Six tips for an exceptional customer service strategy

It’s also worth rewarding your employees, such as with a discretionary bonus, for efficiently handling customer problems. This creates a company culture of employees who are willing to go above and beyond for the company’s customers. While human representatives remain a critical component of any customer service strategy, technological advancements like artificial intelligence (AI) can help organizations serve more customers more effectively. Historically, service channels were managed for cost and customer satisfaction rather than growth through customer engagement. Many companies are still emphasizing efficient service rather than rich conversations with customers and addressing their needs beyond the immediate issue that triggered outreach.

McKinsey found that 75% of consumers tried new shopping behaviors during the pandemic, and 39% chose new brands over their existing favorites. The trend was even more pronounced among Gen Z and millennials, evidence that addressing customer needs will only grow in importance. One, they’ll be sure to get to the real heart of a problem before firing off a reply. There’s nothing worse than attempting a “solution,” only to have it miss the mark entirely on solving the actual issue. In these situations, it’s good to have a team of people who can think on their feet.

Listen and respond to customer reviews.

Setting SMART goals lets you identify bottlenecks and tweak your processes to perform better. By keeping an eye on customer interactions, you meet and exceed customer expectations. Let’s say a customer complains about how your product was packaged and delivered. Customer service strategy reinforces this bedrock through superior customer relationships, satisfaction, and trust. The best way to prove you’re on the customer’s side is to advocate for long-term solutions over short-term conveniences. This shows the customer that you’re not only interested in solving the problem in front of you, but you’re also concerned with their overall success.

With this information, you can provide superior customer service that is delightful and speaks to their exact needs. It’s important to create two distinct processes for sharing customer reviews. These are typically negative reviews that point out significant flaws in your product or service. It’s great customer service that keeps your customers loyal to you and solutions to improve customer service your business — and that earns you a reputation for being helpful and a pleasure to work with. Nashville’s Gaylord Opryland hotel delivered truly helpful customer service when a customer asked them where she could buy a particular alarm clock they had in her room. The hotel gave her one as an unexpected parting gift, winning them one very delighted customer.

What are the principles of good customer service?

Customer care is on the cusp of a technology explosion that will greatly enhance frontline capabilities. A better understanding of how to harness CRM systems and tools such as live sentiment analysis can provide agents with suggestions on how to improve the customer experience in real time. Other solutions have moved beyond net promoter or customer satisfaction scores to rate every single call and then inform agents on customer sentiment and personalized offers. Companies now have the power to identify their best agents, highlight winning attributes in their customer interactions, and then coach other agents accordingly. In the coming years, contact centers will also increasingly automate back-office activities to reduce cycle times and manual activities.

Otherwise, irrespective of how good your product or service is, you risk losing your present and potential customers. His 25 years of experience leading various aspects of the customer experience including professional services, customer success, customer care, national operations, and sales. Before Nextiva, he held senior leadership roles with TPx, Vonage, and CenturyLink.

Two-thirds of millennials expect real-time customer service, for example, and three-quarters of all customers expect consistent cross-channel service experience. And with cost pressures rising at least as quickly as service expectations, the obvious response—adding more well-trained employees to deliver great customer service—isn’t a viable option. Those who don’t seek to improve what they do — whether it’s building products, marketing businesses, or helping customers — will get left behind by the people who are willing to invest in their own skills.