If your company has fallen victim to the silo mentality, perhaps you saw the title of this article and did a double-take… Yes, marketing and customer service are two separate departments (in most cases). And yes, we are well aware that marketing teams are focused on pre-sale engagement with potential customers, versus customer service teams who are focused on post-sale engagement and support.
The issue lies in the fact that silos often get in the way of the CRITICAL partnership that those two departments need to form to deliver a holistic customer experience that pays positive dividends for years to come. In this post, we’re digging into both the negative and positive impacts that this partnership (or lack thereof) can have on enterprise companies. Let’s roll.
The Silo Syndrome
Marketing and customer service teams in larger companies typically don’t form tight bonds between fellow team members. Only rarely do they reach across the hallway to socialize, let alone work together.
Each department has its own lingo – jargon that excludes people in other departments from understanding what they say. This communication breakdown often results in redundancies and branding inconsistencies. Instead of speaking with a single voice, customers often hear conflicting messages.
If you’re like most siloed companies, nowhere is this phenomenon more evident than in the gap between your marketing and customer service departments. If your marketing teams aren’t aware of the questions and feedback your customer service teams face, they won’t be able to produce content that can reduce routine queries and troubleshoot problems before they become a disaster.
And a disaster is exactly what can result. Studies show that the nation’s largest companies lose a combined 31.5 billion dollars each year from their failure to communicate across teams.
Clearly, your company has a vested interest in breaking down those silos for better communication. Here’s how you can encourage people from diverse departments to share information and solve problems through content collaboration.
Tear Down Those Silos
So, how do you get these teams to start talking about shared solutions? Start with a single place where people from different departments can collaborate easily.
Many enterprises outsource their customer service to remote teams – some of them even overseas. Your content teams can’t just walk across the hall to say hello and pick their brains about what they’re hearing from customers.
With a comprehensive content marketing platform, your marketing teams can gear their strategy around solving problems before they occur. From FAQs to blog posts that teach customers how to get the most out of your products, content creators can work with your customer service teams to address routine issues and walk customers through the troubleshooting process for common issues.
Don’t limit your collaboration to the customer service teams. Partnering with subject matter experts can help you identify potential challenges before they occur so that you can create content that addresses those issues.
Similarly, getting together with your sales teams can single out some of the objections they hear out in the field. Addressing those objections before they buy can help customers feel more confident buying – and using your products.
Boost Customer Loyalty Through Collaboration
A proactive content strategy that simplifies communication among teams can go a long way toward building customer loyalty. After all, when you arm them with all the information that they need to get the most out of their investment in your product, they’ll be more likely to stay with your brand and give it positive reviews.
As a Bain & Company study points out, if you increase customer retention by only 5%, it can produce a 25% increase in your company’s overall profits. And, since 81% of today’s market trust advice from their families and friends over advice that comes from your brand, using content to create a better customer experience before, during, and after the sale increases your chance of getting those recommendations.
Lighten Your Customer Service Team’s Load with Targeted Content
Nothing empowers a person like solving a problem on their own. Using social media posts, searchable blog posts, and FAQ sections can help your customers find the information they need to solve their problems without the hassle of calling your customer support team.
Chatbot content, too, can help ease your customer service team’s workload. Since many of the questions customer service personnel answer are the same, providing the answers through a chatbot can help customers avoid the virtual line and get the help they need faster.
Not only does empowering customers to solve common problems create good vibes on their end, but it can also free your customer service teams to handle more complex challenges. And, talk about full circle – it also gives them more time to collaborate on content with your marketing teams.
Encourage Sales Teams to Partner with Marketing and Customer Service
Solving customer service challenges is an easier task if you take a proactive approach. When you involve sales teams in your collaboration, your customer service teams can point out some of the issues customers have after the sale.
Armed with that information, your content marketing teams can create sales brochures, promotional videos, and presentations that address those issues before the sale. Knowing how to tackle potential problems beforehand will help them get up to speed on using your products sooner, maximizing the benefits your products will provide them.
Update Existing Content to Include Common Customer Issues
So, you’ve written this killer blog post that’s getting great traction on both engagement and conversion rates. It’s a hero’s journey that shows how customers solved a nagging problem by using your product.
But what it lacks is some of the problems those customers ran into when they first opened up the box. Providing some direction from the get-go can give your customers the confidence to get the most out of your products from the very start.
When you include customer service issues in your content management plan, you’re solving problems before they even start. It’s a smart strategy that will provide your customers with a stellar experience from brand awareness to brand advocacy and beyond.
Taking your content collaboration game to that level, though, requires a high degree of coordination among your teams. Simplify your teams’ efforts with a single place to collaborate, create, and distribute your content.
DivvyHQ is that place – and you and your teams can try it out for 14 days for free. Set up your free trial today!