively with customers at different stages of their journey and enable them to provide the answers customers need before engaging with you. Most importantly, your team should be empathetic and actively listen to your customers. When everyone on your team values CX, the customer will feel the difference.