Top 5 Customer Service Articles For the Week of November 5, 2012

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.

Everything You Need To Know About Twitter For Customer Service + 10 Brands Doing It Well by Simply Zesty

(Simply Zesty) Beyond the basic functionality it offers, Twitter is still limited in terms of the premium features it offers brands, but there are a number of hacks and third party tools that you can use to help improve your customer service and Twitter themselves will be rolling out additional features over time. Until Twitter does that, however, you will need to work with what you have so here are a number of ways and examples you can use to improve customer service.

My Comment: This great article on Twitter and customer service offers some great tips and examples of companies that have jumped on this social media channel. Interesting that the article suggests (and rightly so) to prominently display your Twitter handle. It wasn’t that long ago that experts suggested the same thing for our website addresses!

Three Excellent Reasons to Use Twitter for Customer Service by Alyson Stone

(Salesforce) Not only for promos and marketing anymore, Twitter is now a place where customers are going for customer support. If you’re not using Twitter to find out what your customers are saying and helping them, you risk being left behind. A few reasons to take Twitter seriously as a channel for service and support.

My Comment: At the beginning of the year, there were a few articles here and there about Twitter. Now I read them every day. There is a reason. Twitter is a viable customer service channel. Here are three of the simplest but oh so important, reasons you would want to have a customer service strategy on Twitter.

4 Ways to Get Honest Customer Feedback by Linda Finkle

(Incedo Group) Customer satisfaction is paramount in having a successful business, and for that, you need to know what customers think about your product or service. Here’s how you can get their opinions.

My Comment: Customer feedback is crucial – especially negative feedback. However, the studies show that customers rarely complain, at least to us. Instead, they just don’t come back. Companies should utilize every tool at their disposal to get their customers’ feedback. This article has several great suggestions.

Leadership by Example it’s Not Just for the Military by Carey Lohrenz

(Carey Lohrenz) Organizations that have enjoyed extraordinary success, have leaders that have led by example.

My Comment: These leadership tips are exactly how we should all lead – in business and our personal lives.  And, you don’t need to be in upper management or in the executive offices to lead by example.  Everyone can be a leader.

Loews Hotels CEO Talks Customer Experience in the Hotel Industry by Flavio Martins

(CustomerThink) Chocolates on the pillow aren’t enough today, you need to reinvent the customer experience in order to create customer loyalty.

My Comment: The opening line of this article makes the important point that great companies are reinventing the customer experience. In other words, customer service is more than just being nice, although that in itself is a good start. If you can make customers feel like they are special – a person, not a number – you are on your way to creating individualized service experiences that can lead to loyalty.

Shep Hyken is a customer service/CX expert, award-winning keynote speaker, and New York Times bestselling author. Learn more about Shep’s customer service and customer experience keynote speeches and his customer service training workshops at www.Hyken.com. Connect with Shep on LinkedIn.

(Copyright ©MMXII, Shep Hyken)