Top 5 Customer Service Articles for the Week of December 24, 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.

How to Provide Proactive Customer Service by Leveraging Customer Data by Michael

(Freshdesk) Customer service teams now have more resources at their disposal than ever for understanding and assisting customers. This means that there are plenty of opportunities for companies looking to step up their service. Still, some of these opportunities are more valuable than others in terms of the potential impact they can make on the customer experience. And one of the most valuable of these is customer data.

My Comment: Often when I bring up the word “data” in a conversation on from the stage in one of my speeches, I can see the audiences’ eyes start to glaze over with boredom. Sometimes data can not only be interesting, but also powerful at a basic level. This short article has some great suggestions on how and why data is important to the customer experience. Pay special attention to number one, which nicely summarizes how data can help you anticipate your customers’ next questions and problems.

Morality and Customer Loyalty by Patrick Barney

(Loyalty 360) When I worked as a pizza delivery driver, I sometimes got mad at customers. I remember once going to a customer’s house, finding out that the customer’s order had been taken incorrectly over the phone, and sitting through a harangue against me and the pizzeria. I handled myself pretty well in that situation, but on another occasion, I lost it.

My Comment: If you were the boss (and maybe you are) and one of your employees was rude and hung up on a customer, what would you do? Fire the employee? Reprimand him or her? Or, would you remain calm and coach him or her? The author of this short article was lucky. After being rude and hanging up on the customer, the manager stepped in and gave support – to the customer and the employee. This story sets up an important lesson that reinforces the power that managers and leaders have to influence (positively) an employee’s future.

Future CX: Tips for 2019 digital marketing success by Stuart Banbery

(CustomerThink) Creating powerful online customer experiences and marketing ROI by harnessing emotional connections with customers is key and here are some key take-outs for everyone to consider for 2019 success.

My Comment: Often when I bring up the word “data” in a conversation on from the stage in one of my speeches, I can see the audiences’ eyes start to glaze over with boredom. Sometimes data can not only be interesting, but also powerful at a basic level. This short article has some great suggestions on how and why data is important to the customer experience. Pay special attention to number one, which nicely summarizes how data can help you anticipate your customers’ next questions and problems.

Customer Service Edge Cases. To Empower or Not to Empower? by Jeremy Watkin

(CustomerThink) It’s been nearly two years since I shared my Recipe for Consistent Customer Service, and while that covers many customer service situations, there are still plenty of scenarios, or edge cases that require a rules interpretation from a manager or supervisor. In this article, I’m going to summarize a couple recent situations that challenged this recipe and then I’ll talk about how to address these and whether or not agents should be empowered to handle them.

My Comment: I’m a Jeremy Watkin fan. He is the real deal in that he has been running support centers for a number of years, which means he speaks from experience. This article focuses on empowerment. He starts with a couple of great examples and follows with four suggestions that will help you manage and coach your team to success.

My Comment: Prepare to have your mind blown! That’s what the title of this article infers. Here are 50 (mind-blowing) stats about e-commerce and customer service. Even if e-commerce is not part of your business model, you will want to read these stats and understand how some of your customers are behaving. Great info to help make the case for investing in a good customer service experience.

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