Customer support teams must be ready to provide information to callers as quickly as possible. More importantly, they must know which information they should look for and where to look for it.
Companies that don’t properly organize their information for their customer support teams are at risk of losing customers due to frustration and inability to solve problems. However, this can be easily solved with a few easy steps.
This article delves into the importance of organized files and data for customer support teams, how to achieve that, and the ways in which disorganized data causes harm to companies. While solving disorganized information might seem tedious at first, it’s crucial long-term.
What type of data does the customer service team need
Depending on the type of your company, you’ll likely have dozens of sources of information your customer support employees need to understand and read. For example, customer support teams that solve problems related to banking need to have insights into certain regulations and technicalities about how the m-banking app works.
Video Content and Training Tools
Companies will often have training videos that employees need to watch. However, if an employee can’t remember how to fix a certain problem immediately, it’s impossible to watch a video while on a call with a customer.
If the majority of your training materials are in the form of videos, you can use tools like Happy Scribe’s video transcription generator to turn them into text. Then, you can create individual texts that employees can use to easily recall the needed information.
Internal Knowledge Bases and Documentation
The most common forms of learning guides are knowledge bases and documentation. They’re textual, and they come in; they are usually in PDF or Word formats. Knowledge bases are crucial for employees' upskilling and problem-solving.
However, there can be some problems if they’re in PDF. Due to NDAs and internal policies, some documents can be locked in order to be protected. If that’s the case, you can use tools like Smallpdf password remover to unlock and later organize them.
Blogs, Whitepapers, etc.
Companies often create blogs and tutorials that are publicly available. Many of them include information that customers can implement on their own to solve problems. However, this requires that the customers are a bit tech-savvy, depending on the field of your business.
Importance of organized data in customer service
As we’ve mentioned, there are dozens of different sources of information that customer service teams can learn from and help customers with. However, if they have to immediately find an answer, it would be impossible to do so in an unorganized database.
For example, if a company has some information in a private YouTube playlist, some on Google Drive, and some shared in Slack, it would basically be impossible to navigate the right document in the heat of the moment.
However, if all of those data sources are merged into one single place, then the employee’s job is significantly streamlined. Of course, uploading everything to a Google Drive won’t solve all problems.
Instead, it’s best to edit the documents so that they’re all in a similar form and structure, and then add them all to one place. You should encourage employees to get to know the file structure of the database. This will help them easily find the necessary documents.
Ways to solve disorganized data
Why your customer service team can't afford disorganized information - ways to solve disorganized data
We’ll explore some of the easiest ways to organize your data and customer service process. There are innovative ways, and there are simple ways of just arranging the documents properly. However, it’s best that you implement a combination of them.
Automated systems
You can alleviate a lot of stress and the workload of your customer support team through the use of automated systems. This also includes AI-powered tools that can help your team convert one type of content to another or automatically respond.
Tools like Aircall’s Automated answering system are crucial for streamlining customer support processes for businesses. For example, Aircall’s system automates call routing, voicemail handling, and call prioritization.
This helps workers navigate their roles better. They’ll be able to route calls if they aren’t capable of solving a certain problem, allowing a senior employee to help them. However, such tools also come with a plethora of other benefits.
Adequate file management
The best solution to disorganized information is to properly place files as they are created. This solves a lot of problems beforehand. However, in case a company didn’t do this properly in the past, it’s best to solve it as soon as possible.
The file structure of the company’s resources needs to be straightforward and easily navigated by the employees. File names should be simple and should accurately depict their contents. This can significantly improve the productivity of employees who work in customer support.
Depending on the number of documents, organizing them can take time. The best way to manage files is through cloud solutions, such as Google Drive or Dropbox. However, it’s also helpful if the company has its own server.
Proper communication tools
Some companies simply can’t afford cloud plans for their employees, which makes file management and data organization harder. In case the company is using communication tools to manage its teams, it’s crucial that the files are easily accessible.
Instead of employees having to scroll through chat to find the document they want, there should be separate channels that contain SOPs, tutorials, and other relevant documents. Managing files in this manner is much more streamlined in dedicated communication tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams, rather than in WhatsApp or Viber.
Problems with disorganized data
Still not sure it’s worth your time organizing the data for your customer service team? This section explores the less fun part of disorganized data, which is the most common problem caused by it. Depending on your company and the amount of data that customer service teams have to know, the problems can be exacerbated.
Slower response time
Depending on the significance of the problem, customers likely won’t have the patience to wait dozens of minutes before their problem is solved. However, this is often the case if the employee has to dig through emails and multiple platforms in order to find the solution.
Slower response times are directly caused by poor or disorganized data. This makes both the employee and the customer uncomfortable. The unnecessary stress and pressure that both sides experience are easily avoidable.
Employee burnout
As mentioned previously, the urgency and stress caused by having to find a solution for the customer can be quite problematic. However, while a slower response time is sometimes justified, there are long-term problems that can be caused by disorganized information.
If employees are going to work constantly under stress due to disorganized files, they’ll likely suffer from burnout quickly. This directly leads to lower performance and patience on the employee’s side.
It can lead to top talents leaving the company due to easily avoidable problems. Organized data helps you increase employee engagement and increase their satisfaction with their work.
Lower customer satisfaction
In some cases, the customer’s problem won’t be solved at all. Of course, some problems are simply unsolvable at a certain time. However, businesses shouldn’t allow disorganization to be the cause of poor customer satisfaction.
On the other hand, quick responses that solve the customer’s problems can significantly impact the way in which the company is perceived. From my personal experience, one of the best advantages of my bank is that all of my problems were solved within minutes.
Lower customer satisfaction leads to long-term problems associated with the company’s profits and reputation. Customers will always prefer to go to a business that is more reliable and helpful.
Inconsistent responses
If the company has been operating for some time, there are chances that there’s outdated and inapplicable information in the database. This is why it’s important to structure data properly and delete unnecessary files.
Inconsistent responses that don’t solve the problems, or customer support personnel that provide replies from different documents can undermine your company’s credibility.
Organized data is the key to efficient customer service teams
Depending on the size of the company’s database, organizing files necessary for customer service teams to help customers can last from a couple of days to months. It’s always best to organize information as it comes, rather than all at once.
Customer service teams that don’t have the necessary data at hand can be inefficient, and this can be costly for the company. Instead of waiting for trouble to start stirring, make an upfront investment in systems and tools that will help your team adequately access information.
In the long run, proper practices can help your customer teams excel at their roles. They’ll be able to solve customers’ problems quicker, leading to a better reputation for your business and satisfied customers.
