Top 5 Customer Service Articles For the Week of April 2, 2018

Each week I read a number of customer service and customer experience articles from various resources. Here are my top five picks from last week. I have added my comment about each article and would like to hear what you think too.

Three Important Considerations for Customer Service Surveys by Paul Selby

(CustomerThink) A lot has been written on performing customer service or customer satisfaction surveys. I would like to offer just a few best practices to consider based on my own experience being on both sides of the survey.

My Comment: Here’s a short, but excellent, article on the right way to do a customer survey – at the right time, the right length, the right questions, and how to use the results.

Sales & Happy People, Guaranteed: Customer Support That Works by Lightricks

(Medium) Ever been put on hold for three hours? Forced to listen to fake-happy ‘customer care’ puppets reading from scripts? The dissatisfaction you’ll be left with goes both ways: the cost of disappointed customers is high for companies, too.

My Comment: Do you want more sales? Do you want happier customers? (Yes and yes!) Then, take a minute or two to read this short article with some basic, yet important, tips to deliver authentic customer support. Customers want empathy, honesty and more.

Customer service could start living up to its name by The Economist

(The Economist) “YOUR CALL IS important to us,” a recorded voice tells resigned customers as they wait endlessly to speak to a human agent. AI is starting to help companies improve the quality and consistency of their service in order to persuade customers that they do in fact care about them.

My Comment: Here is a bold statement: AI will change customer service as much as the telephone did in its day. As you think about some of your past experiences where AI chatbots stand between you and a support rep, you may be skeptical of this statement, but what’s coming will change your mind. AI is getting better at what it does. It will be beneficial to both customers and the companies that implement a good AI system. This article will give you more insight into how AI will make customer service better.

Mirroring is good in customer service; disappearing isn’t by Susan Lahey

(Relate by Zendesk) Customer service is weird. For a certain number of hours a day, customer service agents are expected to let other people’s needs supersede their own. It’s a level of hospitality that, outside of the workplace, might lead one to be labeled “codependent” or “a doormat.”

My Comment: The concept of mirroring your customer is interesting. If not done well, it comes off as fake and patronizing. If you have direct interactions with your customers, you might enjoy some of the ideas and techniques shared in this article.

Why Self-Service is the Future of Customer Support by Kaan Ersun

(Solvvy) Customer support has become an area of fierce competition among companies, and there’s evidence that the competition is only heating up.

My Comment: Self-service support is becoming more and more popular with customers who want their questions answered quickly. Companies are getting smart about creating robust answers that can easily be found by customers seeking help. Companies that implement a good self-service solution save money, time, free their support people up for higher level issues, and most important, create a better experience for their customers.

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, professional speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information on The Customer Focus™ customer service training programs go to www.TheCustomerFocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken