Recent attacks in the Red Sea have sparked fears of ongoing supply chain disruptions as the crisis is predicted to last for months. Prolonged threats could cause delays, price hikes, and product shortages. While immediate impacts may be limited, prolonged instability could ripple through supply chains, impacting the availability and affordability of everyday items in retail. These inconveniences could morph into a sustained number of dissatisfied customers.
Before the Red Sea ripples reach your shelves, consider implementing these vital strategies:
Maintain a Transparent Communication
Timely deliveries are the lifeblood of CX. When an order surpasses its scheduled delivery time, the ripples of customer dissatisfaction spread far and wide. Unhappy customers often share their frustrations with peers and online communities, potentially sullying the brand’s reputation. Thus, affecting customer retention alongside new lead generation prospects — two simultaneous shots hit down.
However, transparency is key: the impact of delayed orders can be mitigated if customers are kept informed about existing bottlenecks early on. Scarcity principle plays in here as the knowledge of limited products can trigger a fear of missing out (FOMO) in some customers, potentially even making them more understanding of slight delays.
Start upfront from the beginning by clearly notifying customers on product pages or during omnichannel interactions. Avoid using jargon and share realistic delivery timeframes. Do not leave customers in the dark – provide regular progress updates, even if minimal. Offer alternative products and highlight loyalty opportunities alongside.
Buckle Up Your Customer Support
With customer service excellence, customer retention becomes doable even during supply chain disruptions. However, delivering quality service requires a deep connection with disgruntled customers. By arranging training sessions focused on empathetic communication, CS agents can be trained to better comprehend and empathise with customers’ concerns, thereby nurturing stronger relationships and enhancing brand credibility.
CS managers should provide agents with easy access to updated information, FAQs, and tools to promptly address WISMO-type queries. However, agent performance and productivity rely on their well-being. Setting realistic and measurable ticket resolution targets is essential. Time and again communicate with your team and provide emotional support, encouragement, and resources for their mental well-being.
Ramp Your Customer Support Up (and Down) to Match Demand
No matter how much planning and forecasting you do, every business can experience unplanned demand for their customer services – Unexpected IT, courier and warehousing challenges, or logistics issues brought on by circumstances that are beyond the control of your Customer Success team, such as the ones we’ve seen caused by the red sea attacks.
This is where outsourcers can provide crucial support. Allowing you to ramp up support for both known seasonal peak demand, and unexpected surges of customer enquiries. And to do so without the fixed costs and overheads associated with internal teams.
Find out more about how Taskaler can help to help you maintain CSAT, with flexible additional customer support for your teams.
