Customer Service

Proactive customer care: Achieving customer delight

In an era where customers are spoilt for choice, retaining their loyalty towards your brand is becoming increasingly crucial. Today, just reacting and responding to problems as and when they occur is not an option. Customer service has evolved beyond this conventional method, and many progressive companies are adopting proactive customer care strategies.

What is proactive customer service?

Proactive customer service is a forward-thinking strategy that entails anticipating and addressing customer needs, problems, or concerns before customers even realise they have them. By adopting a proactive stance, corporates can not only foster long-term relationships with their customers but also nurture loyalty and turn delighted customers into brand advocates along the way.

Instead of waiting for customers to initiate contact with queries or complaints, this approach aims to surprise and delight the customer by proactively reaching out and providing information and solutions. This ultimately leads to stronger customer loyalty and satisfaction.

Some instances of proactive customer service include:

• Sending automated reminders for subscription renewals, appointments or reservations
• Reminding customers about their car or life insurance policy renewals with updated premiums 
• Offering tailored recommendations by forecasting customer needs and preferences using analytical data
• Based on usage patterns, sending tips and how-to content to customers
• Proactively informing customers about warranty expiration dates and renewal options

Reactive vs. proactive customer service

To appreciate the profound impact of proactive customer care, we must first distinguish it from the conventional reactive model. The fundamental difference between the two lies in their timing and approach: [2]

• Reactive service responds to customer inquiries, complaints, or issues after they occur. While necessary, it tends to be less efficient and may not fully address customer needs. Whereas proactive service adopts a predictive and forward-thinking mindset that takes the initiative to identify and address potential customer issues before they escalate. This approach aims to surprise and delight customers by meeting their needs even before they’re expressed.
• In the reactive approach, customer service executives wait for customers to ask for help. Whereas in the proactive approach, the brand will actively seek the customer out before issues occur.
• Longer wait times can be expected in a reactive service. Proactive service ensures quicker responses as the problem is anticipated and the solution ready.
• Support agents of companies following the traditional reactive service method are always busy. Whereas the proactive setup saves time for both the support executives and customers.
• Reactive customer service follows the laws of breakdown maintenance. Whereas proactive customer service follows the laws of preventive maintenance.

Benefits of proactive customer service

The many advantages of proactive customer care cannot be overlooked. Here are some positive outcomes that arise out of adopting a proactive approach:

Enhanced customer satisfaction

Proactive care leaves customers feeling valued and satisfied by addressing their needs before they escalate into problems.

Increased customer loyalty

Building trust and loyalty becomes easy when customers consistently receive proactive assistance and support.

Reduced customer switch

Proactive service significantly reduces the likelihood of customers switching to competitors due to dissatisfaction arising from unresolved issues.

Reduced pressure on the support team

Proactively solving customer issues significantly reduces the number of support tickets the service staff has to deal with.

Positive brand reputation and differentiation

Businesses that excel in proactive customer care distinguish themselves in crowded markets, fostering a positive reputation and attracting new customers.

How do we implement proactive customer care?

Implementing proactive customer care requires a structured strategy. Following are some tips brands can adopt to shift from giving reactive to giving proactive customer care solutions: [2]

Customer data analysis

Collect and analyse customer data to understand their preferences, behaviours, and pain points.

Segmentation

Segment your customers based on demographics, preferences, or behaviour to tailor proactive efforts effectively.

Communication channels

Choose the right communication channels, such as email, SMS, chatbots, or social media, for proactive outreach.

Content creation

Develop relevant content, like informative articles, video tutorials, or FAQs, to address common customer issues.

Automate

Employ automation tools to schedule and trigger proactive interactions, such as personalised product recommendations or reminders.

Collect feedback

Continuously collect customer feedback to measure satisfaction and make necessary improvements.

Proactive customer service is a fundamental alteration in the way businesses engage with their customers. By anticipating customer needs, exceeding their expectations, and forging stronger customer bonds, proactive service has become a prerequisite of modern business success.

*For organisations on the digital transformation journey, agility is key in responding to a rapidly changing technology and business landscape. Now more than ever, it is crucial to deliver and exceed organisational expectations with a robust digital mindset backed by innovation. Enabling businesses to sense, learn, respond, and evolve like living organisms, will be imperative for business excellence. A comprehensive yet modular suite of services is doing precisely that - equipping organisations with intuitive decision-making automatically at scale, actionable insights based on real-time solutions, anytime/anywhere experience, and in-depth data visibility across functions leading to hyper-productivity, Live Enterprise is building connected organisations that are innovating collaboratively for the future.

How can Infosys BPM help?

It’s time to harness the power of proactive customer care services experience to ensure your customers not only stay with you but also thrive in your ecosystem. Explore end-to-end customer support solutions that deliver a single holistic omnichannel experience with Infosys BPM.