5 min read
What does good customer service really mean today? 🤔
Are you worried that your customer service isn't keeping up with current expectations? You're not alone—this is a common challenge for many businesses today.
Customers no longer tolerate waiting over weekends for support or being stuck in endless loops of elevator music. They expect quick, efficient, and personalised service at their convenience.
Let’s make your customer service a standout feature. We’ll lay out how to measure the quality and personalise your service to wow every customer, every time.
What good customer service looks like today
Good customer service is not just about answering calls faster or replying to emails; it’s about creating stories that customers can’t wait to tell others about.
“Creating wow-experiences in every customer encounter has become a trend in customer service” says Jenni Jokiperä, Director of Customer Experience at Enreach for Enterprises.
This involves going above and beyond to exceed customer expectations in thoughtful and meaningful ways, like providing a bespoke solution, sending surprise loyalty rewards, or including a personalised video message from the team.
Good customer service is personal
Businesses should see customers as unique individuals with specific needs and desires, rather than just numbers on a spreadsheet.
It’s about making a human connection. Each customer interaction should feel like a one-on-one conversation with someone who genuinely cares and understands the customer's needs.
Maie Falck, Senior Support Specialist at Enreach for Enterprises says she’s motivated every day to help our customers because she gets “immediate feedback from customers. I like to help people. It's really nice when people can get on with their work after a challenge.”
That’s especially true for B2B customer service, where you can establish a relationship across multiple touchpoints. She says: “On the B2B side, you get to know your customers, which makes collaboration smoother. The customer is the most important thing. We wouldn't have a job without our customers.”
When customers feel that a company knows them and cares about their individual needs, they’re much more likely to remain loyal and become advocates for your business.
Use CRM systems and AI-driven tools to provide agents with real-time access to customer data. This can inform them about the customer’s last interaction, preferences, and potential issues.
Divide customers into different segments based on their behavior, needs, or demographics. This allows for more targeted and relevant communication. For example, making specialised offers or information that pertains directly to a segment’s known preferences.
Every customer interaction is a chance to stand out
In a world full of similar offerings, genuine, one-on-one service sets your brand apart. At Enreach, we see these moments as opportunities to sprinkle a little magic into each customer experience.
Here’s how you can bring this vision to life, one innovative step at a time:
Establish a culture of service
Good customer service isn’t a department, it’s a culture. From the CEO to the newest hire, everyone should understand and practise the principles that make your customer service exceptional.
Empower your team
Let your team make real decisions. Scrap the script and trust your team to interact in a way that feels genuine and personal. Empower them to make judgement calls that can turn routine interactions into memorable moments.
Be proactive
Anticipate customer needs and issues before they arise. This could be through predictive analytics, customer history, and attentive listening. It can even eliminate the need to call customer service in the first place.
Respond quickly
Speed matters in customer service. A swift response can turn a negative experience into a positive one. Even if you don't have an answer yet, let the customer know you're working on it. Keeping them informed shows you care.
Focus on emotional connections
Train customer service representatives to understand and empathise with customers’ feelings and situations. Encouraging genuine, empathetic interactions can create deeper customer connections.
Help your customers help themselves
Enhance your service with self-service options and 24/7 support. Implement user-friendly FAQs, intuitive troubleshooting guides, and interactive chatbots that provide instant answers.
Keep a human touch with AI
Use AI to enhance and scale service capabilities—not replace the human element. Many customers are still uncomfortable interacting with AI for personal matters. Automation should free up your team to engage in more meaningful interactions, not fewer.
Use technology wisely
Tools like CRM systems provide valuable customer insights and their data can power smart IVRs, so customers reach the right agents faster. But they should be used to enhance personal connections, not automate them away.
Measure what matters
Dive into the metrics that tell stories—satisfaction scores, retention rates, and yes, even complaint resolutions. Let these guide your strategy and shine a light on what’s working.
Can good customer service be measured?
The more intangible, emotional, and long-term aspects of great customer service are challenging to measure precisely.
But there are many valuable customer service metrics that you can—and should track:
- Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT): This metric measures customer satisfaction with a service or product at a specific interaction point. Customers are typically asked to rate their satisfaction on a scale, often from 1 to 5.
- Net Promoter Score (NPS): NPS measures customer loyalty and the likelihood of customers to recommend a company's product or service to others. It is based on responses to the question: "On a scale from 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our product/service to a friend or colleague?" The scores are used to classify customers into Promoters, Passives, and Detractors.
- Customer Effort Score (CES): This score assesses how much effort a customer has to exert to get an issue resolved, a request fulfilled, or a product purchased. A lower effort score is generally associated with higher customer loyalty.
- First Contact Resolution (FCR): FCR measures the percentage of customer inquiries resolved on the first contact, without requiring a callback or follow-up. It indicates the efficiency and effectiveness of customer service agents.
Other metrics like customer churn rate, ticket volume, and resolution rate can also provide insights into the quality of your customer service. Measure key aspects to understand where you excel and where there is room for improvement.
Ready to upgrade your customer service? Learn powerful strategies and practical tips to improve your customer service in this complete guide.
Great customer service is a growth driver, not a cost centre
Great customer service is expensive. But viewing customer service solely as an expense is a mistake.
As Seth Godin wrote: “Great customer service is a growth center, not a cost center. It's really that simple.”
Businesses need to view excellent customer service as an investment that drives business growth, rather than just a necessary cost to be minimized.
To boost your customer service team's impact, equip them with basic sales skills. This training empowers them to do more than just solve problems—they can spot chances to upsell or cross-sell when it makes sense.
Plus, giving them access to the latest technology for inbound and outbound sales, integrating with CRM systems, allows them to look into customer histories and preferences. They can then tailor their recommendations perfectly. This turns everyday service calls into real sales opportunities!
To further enhance your team's effectiveness, learn more about 10 key customer service skills and how to develop them.
Provide seamless omnichannel customer service
Today, customers expect to connect with businesses just as easily through phone, email, chat, or social media. True omnichannel support with a unified experience across touchpoints is becoming the norm.
Imagine a customer starts a query on chat and then switches to a phone call. With an effective omnichannel strategy, the agent on the line already knows the customer’s issue and history without any repetition needed.
Ensure that all your communication platforms are interconnected. Use technology that allows data to flow freely between channels so that customer information is always current and complete, no matter where it’s accessed.
Implement a CRM system that not only stores customer data but also updates it in real-time across all channels. This way, every customer service agent has the most up-to-date information at their fingertips, reducing errors and saving time.
Curious how to implement this? Here's how to succeed with omnichannel customer service using proven strategies.
Get your hands on our updated guide
Packed with tips on emotional intelligence, omnichannel experience, and AI implementation. Consider it your roadmap to outstanding customer service.
