Running a business requires you to wear a lot of different hats. And you probably don’t want one more thing to think about or one more tool to review. Things are just fine how they are, right?
Except maybe they’re not…
If your customer service reps are struggling to keep up with ticket demands and constantly complaining about their work, that is a huge warning sign for your business.
Knowledge-centered service (KCS) can take the load off your support team. Here are 10 benefits of using a KCS tool:
Reason #1 -- Knowledge service support is your fire hose.
We get it. Fighting fires is a part of customer support work. But without KCS, you are basically running out to various streams and faucets trying to fill a bucket to put your fires out with, and running back to dump the water bucket onto one tiny section of the problem.
Inefficient? Absolutely.
When you have KCS, on the other hand, your water source is concentrated, readily available, and can be aimed as needed. That means your support people have the right solutions to take care of customer problems.
Reason #2 -- Your customers are your most valuable asset.
The easiest sales to make are those made to your existing customers. It’s a truth of the business world. And that means you should be giving your customers the best service possible.
Some business owners think of customer support as an unskilled area that pretty much anyone can do. And that is a huge mistake. These are the people directly making an impression on your most valuable assets! So you should be equipping them with tools to create customer success.
Which brings us to the next reason…
Reason #3 -- Your support team is only as good as your knowledge base.
Customer service is partly about charisma and being able to talk to people. The other primary part is having a strong knowledge base about the product or service you’re supporting. If your team doesn’t understand what you offer, they can’t really help your customers.
KCS helps your support people to do their job more efficiently. That makes for happier customers and happier workers.
Reason #4 -- KCS gives you direction for your content.
A lot of businesses struggle with figuring out what kind of content to create. But the best content is filled with the information your customers are already looking for. Who knows best what questions your customers are asking about? Your customer support team, of course.
Utilizing KCS allows the various departments in your business to collaborate because customer support can capture what questions customers are asking. Marketing then creates articles and other content that specifically answers those questions. And it goes into your searchable knowledge base where sales and support can access it when talking to customers in the future.
Reason #5 -- Support doesn’t have to keep reinventing the wheel.
Once an answer has been added to your knowledge base, it becomes searchable and easily accessible for the customer service team. Going forward, agents who are working on customer issues don’t have to try to find a new solution. They will have relevant articles available to provide to the customer. It’s collective knowledge.
Reason #6 -- Your support becomes progressively better.
Here’s what happens when your content is organized in a KCS tool and your customer service reps can access it:
Every time a rep reuses that content to help with a customer issue, they are also reviewing it because they will notice if some information is outdated or inaccurate. The tool will allow them to flag the content for revision, which means your knowledge base content continually improves.
Especially for frequently used content, the information will remain current and relevant. Bonus: this also helps your team to feel knowledgeable and useful by contributing to the quality of the knowledge base, rather than feeling angry and complaining about content they can’t fix.
Reason #7 -- Your customer service reps will be happier.
This really is a big benefit. No one sets out to have miserable employees. And when they feel like they have the tools to do their job well, with less hassle, it makes life a lot easier for your support team. A team that feels intelligent and well-equipped to do their job is going to feel a lot more dedicated to doing that job well.
Reason #8 -- It saves your support team time.
With a KCS tool that makes your knowledge base accessible to your customers, they can find their own answers instead of always going to customer support with questions. This reduces the workload on the customer service reps.
And with that saved time, they can take care of other high priority tasks rather than just putting out fires all day.
Reason #9 -- You get lower costs and higher ROI.
How can a knowledge base improve ROI? What happens is that the reduced workload for customer service reps means you can run a leaner team, even as your company grows. The costs going into the support department, therefore, are reduced.
At the same time, your existing customers are better served and more satisfied, leading to higher customer retention rates, and thus, higher revenue.
Reason #10 -- You’ll have data to direct your content strategy.
KCS tools track data regarding how many articles are viewed by your customers and which articles are flagged with issues by your team members. Using those reports, you’ll know which content is the most effective and which pieces need improvement. And that gives everyone--marketing, sales, and customer support--a clear direction to follow.
Elevio is a Knowledge-Centered Support tool that allows your whole team to collaborate and create continuous customer education. Click here to get started with a free trial of Elevio.
