5 Top Customer Service Articles For the Week of October 12, 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.

Radical Empathy And Other Ways To Rethink Your Customer Experience by Bridget Brennan

(Forbes) Our world is changing by the minute (or so it seems), but amidst all the disruption, one thing remains constant: women’s domination of consumer spending. That fact alone provides a valuable compass for innovating your customer experience during Covid-19, as well as reimagining what it could look like post pandemic.

My Comment: Let’s start this week’s Top Five with one of the hottest topics in customer service and experience, and that’s empathy. The author includes five customer loyalty strategies, the first one being empathy. That’s what caught my eye. She refers to a deep understanding of your customer as radical empathy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the concept of empathy has emerged as an important way to communicate with customers, and may very well turn out to be the business “word of the year.”

Four proven ways to foster stronger customer loyalty by Liem Viet Ngo

(UNSW Business School) Managers and marketers who want to boost customer loyalty post-COVID-19 should focus on four key areas, according to UNSW Business School research

My Comment: In my quest to find the best way to create customer loyalty, here is a great article that sets up the importance of going for loyalty followed by four sound strategies. These are very strategic and will make you think. Of course, you want to create a great experience (number four), but you also want to build “equity” with the brand, relationship and value proposition.

Does Ryanair deliver poor service or is it a CX success story? by Sampson Lee

Ryanair has long been criticized for its poor service and is commonly regarded as delivering bad customer experiences. But there’s a train of thought that suggests, contrary to this, Ryanair is in fact a customer experience success story…

My Comment: So, we know that Ryanair doesn’t win awards for great customer service. On the contrary, they are recognized for their poor service. They don’t hide it. If you want a comfortable first-class seat, this airline is not for you. But, if you want the lowest prices, then you’ve found cheap-fare utopia (my term, not theirs). If the value perceived (low fares) is more important than the experience, the value will push the experience aside. Ryanair doesn’t promise you the best service. They promise you a low price. And for them, it works.

13 Ways To Leverage The Trust-Building Power Of Company And Personal Accolades by Expert Panel

(Forbes Agency Council) You can proclaim your value proposition in emails, ads and owned media, but leads will find few things more persuasive than the praise of happy consumers or recognition from industry leaders and peers. Here, 13 members of Forbes Agency Council look at ways of leveraging accolades to maintain customer loyalty while winning new business.

My Comment: A powerful way to build trust with your company is to have your customers evangelize your products and services. Word-of-Mouth marketing, as it is called, is about others testifying on your behalf. Friends, colleagues and even strangers who comment and share their opinions can help build the trust needed to get a customer to want to do business with you. How do you do it? Here are 13 ways from an Expert Panel® put together by the Forbes Agency Council.

Building customer service resilience during continued uncertainty by Paul Selby

(A Customer Service Perspective) As living with the pandemic has become a fact of life, customers’ expectations for great customer service have returned. And with uncertain times still ahead, now is the time to bolster the means of delivering customer service in a resilient and flexible manner to meet those expectations.

My Comment: Paul Selby is an executive at ServiceNow. Somehow he finds time to write articles, it seems weekly about the topic of service and experience. This is an interesting take on how resilient your service is during an uncertain economy, such as the one that COVID-19 has delivered to us. He shares five ideas worth thinking about. Some of this may seem like old news, but today it’s more important than ever.

BONUS

8 Ways to Stand Out in Your Next Virtual Meeting by Shaun Belding

(The Belding Group) This article shares eight of the very basics to remember for your next Zoom (or other virtual meeting) call:

My Comment: It’s not customer service, but it is about creating a better experience for customers and employees – during your next virtual meeting or presentation. We’ve all been seemingly over-exposed to poorly managed online meetings. My thought is that it’s not the online meeting, but the people presenting at these meetings and events. Read this article, and if you’re not using these ideas already, I’ll guarantee you’ll be better at your next virtual meeting. Your customers and colleagues will really appreciate you for the effort!

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