How the Generation Gap Affects Customer Service

All customers, young and old, have different ideas of what customer service means to them. These varying expectations require customer service departments to accommodate all types of customers, as well as support the different ways those customers communicate.

Researchers and social commentators divide age groups into a few particular categories, defined by certain experiences and traits.

• Teens

• Millennials/Generation Y: 20’s and 30’s

• Generation X: 30’s and 40’s

• Baby Boomers: 50’s and 60’s

• Retirees: Late 60’s and up

Generation X, Millennials and Teens are most comfortable with computers, so they tend to prefer online channels when they communicate with customer service departments. Since Millennials and Teens use social media sites, they expect to use these accounts to communicate directly with customer service reps.

Baby Boomers and Retirees tend to stick to more traditional and personal means of communication. Though some in this group may consider themselves just as computer-savvy as younger generations, research shows they usually prefer to make a phone call or even go directly to the business to talk face-to-face if they need help. 

Recent research also demonstrates a generational gap when it comes to customer loyalty. With age comes a greater sense of product and company loyalty uncommon in younger groups who are more inclined to go after the best deal or follow a trend.

Keep in mind, these descriptions are flexible and many exceptions to these common behaviors exist. However, in order to provide service tailored to each and every generation, all possible lines of communication should be used.

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How to Make the Best out of Inevitable Hold Times

The only time a customer should be put on hold is when it’s the last resort. This could be when there are more calls coming in than there are people to answer each one, or if additional help is needed to resolve an issue. The challenge is how to keep customers on the line when they are inevitably placed on hold.

Adding music and messages is a great way to make the most of a customers wait time. Here are some things to keep in mind when choosing the right audio for your company’s hold time.

Advantages:

• Music can have a relaxing effect on the customer.
• When customers are actively listening to something on their end, their perception of time seems shorter.
• Businesses can use on hold messages to share promotions or information about the company—possibly inspiring future sales.

Keep in Mind:

• Target audience. Choose music you feel a majority of your customers will enjoy.
• Ad length. Keep ads long enough to include important info, but short enough to keep customers listening.
• Loops. Be weary of excessive repetition, which can end up sounding like a broken record. You don’t want to annoy your customers.
• Cost. Some music is more expensive to purchase than others (some is even free). Though recording audio ads may be expensive, the ads will ideally pay for themselves in future sales.

A survey conducted by USA Business Telephone Today found that when on hold, people tend to respond better to music than to silence, and even better to music accompanied by informational messages. 52% of those in the survey hung up after more than one silent minute on hold, as compared to only 13% who had music to listen to, and only 2% that heard music and messages. Notably, the survey also found that the music and messages had a considerable effect on the caller’s perception of the amount of time spent on hold.  All of those faced with silence were convinced that their hold time was longer than it actually was, when less than a fifth of the callers who heard music and messages thought so.

Beyond some initial concerns a business may have about utilizing hold music and messaging, it seems clear that any company would do well to invest in using on hold music and messaging. In addition to better call retention rates, the messages heard on hold may lead to new or increased sales. Be as attentive as possible when on the phone with a customer, and when a hold is necessary, strive to make wait time a positive experience. Listen to customer feedback regarding your hold music and messaging, and take these suggestions to heart. As always, pay attention to what the customer wants above all and work to provide it.            

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Get More Out of Your Helpdesk with Live Chat

Between e-mail, phone, texting, social media, live chat, video conferencing and in person meetings, the methods we use to communicate with one another just keep growing. There are many benefits to the modern age of technology, including new ways to approach business and maintain relationships. With so many options available, where’s the best place to start?

Mojo Helpdeskis a versatile tool for communicating with customers and keeping all correspondence efficient and organized. In addition to full e-mail integration and text options, Mojo Helpdesk can also be integrated with live chat services. Live chat software, HelpOnClick, has put together a step-by-step guide to Mojo Helpdesk with integrating the service. By bringing the live chat functionality into the Helpdesk space, companies are able to offer customers more options for communication, while still keeping communication and chat records in one centralized location.

A live chat option for customer support offers the benefit of instant help when they experience a problem. For many customers, the assurance that the company will be there for them whenever needed provides an added level of confidence when making purchasing decisions. For the customer support staff, it offers the extra benefit of ensuring that the correspondence can be logged and referred to at a later date, if needed. A win-win for both sides involved.

Live chat is also a more flexible method of communication, as it allows support team members to perform basic research in the midst of the conversation without skipping a beat. It’s also easy to double check information for accuracy or look up past responses to similar questions before sending a response without slowing down the process. This benefit works both ways, as many customers find it more convenient to use live chat to discuss an issue while at work than making a potentially lengthy phone call.

Utilizing live chat support has several other added benefits as well. International customer language barriers are no longer an issue. Customers are able to type and read at their own pace, making this type of communication much easier than talking on the phone. For younger customers who have grown up with the Internet as a regular part of daily life, online chat is a normal, quick and expected option for communication.

Live chat integration is only one of the many customization possibilities available to Mojo Helpdesk users. With the flexibility offered through an open API, Mojo Helpdeskusers can incorporate as many new ideas and features into their Helpdesks as their creativity and programming abilities allow. We’ve included the functionality needed to provide consistent, quality customer support, while leaving businesses the room to innovate and take their customer service offerings to the next level.

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Mojo Helpdesk Updates - Improved Communications Controls

We just released an update to Mojo Helpdesk with a few features to make the help desk more customizable. We know everyone uses their help desk a little differently from one another, and we wanted to embrace this by making it easier to control communications to the customer.

The first update allows users to set whether or not an email is sent to the ticket submitter when new tickets are created. Help desks can now ensure the only time a customer receives an email is when an agent chooses to send one.

To control this feature, go to “Manage” at the top of your help desk and select “All settings”. Under the “Helpdesk Owner/Admins” menu, click “Configure Mojo Helpdesk”. Once on the helpdesk settings page, click the “Change” button and scroll down to the ‘Miscellaneous Settings’ section. Select ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ for the setting: ‘Send new ticket email notification to submitter?’.

We have also added the ability to customize the “Closed Ticket” email template that is sent to users when they try to respond to a closed ticket. For those who don’t want to utilize the customer portal and prefer to keep all contact with customers via email, the customization of this template is useful as it allows removal of all portal URLs. This way a helpdesk owner or admin can decide what instructions they want to leave their customers with for following up on a closed ticket. Now you can add a phone number or email address and remove the Help Desk URL, if desired.

To edit this template, go to “Manage” and select “All Settings”. Under the “Helpdesk Owner/Admins” menu, click “Configure Emails”. Scroll to the bottom of the email handling page until you reach the ‘Email Templates’ section. The new email template falls under “Tickets to Submitter” and is called “Ticket Closed Message”.

And finally, we cleaned up the messaging system for all tickets. We saw a few issues with the formatting whenever users must click “more” to view the full content of the ticket. Now, all messages will look just as they were entered.

Would you like to try our free, hosted ticket tracking/helpdesk application? No long-term contracts, signup fees, or termination fees. You can upgrade, downgrade, or cancel anytime. We offer a wide variety of plans to fit any budget.

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