If you want to keep your customers in business, you must use a customer service process flow chart. This article looks at why creating a flowchart and following one are important.

Process Flow Charts for Customer Service Processes

If you don’t already have one in place, here are 12 reasons why you should adopt and make a flowchart:

1) Better Communication. 

A well-designed and executed process flow can help improve communications between employees and departments. They allow everyone involved to see the big picture of how work flows through an organisation as well as all of the details on how each person or department fits into it.

2) Prevent Errors.

Mistakes will be made no matter what steps are taken to prevent them. Using a workflow chart makes it easier to identify the source of the error and where it occurred in case mistakes are made.

3) Streamline Work. 

If everyone is on the same page, work will move through your organization much faster than if everyone is trying to act independently. Everyone involved should know what they need to do, what’s expected of them, and what support they can expect from others so that time is not lost by asking questions or waiting for answers.

4) Improved Quality. 

With everyone knowing exactly what their role is, there won’t be any wasted resources on overlapping responsibilities between departments. Your company will save money by only carrying out necessary tasks, not all possible ones. Increased quality means fewer customer complaints which translate into more happy customers.

5) Improved Efficiency.

When each worker knows exactly what to do and has been provided with the equipment, information, and support they need, a streamlined workflow will naturally develop over time.

6) Improve Customer Satisfaction. 

A well-defined process flow chart makes it easy for your customers to know who to contact with any questions or concerns. In addition, your response times will be faster since everyone is familiar with their role in the process rather than just taking up time as you figure out where things should go from there. The result of which is higher customer satisfaction.

7) Easier Training. 

If tasked with training new hires or current employees that have been hired into new positions, using a process flow chart as reference material can help you cover all the bases in less time.

8) Observation of Customer Feedback. 

Suppose you can see customers’ processes when dealing with your company. In that case, it can help identify where potential problems or issues may lie with their experience with your customer service agent. In addition, seeing how long it takes them to get through each step in the process will also help identify anything that can be done to speed things up. This allows decreasing wait times for everyone involved.

9) Better Communication with Your Customer Service Reps.

A documented process flow chart makes it easy to discuss why certain steps were taken during any given transaction. Hence, employees have an idea of the reasoning behind their instructions. This enables teams to work together to find solutions to any problems that may occur down the road. It also makes it easy for employees and managers alike to identify opportunities where upgrades to existing processes can be made or new procedures developed to improve customer satisfaction and business productivity.

10) Better Communication with Third Party Vendors.

A solid process flow chart used as a reference tool will help you maintain better communication with external support departments like those that offer billing services, shipping/receiving, and other such things. This is especially helpful if your organisation was not set up from the beginning with an end-to-end view of how customers should ideally go through every step of their transaction with your company. You can make adjustments along the way as needed by taking into account the best interests of everyone involved.

11) No More Overlapping Tasks. 

Since everyone knows their role in the process, it prevents overlapping responsibilities between departments. In addition, by having a documented process flow chart available at all times, people can always refer back to it if there’s ever an issue (e.g., what happens next after this) or if they are unsure about what to do next (e.g., where should I be right now?).

12) Easier Access to Information For Your Clients.

When you provide your customers with access to specific information about their transactions, it makes them feel like you’re on top of things. It will help them feel more comfortable doing additional business with your company in the future.

14) More Efficient and Timely Billing.

Suppose billing has always been a challenge for your company in the past. In that case, the right process flow chart will allow you to streamline your internal processes and make it easier for employees to accurately bill customers in a timely fashion. It might even motivate some people to pay faster out of fear of being lagged down by slow-moving parts, but no one would ever do that…would they?

In short, having documented process flow charts available at all times can help everyone from the CEO on down learn about what makes their business tick, so they have an idea of how best to improve things going forward. 
A bonus is an ease of creating one with either an online graph maker, getting inspiration with flowchart examples, or both. Use Venngage, one of the most accessible platforms for flowchart online. Signing up is free, and so are basic templates! Ready to make the best flowchart in customer service? Try it out here!