What is a Good Customer Service?

Good customer service is all about meeting the customer's expectations and providing them with valuable services in a helpful environment.

But a positive, memorable, unique customer experience can create a lasting impression that convinces a customer to continually choose your brand over the competition. As such, customer experience is a huge area of focus for all types and sizes of companies, and many are successfully leveraging Contact Center software and other customer experience tools to streamline customer service processes and innovate the customer experience.

Excellent customer service qualities have been known to have a tangible impact on the customer experience as a whole.

According to a study conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) in 2021, a third of all consumers (32%) said they would cut off ties with a trusted brand due to a singular bad experience.

Effective customer service, therefore, is quick, consistent, efficient and above all else anticipates customer expectations. A good example of a positive customer experience would be answering questions with warm, positive, and courteous language is essential for creating customer trust which leads to repeat business.

Customer service reps also need to have comprehensive knowledge of the product or service as that is the only way they will be able to assist customers when they inevitably run into issues.

According to the 2021 Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report, 77% of all consumers become loyal customers after having an issue resolved in time, moreover, 50% feel that customer experience is more important to them now more than ever.

Owing to this, Customer-centric companies with a quick response time will flourish and overall shorter handle times constitute good customer service.

Nearly all modern consumers prize speed, convenience, and knowledgeable and friendly help above any other factor. So to provide good customer service, the aforementioned criteria have to be met consistently. Additionally, more and more companies are shifting their investments to CX software for a suite of streamlined tools for handling customer interactions.

In a 2021 study conducted by Salesforce, it was ascertained that a staggering 91% of customers become loyal, happy repeat customers solely based on good customer service.

Its importance in the minds of real people cannot be understated. Bad customer service is the leading cause of driving the customer to competitors. A customer will cease to conduct business with companies based on a solitary bad customer service experience.

Although the days of brick-and-mortar stores are limited, they do provide a tangible customer experience. Complex questions can be asked to the agent in person. The foundation of good customer service is communication. Good customer service comes in the form of a smooth experience from the User Interface (UI), the User Experience (UX), and the Customer Experience (CX).

Communication is what leads to customer service being tailored to each individual. Personalized contact with customers is seen to create a mental bond that cuts down on business abandonment rates. In-depth knowledge of the service or product is also a key factor so employee experience is also a must, there is no substitute for competence and consumers have identified that employee engagement plays a major role in the broader appeal of a product or service.

For good customer service, a company needs to hire company needs to hire customer service reps that genuinely want to help their customers succeed, and staffing should certainly be a consideration for an overall Customer Experience (CX) strategy. So during the hiring process, the interview questions should be designed to acquire employees with the professional inclination of being warm, approachable, enjoy problem-solving, and great at teaching other people how things work.

Good customer service is speedy, convenient, and helpful. It prioritizes multiple communication channels be it customer service reps in real-time or a 24/7 toll-free number, communication is the key to a good customer service experience. Customers also want companies to be proactive in their communications.

Not just marketing communication but also any delays or downtimes that may occur. Company culture is centered around communication so a client feels they are speaking to and are being empathized with by real people rather than artificial intelligence.

Human experience matters and 4 in 5 consumers prefer human interaction to that with automated A.I. Customer service professionals are well aware that when a customer reaches out to customer support they are probably confused and frustrated. Actively being listened to by a human and hearing them handle the situation patiently goes a long way towards alleviating their concerns.

Remembering a regular customer's order. Surveying a product change to gauge user experience. The customer service team knows the product and all its intricacies to maximize customer benefit and tailor the experience based on customer needs.

A good customer service interaction will foresee the need of the customer and might even preemptively have solutions at the ready. In other scenarios, they may simply offer proactive advice or a solution that the customer has not even considered as an option. A happy customer is a customer that feels their needs are actively being cared for.

Excellent customer service means not only meeting customer expectations but going beyond them anticipating the customer's needs before they arise. Excellent customer service is also diagnostic. Customer cannot always articulate their exact issues and are unable to coherently explain the problem.

Excellent customer service handles them with patience, professionalism, and a people-first approach. If a customer has an issue with a product or the conduct of an employee or is simply frustrated at a situation, rather than getting defensive and responding to their complaints in the same tone and volume.

Excellent customer service on the other hand remains calm and not only resolves the situation promptly but also reassures the customer that their concern has been noted and that a solution is being worked upon.

A good customer service experience leaves the client feeling acknowledged and heard. When a customer feels that their time is being valued they are much more likely to let that impact their purchasing decision.

Therefore the average response time for any customer interaction should be minimized. It is a crucial balance to maintain. On the one hand, the response time needs to be quick, yet at the same time, human in its approach.

Studies conducted by PWC indicate that 82% of modern consumers prefer human interactions rather than automated responses.

High-quality customer service requires a certain amount of creativity and flexibility, each customer is different and while there are some common do's and don'ts they may respond to common practices differently. The key difference is to align customer expectations with a customer service strategy that reinforces the idea of a human connection.