Modern day industries are becoming more innovative, leveraging technological advancements like AI to predict customer issues and deliver tailored solutions.
Manufacturers have recognized the growing importance of customer service in their operations, given customers now expect good customer service alongside quality products.
To meet this expectation, manufacturing firms are providing top-tier support and assistance to customers before and after sales.
This article explores the critical need for manufacturing customer service, highlights best practices for manufacturers, and identifies key industry trends to watch.
Why is manufacturing customer service important?
Let’s face it, quality products are not enough to retain customers today. The services you offer along with the products, such as free deliveries, warranties, technical support, and easy refund policies are what might give you a competitive edge.
According to a Salesforce study, 79% of customers believe that the experience a business offers is just as important as the products it sells.
Below we outline some importance of customer service in manufacturing:
Encourages repeat business
Manufacturing firms majorly work on performance-based contract models with other organizations that outsource their production. Satisfaction often leads to renewals and repeat business.
Good manufacturing customer service creates positive customer experiences that foster customer loyalty and encourage upselling.
For example, when you provide personalized customer support and effective communication, you forge deeper connections with customers and understand what they really need.
This information helps you offer products that meet necessary standards, making customers happy, loyal, and ready to renew contracts.
Break down silos between sales and production teams
Information silo is a situation where knowledge is only confined within a specific team, making it difficult for other teams to access, share or use it.
Breaking down these silos facilitates cross-team collaboration that helps create a wholesome product that meets every aspect of the customer’s requirements.
The sales and production teams in manufacturing firms need to be aligned to increase efficiency and profitability.
By financing manufacturing customer service with the right technology, managers can get a wider view of their clients. This can help the sales team identify opportunities and optimize their marketing campaigns to generate more revenue.
The production team can actively predict and tailor their production pipelines, thus reducing waste, and cutting down overhead costs, leading to leaner and more efficient enterprise.
Helps gain a competitive advantage
Manufacturing companies offer similar products at the same price in the market, and customer service is the key differentiator between them.
Customers expect to be valued and heard when engaging with a brand, and they’ll prefer a company that meets this expectation.
Prioritizing customer needs throughout the supply chain process, can help you build strong relationships and enhance brand loyalty, this enables you to outmatch your competitors.
Expands your customer base
Customers prefer companies that respond to their complaints promptly and offer quality products that match their preferences enhancing satisfaction.
Excellent manufacturing customer service generates satisfied customers who are more likely to endorse your product to their friends and family; they serve as your marketing tool.
A good brand reputation helps you obtain new customers without costly advertisements and promotional campaigns.
Boosts revenue
Khoros study shows that 43% of customers are more likely to purchase a product from a brand after a great customer service experience.
Quality manufacturing customer service increases your overall sales as you are more likely to upsell and cross-sell products. This significantly increases your customer lifetime value.
By addressing customer concerns and exceeding expectations, businesses can retain valuable customers and their recurring revenue.
Helps gather customer feedback
Happy customers are willing to give feedback on product design, quality and functionality than dissatisfied ones.
Getting customer feedback helps you come up with new products that match customer needs and foster retention.
For example, by collecting customer satisfaction surveys, manufacturers can find out what they are doing well and where they are falling short in accordance with customer expectations of products.
Client reviews provide ideas to evolve and become innovative in production, to improve the product quality and value.
Customer service best practices for manufacturing industries
In the past, manufacturing companies focused more on improving products than customer service.
Today, customer service is a must have in business and manufacturers should implement a more service-oriented approach to be able to thrive.
To provide top-notch manufacturing customer service, you can adopt the following best practices.
Gather feedback and analyze customer data
Customers frequently leave comments on their experience after every interaction.
Dive deep into your customers’ wants, preferences, and expectations to understand your customers better and foster deeper relationships.
When you collect feedback, you can be informed on whether your product meets customer expectations, or on areas you should improve on in your production chain to build customer trust and refine services.
Additionally, it helps you understand customers’ pain points, needs, and overall service experience.
Use data to provide personalized customer service, tailoring products to the customer needs and responding promptly to issues or guiding customers through processes.
Provide omnichannel customer service
Customer interaction is streamlined and more personalized with effective omnichannel communication.
Customers expect manufacturers to be available both online and in-person to provide support, set up guidance and expert tips on products.
You can implement an omnichannel inbox to ensure consistent support across different platforms.
These online channels include emails, live chat, and social media.
Allow self-service
Provide platforms for customers to track orders and identify and fix product defects independently.
Customers (61%) prefer businesses that offer self-service options, which enable them to handle issues independently.
Here are some tips you can follow:
- Implement a comprehensive knowledge base system to provide customers with user manuals and guides on how products work.
