Customer Inquiries

1. Handling Customers'
Inquiries
W4 - 2523

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Businesses who effectively deal with their
customer inquiries will enjoy a better brand
reputation and more loyal and satisfied
customers. Every customer inquiry is important
and requires a well-crafted, thoughtful reply.

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• Every time a customer gets in touch with your
business is a chance to make a good impression.
Don’t forget, most customers don’t want to
contact you at all and it is usually a sign that
something has gone wrong.
• Making it easy for your customers to reach out
and then responding in a kind, polite and
courteous manner is the bare minimum your
business should be looking to achieve.

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When your business sells a product to a customer, it’s making a
promise to provide good service that will keep the customer happy
and lead to customer satisfaction.
Dealing with customer inquiries can be complex and requires
established processes to streamline the experience. You need
competent agents who have been trained in the art of helping
customers and can portray your brand in a positive light.

5. What are
Customer
Inquiries?
Page 5
Customer inquiries are any instance in which a
customer gets in touch with your company to request
information, make a complaint, or share an experience.
There are all sorts of reasons why customers might
reach out and they are expecting a timely and effective
response.
Customer inquiries may come in through any channel
such as email, phone, social media or live chat, and
usually are dealt with in a centralized call or contact
center. Most businesses have a team of customer
service agents who are dedicated to dealing with the
company’s customer inquiries.

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The inquiries you receive usually have differing levels of urgency.
For example, an inquiry about a feature of your company’s
products is less urgent than reports of a system outage, and you’ll
want to prioritize your inquiries accordingly.
Customers who submit inquiries are expecting a timely and
effective response, and they will feel dissatisfied if your
organization fails to deliver.

7. • When you have a customer service policy in place
your agents are clear on how to handle customers.
They know what to do when a complaint comes in
and how the business wishes to deal with it.
• They can become a better representative of your
brand and customers can benefit from a consistent
experience.
How to
Efficiently
Handle
Customers'
Inquiries
Page 7
Develop clear policies

8. • Customer service reps who can follow simple
guidelines on how to interact with customers are
better placed to offer excellent customer service.
• They are more accountable to your business and can
offer a consistent experience due to having a
written code of conduct.
How to
Efficiently
Handle
Customers'
Inquiries
Page 8
Develop clear policies

9. • When you place your inquiries into categories
you are more able to deal with related queries.
Inquiries that are labeled with the same
category can be assigned to the same agent
to deal with to enhance efficiency.
How to
Efficiently
Handle
Customers'
Inquiries
Page 9
Place inquiries into categories

10. • For example, you might be getting inquiries all
relating to customer’s dissatisfaction with a
particular product. This lets your team know
there is something wrong with the product
and you might want to proactively offer a
refund to all customers who have bought it.
How to
Efficiently
Handle
Customers'
Inquiries
Page 10
Place inquiries into categories

11. • Marketing
• Development
• Sales
• Online Store
• IT department
How to
Efficiently
Handle
Customers'
Inquiries
Page 11
Place inquiries into categories

12. While 40% of customers prefer more complicated
customer service inquiries to be handled by a live
person, there are many query cases that can be
handled by self-service. For issues that show up again
and again, and for those customer service inquiries
with simple answers, you do not need to waste time
or money responding over the phone, in live chat, or
through email.
How to
Efficiently
Handle
Customers'
Inquiries
Page 12
Enable Self-Service

13. Instead, you can improve your customer service
workflow and cut down on your ticket queue by
empowering your customers to find the answer
themselves. Make it easy for them to find their own
resolution by publishing a knowledge base. It’s the
simplest way to improve the customer experience
and cut down on your customer service inquiries.
How to
Efficiently
Handle
Customers'
Inquiries
Page 13
Enable Self-Service

14. The importance of responding to customer
inquiries
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Many customers who make inquiries could be on the verge of leaving your
business. By getting in touch, they are giving you the chance to salvage the
situation and win back their loyalty. If a company’s customer service is
excellent, 78% of customers will do business with them again after a mistake.

15. The importance of responding to customer
inquiries
Page 15
Instead, you can improve your customer service workflow and cut down on
your ticket queue by empowering your customers to find the answer
themselves. Make it easy for them to find their own resolution by publishing a
knowledge base. It’s the simplest way to improve the customer experience and
cut down on your customer service inquiries.

16. The importance of responding to customer
inquiries
Page 16
90% of customers trust suggestions from family and friends, and 70% trust
consumer reviews. When you treat your customers well through effectively
handling their inquiries, they have a positive brand experience which they then
share with people they know and online.

17. The importance of responding to customer
inquiries
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This means that companies can acquire new customers through satisfied
customers who generate referrals. It’s well worth your business’s time to
invest in customer service and respond to customer inquiries quickly and
effectively. It helps you avoid bad word of mouth such as online reviews which
deter potential customers.

18. The importance of responding to customer
inquiries
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When something has gone wrong, this has the potential to leave a black mark
on the reputation of your business. Customers are disappointed and you have
not created the experience you led them to expect.

19. The importance of responding to customer
inquiries
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Of course, mistakes are inevitable but effectively dealing with customer
inquiries means you can preserve your brand’s reputation. You can make
apologies and offer compensation, thereby salvaging your business in the eyes
of existing and potential customers.

20. The importance of responding to customer
inquiries
Page 20
When you respond to customer inquiries you can take advantage of a valuable
source of feedback about your business. For example, customers may regularly
inquire about whether your business offers a certain type of service.
You can use this inquiry to understand what customers want and whether you
should consider expanding your offering, or at the very least offer more
detailed customer information on your website.

21. The importance of responding to customer
inquiries
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There is always something you can learn from your customer inquiries.
Naturally, you can create processes in your customer support team where they
can report common inquiries so your business can tackle the root of the
problem.

22. Customers submit complaints when they are not happy with your
service or something has gone wrong. Complaints don’t necessarily
have to be from angry customers but most customers with complaints
will expect some kind of reparation.
Types of Inquiries
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Sales inquiries are fairly routine inquiries from customers who want to
learn more about your products and services. In this case, they will often
turn to your service team for advice, who can recommend products to
customers or provide more information about your offering.

23. Companies with technical products often receive customer inquiries
from customers who need help with troubleshooting problems. These
could be common glitches with the software or support for when things
go seriously wrong. You’ll need a trained technical support team to help
these customers.
Types of Inquiries
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Sadly there will always be those times when the product just wasn’t
suitable for the customer. When this happens the customer is likely to
contact you with a returns or refund inquiry. Whether you offer this to
them depends on your own policy and whether the customer qualifies.

24. Thank You