As you likely already know, the quality of your company’s customer support is integral to its success. What you may not know, is that following a poor customer service experience with your company, 89% of customers will begin doing business with one of your competitor, according to the 2011 RightNow Customer Experience Impact Report. In order to improve your customer support, you need to consider utilizing the ever-evolving technologies that are changing the face of customer experience. From CRM software and your first point of contact within a call center, to your online and social media profiles.

CRM Software
Customer relationship management (CRM) software is the primary tool in any customer service representative’s toolbox. This software collects important customer information like names, demographic information, purchase history, etc. CRM systems that are integrated with your website can track a customer’s search history, time spent online, operating system, and more.

• Having this wealth of data collected in one location and accessible at your fingertips gives your customer support team the information and context they need to answer customer questions and complaints quickly and efficiently.
• Your CRM system contains all the information that your current customer spreadsheets use, but it can also run reports on additional data. The inclusion of website and social media information further strengthens the company-consumer relationship.
• A cloud-based CRM system is accessible to numerous employees at once, no matter where they are located. Did you run into one of your clients while on an errand? You can pull up your CRM software on your mobile device and solve your client’s problem right then and there.

Call Center Options
Whether your customer support staff is located in-house or is outsourced to a dedicated customer care center, you can customize your call center technology to give your customers the best possible experience.

• 90% of US consumers still prefer to access customer support over the phone, even as alternate methods of contact – email, online chat, text messaging, and social networks – continue to grow.
• Some customers want immediate access to a live representative. While your automated response system can help you sort your incoming calls into the appropriate queues, you should facilitate customer access to live representatives by making that the first option on your call menu.

Websites and Social Media
Having a presence on a number of social media sites – as well as your own business website – makes it easier for customers to contact you for a solution to their problem. However, you have to remain active on your social media applications so you can communicate with your customers in real-time. Simply filling out your profiles isn’t enough to impact your customers’ satisfaction. You need to engage your customers online, solicit their opinions, and respond to their comments and complaints in a timely manner. Otherwise you’ll end up with a profile full of bad reviews and no solutions in sight. Make sure that your website and online profiles have all your company contact information displayed prominently. If a customer has to bounce from your website’s FAQ page to your Facebook page and back again looking for your phone number, you’re far more likely to end up losing their business than fixing their problem.

Specialized business software and online technologies may seem complex because they deal with large amounts of information and customer contacts. However, the right technology, when utilized correctly, can help you streamline your customer support processes and improve your customer satisfaction.

Megan Webb-Morgan writes for ResourceNation.com, a leader in the B2B lead generation sphere. She touches on a variety of topics, including but not limited to business technology and customer experience. Follow her and Resource Nation on Twitter and Google+.