9 Best Practices To Create Memorable Customer Service Online Training

9 Best Practices To Create Memorable Customer Service Online Training
George Rudy/Shutterstock.com
Summary: Customer loyalty is founded on superior customer service and open communication. But do your employees have what it takes to provide excellent customer care? In this article, I'll share 9 best practices to create memorable customer service online training.

How To Create Memorable Customer Service Online Training

Employees must be willing and ready to address customer needs and effectively advocate your brand. After all, they are the face of your company for all intents and purposes. This is why they need top-notch online training resources that build real-world experience and practical skills. Here are 9 best practices to develop customer service online training that's memorable and motivational.

1. Put Their Skills Into Practice With A Customer Service Online Training Simulation

Online training simulations mimic real-world environments and challenges, without exposing employees to real-world consequences, such as negative customer service ratings. They have the chance to reduce the learning curve and improve their performance in a supportive setting. Include images, sound effects, and relatable situations to ensure that your customer service online training simulation is as realistic as possible. The goal is to make employees feel like they're part of the action so as to build practical customer service skills.

2. Create Character-Driven Real-World Stories

Develop character-centered real-world stories and case studies to illustrate real-world applications. This also helps to foster a personal connection with your employees and boosts the excitement factor. Add multimedia to your story to make it even more immersive. For example, background music or relevant images to portray the key characters. Real-world stories should include the traditional story arc, which is an introduction, challenge or problem, followed by the resolution. This gives employees the tools and knowledge they require to apply the information in the real world.

3. Provide A "Just-In-Time" Online Resource Library

"Just-in-time" online training resources offer anytime, anywhere support for your customer service employees. They can quickly access bite-size online training tutorials, online presentations, demos, and other online training tools to enhance their knowledge. Employees have the ability to work on personal areas of improvement whenever it's most convenient, as well. For example, skill gaps that are hindering their customer satisfaction scores.

4. Pre-Assess Customer Service Staff To Identify Gaps

Conduct pre-assessments to identify strengths and areas for improvement, such as performance, knowledge, or skill gaps that employees need to focus on during their online training. Online training assessments may be in the form of simulations, scenarios, or multiple-choice exams to test quantifiable knowledge. For example, compliance or company policy mastery. You can also offer pre-assessments so that employees are able to test their own knowledge and seek out additional online training resources. This is the ideal approach for self-starters who like to take a more proactive approach to their professional development.

5. Host A Live Webinar To Enhance Engagement

Webinars give employees the power to interact with managers, online instructors, and peers in a virtual setting. This makes it the ideal online training tool for geographically dispersed staff members. Schedule the webinar well in advance, send out general guidelines, and record the session for future viewing. Try to focus on a specific customer service topic or task for each event to avoid cognitive overload. You can also pair it with social media to make it more engaging and interactive. For example, create a hashtag for the event to centralize all communications.

6. Create A Company Policy Infographic

Customer service employees must know the company policy inside and out. They are the ones other team members turn to with questions about returns, complaints, and other issues. Remembering company policies can be a tricky task, though, especially if there are compliance rules and regulations involved. As such, you might consider creating an infographic that features the core company policies and procedures. In fact, design a separate infographic for every task that employees must perform on a regular basis.

7. Use Customer Feedback To Improve Your Customer Service Online Training

Customer surveys and polls offer valuable feedback. This data can be used to create even more effective customer service online training content. For example, a high percentage of survey participants state that they received very little product information during the sale. In response, you can develop more targeted product knowledge and sales online training to bridge the gap.

8. Incorporate Badges, Levels, And Leaderboards

Gamification has the power to enhance employee excitement and engagement. They get the chance to earn rewards through active participation and outstanding performance. This fuels them to do their best during the online training process, which translates into greater productivity and proficiency in the workplace. Badges, leaderboards, points, and levels are just some of the game mechanics you can integrate into your online training strategy. Ideally, you should select rewards that align with their sources of motivation, goals, and desired outcomes.

9. Develop Customer Service Online Training Certification Courses

Online training certification courses give employees a sense of accomplishment. They work toward a specific goal, which is to earn their certificates and display their achievements. This fuels their motivation and engagement. However, it's best to create topic-centered online training certification courses that center on key performance issues, skills, or tasks. For example, one online training certification course may cover POS transactions, while another delves into resolving customer complaints or product knowledge issues. This improves knowledge retention and gives employees the chance to concentrate on one training area at a time. Thus, they can gradually build their experience and expertise by pursuing individual certificates.

Keep in mind that customer service online training can benefit every member of your organization, from sales employees to your IT technicians, as it fosters interpersonal skills and equips them with the online training resources they need to improve on-the-job performance. Use this article to create memorable customer service online training that leads to long-term knowledge retention and increases employee satisfaction.

Product knowledge is key to offering excellent customer service experiences to your customers. Read the article 8 Essential Ingredients Of Product Knowledge Online Training to discover 8 essential ingredients you should include in your product knowledge online training to improve your customer satisfaction ratings and company profits.