How To Provide Excellent Customer Service on Instagram [8 Proven Practices]

There are almost 23.92% of total 4.18 billion active mobile users use Instagram monthly.

Also, there are almost 200 million businesses operating on Instagram.

So getting your customer queries in your DMs is an obvious thing. But imagine, even with a 1000 followers or 2000 followers on your Instagram account, if you receive 10 queries daily in your Instagram DM, how difficult it would get to respond to each one of them on time. By the end of the month, you will have more than 300 DMs waiting and expecting you to be responsive to their queries!

So, here we are to help you ace your Instagram customer service with these proven tips and examples.

Let’s dive in!

Here’s how to provide great customer service on Instagram:

Mention Customer Service Details in Your Bio

Your bio is the first thing that customers will turn to when they are looking for help.

By mentioning the customer service details in your bio, you can make it easy for your customers to reach out to you. 

But remember, Instagram allows only 150 characters and one link to add to your bio. 

So, it is important to be precise and add only the crucial things that actually matter, which you think are important for your customer to know.

For example,

• Scenario 1: If you offer 24/7 customer service, mention it in your bio.
• Scenario 2: If you do not accept DMs, mention the website or your email that customers can use to reach out to you.

Tip: You can also mention the name of other platforms where you offer customer service in your bio.

Reply to Direct Messages (DMs) and Comments

There are 150 million people who use Instagram DMs to communicate with a business each month.

Now imagine, with so many people reaching out to businesses each month, and the number of them getting unnoticed.

A situation that you as a brand would not want to miss out on.

It is important to show your customers that you value their questions/issues and are available whenever they need your help.

Tip: Instagram offers a “Quick Reply” feature for business accounts. Use it.

With this feature, businesses can set up canned responses in advance for the most frequently asked questions. 

This can save a lot of time, as you do not have to create a response for similar questions/issues again and again.

As a business, it’s all about going that extra mile.

Creating personalized responses to make your customers feel special can be that extra mile.

It can change their perception of your business and also change the way they do business with you.

Add Multiple Contact Details

Customers need assurance that they can reach out to you, in case something goes wrong.

For example,

Scenario 1: When they have not received the refund.

Scenario 2: When the delivery of the product has been postponed without letting them know.

In such scenarios, customers might want to connect with you and get a solution.

But, what happens when they do not find your contact details?

It can create confusion in their mind on whether they should purchase from you again or not or whether they can trust your brand or not.

And this might not be a good sign for your business, as you might not be able to build a long-term relationship with your customers.

That is why as a business, you should always remember to add your contact details on platforms from where you target your customers. 

So, that your customers can easily connect with you whenever needed.

Tip: Don’t just offer an email ID or contact number. Mention all the contact details that are reachable. The more the merrier.

Use a Customer Support Tool like DeskXpand

Customers raise queries from various platforms such as email, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. 

It can be a daunting task to handle hundreds of customers queries every day.

To effectively offer your service, your customer service agents would need a customer support tool.

As they are powerful and easy-to-use software, they allow your agents to offer the best solution to the customers in no time.

Features such as automation, omnichannel support, self-service, etc. help customer service agents to ease off their workload and improve their productivity.

DeskXpand is one such software that can allow you to streamline your customer service process, even if it is on social media. However, when it comes to branding and promoting your services effectively, consider using a poster maker.

A unique feature that sets DeskXpand apart from others is, it converts Instagram DMs into actionable tickets, so that customer service agents can prioritize and manage them easily and quickly.

Show FAQs in Your Highlights

Not every customer would prefer reaching out to you, some would rather opt for self-service options.

As it saves their time, they do not have to go through the hassle of connecting to customer service reps for solutions.

So, how can you offer self-service on Instagram?

Through FAQs.

First, try to find out which are the most frequently asked questions (FAQs) and create solutions for them.

To allow customers to easily access these solutions and solve their issues themselves, you can use story highlights.

Instagram introduced this feature back in 2017. 

How are “story highlights” different from the general stories?

General stories fade away after 24 hours, but story highlights can last permanently.

Thus, it can turn out to be the perfect self-service solution that is available 24/7 for your customers.

By implementing such a strategy, your business can set customer service benchmarks for competitors.

Handle Negative Feedback Immediately

Just like there are two sides to every coin, for every business, there are mainly two types of customers: Satisfied and Unsatisfied.

I do not have to elaborate on the satisfied customers, because they are bliss for any business.

But, with unsatisfied customers, there are certain challenges that businesses have to overcome.

Negative feedback is one of those challenges.

Customers write negative feedback when they are not satisfied or had a bad experience with your service/product.

When handling this feedback, you should remember to use a polite tone, as it can create a sense of calmness.

Calming things down can help you in getting the customer aboard and solve the issues quickly.

Remember, this negative feedback can also influence other customers as well and change their perspective toward your brand.

That is why, solving issues quickly with a positive attitude is very important.

It also allows you to leave a positive impact on your customers.

As they would know your business can handle their issues effectively, which in return will help you build a long-term relationship with them.

Improve Your Response Time

Customers do not have time to wait for your response.

They expect a fast response from you with a perfect solution.

As per the study, 90% of customers rate an “immediate” response as essential or very important when they have a customer service question.

If you fail to respond quickly, customers might start losing interest in your brand.

Here are a few ways to improve your customer service response time on Instagram:

• Use a help desk software
• Automate your responses
• Use predefined responses and templates
• Prioritize and categorize the queries
• Track the response time

By responding quickly with the best possible solution, you can also improve customer satisfaction.

Check out the blog to know more on: how to improve customer satisfaction

Show Empathy Towards Your Customers

Showing empathy toward your customers is the most important thing when it comes to customer service.

It makes them feel like you understand their issues properly and will try your best to solve them as quickly as you can.

You can use certain phrases to empathize with your customers, phrases such as:

• I understand how you feel…
• You are absolutely right…
• It sounds frustrating, let me help you…
• I am sorry for the inconvenience…

Always keeping your customers your first priority.

Empathizing with their issues can also help you to improve brand loyalty.

Stay active on Instagram

Customers can reach out to you whenever they face any kind of issues.

If you are not active, queries can pile up and you may not be able to offer your best service.

As the workload might increase with every incoming query.

Therefore, staying active can not only help you in easing off the workload but also allow you to offer a better and quicker solution.

Another way businesses remain proactive is, they ask their customers to comment about the product on Instagram.

In return, the first 50 or 100 customers would get a discount on their next purchase.

This way, you can drive customers to purchase your product and improve your customer retention rate as well.

Wrapping Up

If you are having an Instagram presence but are not offering customer service to your customers, you might be losing an opportunity to connect with them. With the above-mentioned tips, you can start providing excellent customer service on Instagram. These tips can allow your business to stay ahead of the competition and set a benchmark.