The Meeting Planner's Online Advantage: 7 Ways To Cut Down Customer Service Issues
Author: Bill Flagg
7 Things You Can Do RIGHT NOW with a Fully-Automated System to Improve Your Customer Service:
1. Get contact info right the first time. There's nothing more frustrating to a registrant than when an event organizer gets their information wrong. Each instance in your process where you manually enter or transfer data poses a risk for making errors. Using an automated system, which has everything built-in (online registration, accounting, badge printing), eliminates all data entry and data transferring issues.
2. Be sure that payment information is correct. When a registrant thinks they are registered because they gave you their information and credit card number; then finds out a week or two later their charge did not go through; stress is created. You can automatically processes credit card transactions in real-time; so there is no miscommunication.
3. Send impeccable follow-ups. Registrants like to know that everything is being properly handled with their registration and your event. When they don't hear from you after they register, they get worried. Automatically send confirmation and reminder emails with a personalized touch. 4. Keep track of numbers daily. Events can go wrong when an event organizer doesn't know the details of their event numbers on a daily basis. Real-time awareness of lack of demand or hyper-demand for different aspects of your events, allows sufficient time to make alternate preparations. Automated online systems make it easy to tally registrant data on a daily basis.
5.Organize your information. If you are managing your events with multiple spreadsheets or systems, you know it can be difficult to stay organized. If information gets lost or falls through a crack, it eventually becomes a dissatisfied attendee. Avoid unhappy customers by using a fully-integrated system... it should have all of the systems built-in: registrant preferences, accounting, badge printing and reporting.
6. Automate the waitlisting process. Registrants don't mind things being sold-out when there is a well-communicated waitlisting process in place. A good registration system automatically provides a waitlist for registrants then notifies them the instant a spot opens up. If they accept the open spot, then their payment is automatically collected as well.
7. Eliminate frustrations with early-bird specials and discounts Registrants love to ask if they can get early-bird specials and discounts for which they know they do not qualify. They hate to hear "no" and you hate to say it. A fully-automated system qualifies everyone for the appropriate discounts, so you don't need to.