- Set up public or community forums to respond to customer concerns and for consumers to learn and assist each other.
- Use chatbots on websites to provide responses to frequently asked questions and deliver 24/7 customer service.
Leverage advanced technology
Technology is a universal influencer in manufacturing, especially when it comes to reducing costs, innovating products, and improving efficiency.
Examples of technology used in manufacturing industries:
- Predictive maintenance uses AI to analyze machine data, predicting potential failures and scheduling maintenance proactively, thus reducing downtime.
- AI-powered robotics and automation increase production speed and accuracy, while freeing employees to focus on more complex tasks.
- 3D experience and 360-degree photo visibility enhance the marketing of products by giving clear visuals.
- Internet of Things (IoT) devices such as digital control systems to capture and harness large volumes of data from various processes to manage resources, improve productivity and efficiency.
These manufacturing customer support tools improve processes and boost customer satisfaction.
Manufacturers can adopt sophisticated technologies like Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) that enable:
- Customers have a detailed preview of products virtually before purchase.
- Manufacturers train and cooperate with their customers.
- Customers identify issues remotely and fix them without the help of a field technician.
Manufacturing businesses need to be aware of current technology to be able to keep up and produce unique and complex products that require customers to get a grasp on.
Foster a team wide approach to customer service
Manufacturers need to embrace the culture that all team members, including technical workers, frontline, and sales teams, should be focused on prioritizing customer service.
This is to ensure the success of the company and enhance business growth.
Additionally, you can invest in effective customer service training to instill a customer-centric attitude among staff, regardless of their department.
Manufacturing customer service shouldn’t just be a focus for the teams dealing with clients directly, it should be an objective for the entire company.
Be transparent and prioritize sustainability
Customers expect sustainable products that are friendly to the environment. According to a study by BusinessWire, there was an increase of 8% on average from 2021 to 2022 in consumers’ willingness to pay for sustainable products.
Manufacturers can practice sustainability by:
- Utilizing sustainable materials
- Using eco-friendly production methods
- Reducing waste and emissions
Good manufacturing customer service may also include putting measures in place to care for the consumers, for example, allergen information. This transparency demonstrates to customers that you’re ethical, enhance brand reputation and foster customer loyalty.
Furthermore, implementation of better customer data protection measures to curb the increasing cyber security concerns and nurture trust.
Periodically track customer service KPIs
Regularly define and track customer service KPIs such as CSAT and Net Promoter Score to enable you to identify how satisfied your customers are and their overall experience.
This will help you analyze your team’s performance and efficiency and identify areas for improvement.
Research by Salesforce shows that 74% of manufacturing managers believe a data-driven customer service approach will be their main revenue source in 10 years.
Customer service teams should adopt advanced data analysis to get insights into customer preferences and behavior. This information improves service delivery and defines strategies.
Shape the future of manufacturing customer service with BoldDesk
BoldDesk is comprehensive AI-powered customer service software that streamlines your manufacturing customer support operations, allowing you to resolve customer requests promptly and with minimal effort.
It has top-class features that can help manufacturing companies manage customer requests, automate tasks, and collaborate seamlessly from a single, user-friendly platform.
BoldDesk’s pricing plan is scalable and flexible for remarkable customer service in manufacturing.
Key features
- A ticketing system that automatically converts support emails to tickets and routes them to appropriate agents based on predefined rules.
- A knowledge base software for customer self-service and internal information sharing.
- Live chat software for real time communication with clients on your website.
- Omnichannel inbox lets you manage all customer inquiries from across different channels in a single unified inbox.
- Many integration options for linking BoldDesk with your favorite apps to streamline support processes and boost productivity.
- Powerful automation features for handling repetitive tasks to improve efficiency and ensure smooth workflows.
- Artificial intelligence tools to complement support agents to provide quick, accurate, and tailored responses to customer issues.
- Task management tools that allow managers to assign and track the progress of tasks for enhanced productivity.
- Unlimited customization features that enable you to modify the help desk to match your product design or different brands.
- Reports and analytics tools that generate reports linked to agent performance, customer satisfaction, and ticket resolution times to make well-informed decisions.
Get in touch with our support team to schedule a live demo and discover how BoldDesk can help you scale the heights of manufacturing customer service. Additionally, you can sign up for a 15-day free trial today!
Empower customer service in manufacturing field for greater success
Providing exceptional customer service in manufacturing industries is a strategic move in a competitive marketplace.
Adopting the best practices we’ve outlined in this blog is only half the battle. You also need to invest in robust customer service software to monitor customer journeys, build connections, and enhance your brand’s reputation.
We hope this blog was useful. Are there any future trends or best practices in manufacturing customer service that we didn’t mention? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
Related articles
