We lost sight of how important managing customers proactively is

The problem

Property management business Arthur Online found that while its software was tailored to each user, customer support wasn’t. The firm knew clients preferred a personalised service, but the fast-moving pace of the company meant clients received support from whoever was available. As a result, ongoing issues were slipping under the radar and there was a risk of losing existing customers.

The solution

The first step for Arthur Online was to assign team members to certain clients. These staff help set up clients and answer any queries they have to establish the relationship early on. It allowed team members to get to know each client better and understand what they wanted from the software.

The next step was to set up an onboarding system. The system came with free shared screen tutorials to help clients start to use the product and acted as a guide for every step of their customer journey.

The company implemented an online chat service to ensure clients felt supported after the process. The line would stay open six days a week and Arthur Online were keen to keep average response rates to under five minutes. For founder Marc Trup, this chat service would help the company to build positive relationships and make sure clients were never left waiting on an answer.

The results

After being more proactive about customer management, Arthur Online has built its Trustpilot score up to 96 per cent. Trup believes that the changes have helped to drive signups, particularly in the property market where a good reputation is important.

It means more sales too, with 15 per cent of monthly registered users being referred by other property managers – for every 200 clients, 30 are coming to Arthur Online through word of mouth.

“The key to retaining customers is to offer a service that your competitors don’t,” Trup said. “It doesn’t matter how good your product is; if you don’t provide good enough customer support, you won’t retain customers. Technology can streamline communication for efficiency, but at its heart, property management is a people business.”