In the past, companies - both small and big - used to overlook the importance of customer service (let alone customer service philosophy). They would hire a couple of mediocre-at-best managers and hope for the best. Those days are [luckily] over.
Today, customer service is looked upon as a vital element to the company’s success and is perpetually used as a competitive advantage.
With the buzzword ‘engagement’ gaining momentum, it’s anticipated that you adopt the new philosophy if standing out is your goal.
You might be thinking - isn’t it enough to have a customer service staff that does its job well? And while in theory, it is, in reality, establishing a few guiding principles delivers better results. What’s more, they empower every individual to take more responsibility when dealing with atypical queries from customers.
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Customer Service Philosophy Is The New KPI 💁🏻♂️
To fully understand how to effectively implement the new credo without sacrificing the performance of employees, we need to get down to the core of this philosophy.
The most relevant definition of ‘philosophy’ goes like this: “It’s a set of beliefs held by an individual or an organization that serves as a guiding tool for behavior”.
This rings true if we look at it through the customer service lens. When dealing with a handful of unpredictable scenarios, having a powerful service philosophy can be a literal life savior.
Here’s a perspective: a study conducted in 2017 states that 33% of customers are likely to switch to a different company after a single poor customer service experience.
The high percentage means that the stakes are high for getting it right when it comes to serving shoppers.
To satisfy the needs of consumers, you have to look at the new-decade customer service KPI indicators:
- Purpose: the foundation of serving
- Vision: the way to serve
- Values: the reason for serving
Whole Foods was quick to come up with its own mission statement and lead by example.
Its purpose - the excellence of its products, its vision - supplying customers with the highest quality, and its values - the promotion of healthy eating. It’s no rocket science.
Your guiding principles might sound different, and they probably will. But the idea remains the same - they should be in alignment with the values of who you’re serving.
Only then the puzzle will be complete and turn into a great customer service experience overall.
How To Be At The Forefront Of The Movement 🤔
Once you’ve identified the PVV (Purpose, Vision, Values) your customer service philosophy will be based on, it’s time to share them with the world.
With the help of your customer service staff, you’ll be able to develop a so-called persona your company will be associated with from thereon. Below are the tips proven to bring your customer service game to the next level.
1. Shout it From the Rooftops 🗣
Okay, you don’t necessarily need to shout your philosophy from the rooftops. But you do need to put it out there for everyone to have free access to.
Your customer service representatives are merely the intermediary that is responsible for delivering the message further to the masses. How it will be delivered is your call.
A strong customer service philosophy will find its way to the customers through effective marketing. With advertising budgets growing bigger each year, getting the most out of promotions becomes a no-brainer.
There’s truly no limit to your imagination when deciding what advertising channels to use and how to tell your company’s story in a way that leaves an impression on prospective customers.
Use this opportunity to attract new faces and make them stay via a trustworthy customer service team.
The other method of raising awareness is to implant the statement into your website (building a referral network helps too). This is a common practice for a good reason - it’s widely accessible and easily changeable in case there are a few tweaks that need to be made.
It’s also a much less expensive way of letting everyone know what your business is all about (and, let’s face it, the less you spend on sharing the message, the more you save for, say, expanding the company’s range of products/services or giving financial incentives to your employees).
Don’t underestimate the good old word of mouth - it’s still as relevant as it was decades ago.
The majority of people put trust in their peers before they consider digital advertisements, which might seem counterintuitive at first, but is, in fact, great news for business owners. Your customer service staff and the philosophy they obey will come in handy here.
2. Train Your Customer Service Representatives to be Flexible 👨🏾💻
Sure, having rules in place makes systems work better. But this doesn’t mean that they have to be followed blindly.
There needs to be space for making adjustments when deemed necessary, and your customer service team has to be flexible enough to know when and how to implement them.
The staff will most likely not be able to break the core policies to satisfy some particular customer need, but it can certainly provide him with the second-best option.
Admitting that the customer is right should be non-negotiable too. As the saying goes, ‘let them stay wrong’ and do everything right from your side. High satisfaction rates will naturally follow.
Keep in mind that every employee is capable of influencing the customer. Provide your customer service representatives with all the information they need to serve better.
As a result, they will feel more confident in going with the flow and adapting to unexpected circumstances without losing clients. This translates to more returning customers and bigger profits to the business. It’s a win-win.
3. Give Your Staff the Tools They Need to Serve Better 🛠
Speaking about training - your customer service reps can’t do their best without the tools that make their work efficient. Give them the tools and teach them how to use them.
Both parties will benefit from faster and more effective customer service that allows a timely resolution of issues through any and every kind of communication channel.
We recommend you to equip your team with these tools:
Social Media Accounts 💁🏼♀️
Would a company with Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube accounts surprise anyone? Not anymore. People live and breathe this new-century phenomenon that serves as a golden ticket to leads and sales in the competitive market of today.
It’s never too late to jump on the bandwagon and create an online presence of your own.
