Protocol to react to customers

A systematic way of approaching customer concerns is essential, especially when the number of customers is overwhelming.

The mode of communication varies differently based on industry. This includes email, phone calls, actual site visits, face-to-face services, and more. However, a similar trend is identified and explained below;

Level 1

Level 1 customer service provides an immediate or short-notice response.  The purpose here is to understand the customer's concerns, provide simple guidance, retrieve data and information, and execute routine tasks. 

This level of service is systematic and is dependable on how well the service provider on-the-ground sticks to it. Depending on the company's budget, most of these services are replaced by automated bots to reduce variability, human error and cut costs.

Level 2

Level 2 customer service provides advance support that requires some level of thinking and decision-making to resolve slightly complex problems. 

These roles are usually managerial or otherwise senior roles with good technical and corporate knowledge to handle responses effectively.

Level 3

Level 3 customer service provides highly customised solutions to address the customer's concerns. These people usually hold high authority in decision-making as they are usually the last line of customer service. 

Depending on the industry and seriousness of the situation, level 3 individuals have the power to act out of the company policies to resolve the problem.

Level 4

Level 4 customer service requires more than one higher management and decision-makers to discuss and plan an extremely customised complex solution. This will require the customer to wait while the team finds ways to resolve the issue. 

When the problem comes to this stage, it is often related to a dire situation such as; death, substantial monetary loss, and potential tarnishing of the company's reputation.

Additional Tips

For software and technical issues, it is always essential to guide the customer to have the problems be replicated to help make the troubleshooting easier.

For people-relationship issues, it is always essential to clarify if the solution is reasonably beneficial to both the customer and our company. Proper protocols and policies must be in place to help decision-makers decide. For example, whether to refund, replace, or pay.

For a mixture of both software and people issues, it is important to reasonably understand the technical issues first and use them to explain and negotiate logically to the customer. Proper protocols and policies must be in place to help decision-makers decide.

If the situation is one of its kind and there are no policies in place, careful reasoning and negotiation must be done to secure the customer and the company's benefit. If you need to take time, let the customer know when is the next best time to get back to them.