Once a product recall hits the news, customers might call or email you with concerns. Expect questions like:

 

  • “Is my health at risk?”
  • “What should I do next?”
  • “What are you going to do about all this?”

 

Naturally, customers will worry if they consume a product or ingredient that’s unsafe and potentially life-threatening. This is where a good customer service department comes in. Customer service employees bridge the gap between customers and your organization and alleviate any fears they may have.

 

The customer service department serves an important purpose during the product recall management process. The right customer service employees provide the right information to customers at the right time.

 

In the next part of our 12-post series, we examine the roles and responsibilities of the customer service department during product recall management.

 

What Does the Customer Service Department Do?

Customer service teams handle customer queries about products and services, order fulfillment, and many other things. During the product recall process, however, customer service employees can expect a surge of calls and emails from worried customers who have heard about a recall in the news or read about it on your website.

 

Customer service employees use a wide range of communication methods to solve the challenges associated with product recalls. These include:

 

  • Mail
  • Phone
  • Email
  • Live chat
  • Social media

 

Customers will likely have lots of questions about product recalls — and the actions you will take to solve problems — and it’s the job of the customer service team to answer these questions quickly. Otherwise, customers could cancel orders, leave negative reviews online, or take their business elsewhere.

 

Customer service teams have to deal with product recall issues in many industries, including:

 

  • Pharmaceutical
  • Chemical
  • Manufacturing
  • Medical device
  • Retail

What are the Benefits of Customer Service for Product Recall Management?

There are many benefits of good customer service during the recall management process. When customer service teams respond to customers quickly and alleviate their fears, it mitigates the negative impact of product recalls on future sales.

 

The key to good customer service is communication. Research shows that when organizations successfully communicate messages about product recalls, it has a positive impact on customers’ perceptions toward a brand or product. This is particularly true when organizations use communication characteristics like social responsibility and transparency.

 

Another benefit is customer loyalty. When an organization solves the customer service challenges associated with product recalls, customers are more likely to stay loyal to that organization.

 

“Larger corporations with more flexibility must work quickly to maintain customer loyalty,” says Investopedia.

 

How to Improve Customer Service During Product Recalls

There are several ways to improve customer service for future product recalls:

 

Communicate a consistent message

Make sure your customer service team is on the same page and communicate a clear, consistent message. They should communicate the following information to customers:

 

  • The nature of the product recall
  • How the recall impacts customers
  • Any health risks
  • The steps you are taking to solve the problem

 

Product recalls don’t have to harm your organization, but communicating the wrong messages during a recall can be bad for business. Provide customer service teams with the right information and resources to improve product recall response times.

 

Invest in training

Training customer service employees to handle product recall queries might require an outlay, but it could provide your organization with a significant investment return. This is because highly-trained staff who know how to deal with the problems that come with product recall management could prevent customers from taking their business to other organizations.

 

Apologizing to customers and providing them with the right resources during a product recall might not seem like much, but these things could improve customer relations significantly.

 

Use the right digital tools

Investing in digital tools could be the most important thing you do for customer service during a product recall. A good recall management system, for example, lets customer service teams access important information about recalls from one single platform.

 

With a recall management program, all departments in your organization (not just customer service employees) can share resources and allocate different tasks to different team members. This improves government compliance and product recall responses.

 

Trievr is a cloud-based on-demand recall management system that includes collaborative tools, real-time dashboards,auto-alert reminders, and other features. You can save product recall resources in the cloud, so customer service teams can access the information they need wherever they are in the world. This is perfect if you outsource customer service.

 

Trievr only charges you when you use the platform, so there are no monthly or annual bills. Plus, users benefit from enhanced security.

 

Final Word

Not many organizations realize that customer service teams are an essential component of the product recall management process. Providing these teams with the right technology like Trievr makes their job a lot easier.

 

Need a product recall management system for your customer service team? Click here for a live demo.