Top 5 Customer Service Articles for the Week of August 11, 2014

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.

The Value of Customer Experience, Quantified by Peter Kriss

(Harvard Business Review) What we found: not only it is possible to quantify the impact of customer experience — but the effects are huge.

My Comment: As the experts continue to define the differences between customer service and customer experience, this article further drives home the point. Furthermore, the experience is improved when you move from a transaction model that focuses on the immediate sale to a longer term/bigger picture model, focused on loyalty.

Online Customer Reviews : “Sorry – Your review didn’t quite meet our guidelines” by Steve Drake

(IJGolding) This post is a personal story that questions the lack of transparency that some retailers have with their online customer reviews, with potential unintended consequences for their brands.

My Comment: Companies who resist the opportunity to use social media to enhance their customer service are making a mistake. It doesn’t matter if you are B2C or B2B, monitor the social channels and respond quickly to all customer comments – not just complaints. There are some great tips and examples in this article.

Hand Delivered Love by Doug Sandler

(Nice Guy Blog) Arriving in your mailbox today is a stack of bills, a handful of newsprint style advertisements, the latest edition of People magazine and a thank you note. A hand addressed, rectangular shaped little treasure, full of hope and love and wonderful words about you. Don’t you get excited to open it?

My Comment: When I was a kid, about the time I could write just somewhat legibly, my mom had me start writing thank you notes whenever people did nice things for me. Today, people don’t write thank you notes. They sometimes don’t even say thank you. I believe that any sign of appreciation, be it a phone call, an email and even a text is a positive touch point with someone you want to express appreciation to. But, the hand-written thank you note is most powerful. That said, I just received a beautiful pen from a friend. I wrote him a note, using the pen. In addition to saying thank you, I told him that even an expensive pen won’t help my terrible penmanship. 🙂 Great article and a great reminder.

5 Ways Entrepreneurs Fail at Customer Experience Strategy by Jeannie Walters 

(Steamfeed) Things that didn’t seem to matter much before become vital components of a winning customer experience strategy. Here are some ideas on how to avoid disaster.

My Comment: Great article! You don’t need to be an entrepreneur to appreciate these tips. Any size company can benefit from at least one, if not all of these ideas. My personal favorite is the first one, which is focused on creating a customer service mission. It comes from the top and is delivered via the entire organization.

14 Small Business Customer Service Insights from the Pros by Adam Ramshaw

(Run Our Survey) I asked people who were either small business experts or customer service experts one simple question to really get to the heart of what they believe is important for small business customer service: What’s your personal, number one, customer service must do?

My Comment: Some excellent advice shared by some excellent and very smart people.  Fifteen experts from business and customer service share a tip.  There is something here for everyone – and every company.

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, professional speaker and New York Times bestselling business author. For information contact (314)692-2200 or www.hyken.com. For information on The Customer Focus™ customer service training programs go to http://www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken