The Different Types Customer Support Organization Structures

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Gladly recently learned that nearly 80% of customers value personalized support over personalized marketing and that 84% of customers will go out of their way to spend more money after a positive customer experience.

Creating a personalized, customer-centered service organization isn’t just important to your organization, it’s necessary to success.

But there are different ways to structure customer support teams within an organization that can make it much easier and effective to handle your customers queries.

Let’s look at how you can start creating a customer support organization structure that is both personal and efficient.

Customer service structure at any level

No matter how big or small your business is, a structure and documented way to handle support tickets is absolutely necessary. Even with the best team or agents, you could still fail to provide excellent service if you don’t have a structure that streamlines the service process and allows your members to thrive.

A customer service structure will guarantee the following:

• Nothing falls through the cracks – If you have a structured system with lifelong tracking, automatic notifications, and streamlined processes, nothing is going to fall through the cracks or go unnoticed.
• Accountability – Because your system tracks and stores every interaction and communication channel, accountability is necessarily built into your platform.
• Leverages expertise – It’s easier to leverage your most experienced agents by designating them to specific, subject-based inquiries that can be managed easier with robust service solutions.
• While implementing your technology takes an investment of time and employee effort, it pays off in the long run.
  • Most structured solutions will streamline internal troubleshooting issues.
  • Support structures outlive your employees and build a foundation that can grow with your company.
  • You can delegate takes based on what makes the most logical sense as opposed to who has the bandwidth to handle particular issues.

A structured organization allows your agents to thrive and your business to build a foundation that will live on well into the future.

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Basic guidelines on how to structure your customer service team

However large or small your business may be and whatever your stage of development is, the below guideline will help you build the foundation of an efficient and structured customer support organization.

• Channels
  • The first step to allocating agents to different areas is defining their channels. Because different representatives have different strong suits, it’s important to divide your team based on what your employees know best.
  • Asking agents to switch between channels can be very cumbersome and inefficient. Part of creating a seamless workflow will require your agents to stick to one or maybe two channels at most.

• Omnichannel accessibility
  • The natural problem with having multiple channels is that customers will have to explain their question and situation to each new agent on each different channel. Omnichannel accessibility solves that problem by creating one lifelong conversation between you and your customers. This means that customers can engage seamlessly with multiple agents or the same agent as they switch channels.
  • This also allows for the tracking of issues across different channels, and you can track growth and AHT side by side.

• Expertise and Growth
  • It might seem contradictory, but as your agents see a high volume of varying issues and learn the ins and outs of those issues (like product or service questions, you can expect an expert in one area to grow into another.
  • Providing space for those individuals to lean into their newfound expertise is a great way to define subject-related experts that you can rely on for particularly difficult issues.

• Have goals
  • Your structure and workflows are at their best when they’re in line with your company’s goals. That means that as goals change, so too should your structure. Having a flexible structure that is data and feedback-driven will help you succeed in the long run.
  • If your customer support team is continuing to see the same issues, then that means your organization isn’t learning from your feedback or making the appropriate changes to other departments.
  • If your goal is to drive revenue or improve products, for example, then your support team should be relaying valuable inquiry information to your other departments, like marketing and sales.

If you follow these guidelines and take the structure of your organization seriously, you can create an environment that promotes growth, flexibility, and personalization.

Choose Gladly for a personalized and structured solution

Gladly believes that you don’t have to give up personalization for cost or efficiency. In fact, we believe that a human and customer-centered approach will lead to higher revenue and more streamlined workflows.

Gladly has a number of features, like an omni channel support system and personalized customer profiles, that will allow your agents to understand your customers and move seamlessly between conversations and channels.

About Gladly

Gladly is a customer service platform for digitally-focused B2C companies who want to maximize the lifetime value of their customers. Unlike the legacy approach to customer service software, which is designed around a ticket or case to enable workflows, Gladly enables radically personal customer service centered around people to sustain customer loyalty and drive more revenue.

The world’s most innovative consumer companies like Godiva, JOANN, and TUMI use Gladly to create lasting customer relationships, not one-off experiences.

Personalize your customer support organization structure and start looking at your customers as people with Gladly.