5 Top Customer Service Articles For the Week of August 17, 2020

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.

Customer Experience Emerges As A Critical Strategy For Small And Medium Sized Businesses by Maria Morais

(Forbes) In its report, “Digital, Resilient, and Experience-Driven,” the global economic consultancy and thought leadership firm found that 53% of top performers – companies with the strongest revenue growth and profit-margin change – consider the quality of their customer experience as their top strategic priority for the next three years.

My Comment: What happens when you combine a good product that is competitively priced and the experience is easy? A winning combination that gets your customers to want to come back. While the title of the article states this is a sound strategy for small and medium-sized businesses, the larger businesses should take note. Price may become less sensitive for larger B2B’s, but product reliability and convenience are non-negotiable.

What COVID-19 Did to Customer Loyalty by Caroline Jansen

(Retail Dive) As retailers grappled with out-of-stocks, research found that 75% of consumers opted to shop alternative brands.

My Comment: Our customers may have changed their buying habits in the past five months since the COVID-19 wreaked havoc on the business word. How does that impact their loyalty to us? Here are a few ideas with commentary from some industry thought leaders CX executives.

21 Powerful Ways To Build Brand Loyalty by ShoppingGives

(ShoppingGives) Brand loyalty can increase your company’s overall revenue, make better use of marketer investments, and insulate your company against changes in the economy.

My Comment: Another list of experts weighing in on how to create brand loyalty. This time there are 21 and it includes an A to Z list of the industry of experts and thought leaders, starting with Adam Toporek and ending with Zsuzsa Kecsmar.

Key to retailers’ success post-COVID-19: 4 necessary customer experience practices by Kelly Ungerman

(Retail Customer Experience) This article shares four customer experience practices that can frame short-term responses, build resilience, and prepare retailers for success in the days after COVID-19.

My Comment: In the recent Consumer Sentiment survey conducted by McKinsey & Company, only a third of U.S. consumers are optimistic about an economic recovery in the next two to three months. Most believe it will be more than six months. In addition, consumers are spending less money. This is a result of COVID-19, and as businesses are re-opening and figuring out how to operate post-COVID, there are a few suggestions here to consider.

Service operations: the critical piece to amazing customer service by Paul Selby

(CustomerThink) When customers pick up the telephone or chat online to engage live with customer service, it’s with an agent: a frontline customer service person. Any customer service leader will tell you having a friendly and well-trained staff is critical to delivering great customer service, and they are correct. Except there’s more to customer service than just a helpful voice.

My Comment: There is a definition of customer service that says customer service is what happens when customer experience fails. In other words, you pick up and call the customer service or support department. Yes, that’s one aspect of it, but Paul Selby takes a deeper look into what drives service operations that can help deliver an amazing customer service experience.

BONUS

How to create a great customer experience strategy in 6 steps by Albert McKeon

(Tech Target) In today’s business landscape, a powerful CX strategy is key to gaining customer loyalty and a competitive advantage. Here’s how to deliver a great customer experience, plus a template.

My Comment: If you’ve been following these recaps, you know I love lists. Sometimes they are just reminders. Other times there are one or two (or more) ideas. Here’s a nice list that includes commentary from a few of my customer service and experience friends (and they included my thoughts as well). A short read, but a good one!How to create a great customer experience strategy in 6 steps.

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