With people spending 20% - 40% more with companies that make an effort to regularly engage with them, it makes sense to join the club and harness this opportunity before it becomes mainstream.
Provide your customer service team with these communication channels so they can connect with customers and answer their queries like the tech-savvy professionals they are.
Live Chat 💻
Have you noticed the blinking bubble at the bottom right of some of the websites? That’s live chat in all its glory. This relatively new feature has been breaking the charts and is forecasted to continue doing so for the foreseeable future.
The reason is this - it’s the easiest way to not only answer customers’ questions but also provide them with additional data that will make them click that ‘buy now’ button without second-guessing their decision.
If you want to reap the benefits of this well-systemized feature, make sure your customer service staff knows how to use it.
Mobile Apps 📲
The rave about mobile apps isn’t planning on subsiding - and why would it when there are so many pros to it? Besides consistently being in front of your customers’ eyes, apps enable real-time interaction that doesn’t require them to open their laptops.
Serving customers through the app is the new normal, and you don’t want to miss out on it. Consider creating one and expect your customer service team to be as efficient in helping customers to navigate the app’s interface to make the purchase as ever.
Self-Service Plug-ins 💁🏻
It’s not only self-service grocery shops that are becoming more prominent in every major city - online shopping is catching up too. Hundreds of retailers who have gone digital are now offering their customers a self-service experience. We’re talking logging in to check the status of the order, track their order, and even make a return - all at the same place.
This isn’t the future - it’s the present; the sooner you’ll enable your customers to independently find answers to their questions, the better off you’ll be.
Customer Satisfaction Surveys 📄
What’s a better way to evaluate customer satisfaction than to ask for feedback? Often used as an ‘afterparty’ following the resolution of customer’s issues or the making of a sale, it’s a tried-and-tested way to get valuable information about what can be improved.
To build trust and gain from the repeating customers rather than the new ones (which is more costly), incorporate customer satisfaction surveys into your website.
There are not many other gold mines for finding out the truth behind customers’ experience with your business.
4. Encourage Your Customer Service Team to Make the Final Decision 👏🏼
There’s nothing more rewarding than taking responsibility and having your superior acknowledge your valuable contribution. Why not be that superior?
What’s holding you back from delegating decision-making to your customer service representatives who are well-versed in solving the issues on the fly?
Micro-managing isn’t trendy anymore. What’s in fashion is to provide your staff with some degree of autonomy that will motivate it to be creative with solutions.
Don’t strip your team of power - rather, give people the incentives they need to grow as professionals and ‘wow’ you in the process.
Take Buffer as an example.
This social network management company doesn’t take its customer service philosophy lightly. Instead, it fosters an autonomous structure among departments that creates the feeling of ‘belonging’.
Known as a Happiness team, their customer service reps are further divided into community champions, happiness heroes, and weekend warriors, all of whom come together when finding new ways to amiably stun those contacting them. It’s safe to say following their lead will give you great results (Buffer boasted $20M in sales in 2019).
5. Be Generous with Rewards 🎁
This applies both to customers and customer service employees. The first is easier to implement since there are plenty of examples - you just have to look around and take notes.
It can be a complimentary coupon for your next cup of joe or a hefty discount for the yearly membership.
The second is trickier but still doable. Follow the customer service philosophy ingrained into your company and align rewards for the customer service team accordingly.
A monetary bonus for maintaining a 100% customer satisfaction rate can be just as motivating as a few paid extra days off for retaining a customer.
6. Tweak the Philosophy as the Company Grows 🤝
Just like there’s no end to learning, there’s no end to improving your mission statement. No matter how ‘perfect’ it may seem, you’ll want to review it times and again as your company grows.
Adjustments are inevitable, and that’s a good thing - if not them, the business would stall or, worse, fail in the light of the always-innovating competition.
What can prompt you to change your customer service philosophy? The most obvious one is the changes that occur inside of your company.
It could be hiring new personnel, bringing a new advisory consultant on board, or even deciding to expand to international markets.
New markets mean new customers. And new customers mean more sales. You might find your business having to increase the time it takes for your customer service team to respond to queries.
Alternatively, you might want to experiment with a new marketing channel that will lead to a different kind of audience.
The reasons for tweaking the core philosophy are many, and it’s only a matter of time before you’ll have to revamp it to match the new reality.
All Set For Improving Your Customer Service Philosophy? 🙌🏽
The current-day customers aren’t the same customers that would be satisfied with solely the timely delivery of the service some time ago. They are more demanding than ever, and they have every right to it.
Over-the-top sales emails and robotic customer service replies don’t cut it anymore.
Their cravings are real-time interactions with humans who care. And your job is to deliver this experience.
Implementing a customer-oriented service philosophy is the one thing that reflects that. The message behind your product/service is a clear depiction of whether or not your company can deliver on its promise.
To ensure the existing customers come back and the new ones remain satisfied with the experience, mirror the tips above. They will serve as a guideline for you to follow when developing your customer service philosophy from scratch or improving the existing one.