Top 5 Customer Service Articles For the Week of November 30, 2015

TOP CUSTOMER SERVICE AND BUSINESS ARTICLES

Each week I read a number of customer service articles from various online 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.

Satisfaction Isn’t Enough: Strategies For Creating Customer Excitement by Larry Alton

(CustomerThink) It’s time to reconsider the language of customer satisfaction and make a shift towards something better – customer excitement. How can we motivate customers to form attachments to our businesses, recommend them, and look forward to their shopping experience? That will take more than just a friendly staff and good selection – it will take ingenuity and commitment.

My Comment: There is a big difference between satisfied customers and loyal customers. This article focuses on going beyond satisfying your customers by getting them “excited” about doing business with you.

Four Critical Touch Points – Your Opportunity For Experience Reliability that Differentiates You by Jeanne Bliss

(Customer Bliss) In most companies, a deeply rooted one-company approach to caring about (and improving) customer experiences and customer lives does not exist.

My Comment: I enjoy anything Jeanne Bliss has to say or write about. Here she shares a quick tip about four opportunities we have to grow the relationship – and the business – we have with our customers.

Your Guide to Digital Customer Experience Strategy for 2016 by Infinit Contact

(Infinit Contact) By the start of the 20th Century, corporations have become prolific in producing items quickly and efficiently—a key differentiator that led to affordable products for the masses.

My Comment: The digital experience may be as simple as a customer connecting with us through their computer or smartphone. There is no way around it.  Every company must have a “usable” digital presence. According to the article, 50% of customer service interactions will be digital in nature. Here are some excellent tips and strategies that virtually any company can use.

Great Customer Experiences Start With Sales by Christopher J. Bucholtz 

(CRM Buyer) The term “customer experience” flows from the lips of business people so smoothly these days. It’s very clearly the business jargon du jour; its importance has been trending upward for the last decade, and according to Gartner, by 2018 more than half of all businesses will implement significant business model changes in their efforts to improve customer experience.

My Comment: For years I’ve said/believed that customer service is not a department. It is a philosophy. That means that customer service starts long before a complaint or a question. It starts at the very beginning of the customer’s journey. Even more than a great product and knowledgeable salespeople (and a system/CRM solution), customer service may be what actually makes the sale.

4 Shareable Customer Service Stats for the Holiday Season by Devon McGinnis

(Salesforce) The rules of customer service have changed, and that’s never more evident than now, in the midst of the busiest shopping season of the year.

My Comment: The future of customer service is in this article! Companies must embrace the stats and facts in this article or be left behind. While not all customer service is going “digital,” there is very little time to catch up when you lag others who are connecting via the new channels that customers want to connect on.

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