Transparency: The key to good and desirable customer service

by ORionDig

One way or the other, we must have heard a lot of discussions about transparency being an important
factor to success. There is a need for individuals, companies, and government to be transparent in their
dealings with whoever they serve. In a business perspective, customer experience and satisfaction
denote that transparency with your customers creates a better and profitable relationship between you
and your clients.

What does transparency mean?

Transparency is easy to understand if you think of it in relation to telling your customers what they want
to know. In other words, it means not keeping anything from them. Popular areas in which transparency
is expected is billing, quality of products, communication, responsiveness, availability, and clarity.

Based on these common problem areas we’ve come up with some tips for transparency with your
customers.

1. Truth and accuracy

Billing transparency is significant to overcoming client dissatisfaction about
vague bills. The touch point where your client pays for the services you offer presents an important
moment of truth. Begin by being upfront about your pricing, explaining costs, fees and specific
deliverables. Follow through by ensuring your invoices reflect the specific services delivered, as well as
clear insight into your terms.

2. Keeping promises

Making sure that whatever is promised to the customers is delivered is key to
customer satisfaction. When services promised are not delivered, the customer feels cheated and loses
faith. If there are reasons that services are not going to be delivered as expected, make sure your
customer understands why.

3. Maintaining two-way communication

Good communication is a two-way channel. Whenever
there is a one-sided conversation, the communication loses its value and impact. Listen to the customer
and let them know that someone is taking to make their experience better.

4. Timeliness and responsiveness

Responding as quickly as possible to client phone calls and emails
is not just a suggestion, it should be a requirement. According to a 2015 survey, 42 percent of customers
who contacted a company via email or phone expected a response within one hour. You need to be
accessible to your clients and make sure they understand your stated response time.

5. Telling them about mistakes

Mistakes are bound to happen. When they do, don’t hide, communicate. The sooner you address the issue by solving the problem or giving a concession that they can live with, the sooner you can move on. Acting quickly to correct the errors and taking steps so it
will not happen again is the message you want the client to hear.

6. Sharing knowledge

Your customers hired your company for the expertise and knowledge of the
team. Knowledge hoarding is counterproductive to building a strong relationship with clients. Give them
the information they need to make better decisions.

7. Informing your customers of changes

You’ll win your customers’ trust and foster greater
relationships if you keep them up-to-date on changes (good or bad) happening within your company. If
your business model, products, services, or pricing changes, make sure you are open and timely about it.

8. Listening to customers

A large percentage of customer complaints are just about the fact that no
one “listens” to them. It is a big relief for a customer to know that someone is listening to them and
trying their best to resolve issues for them.

9. Gratitude to customers

One way to create a positive experience for customers is always to say “thank you.” Kindness and gratitude for a client’s business are a sure way to further engage them for the long term.

Though it is not always easy to deliver transparency to customers in the day-to-day grind of business, it is crucial for profitable, sustained growth.

ORionDig