Top 5 Customer Service Articles For the Week of August 24, 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.

The Customer Experience Is Everyone’s Business by Katy Keim

(Marketing Land) Smart brands know that everyone owns the customer experience. Columnist Katy Keim discusses the steps to becoming a truly customer-focused brand.

My Comment: There are several great ideas in this article about creating a customer-focused culture. I especially like the idea of using your community of loyal customers to become brand ambassadors and help other customers with their questions. It is basically “crowdsourcing” some of your customer service, an idea worth consideration.

[SLIDESHARE] 12 Thought-Provoking Tweets on Customer Service by Pam Bednarczyk

(Corvisa) Take a minute to click through the slides below for some practical and concise insights on delivering a flawless customer experience.

My Comment: This isn’t an article, but a great SlideShare put out by Corvisa. They’ve found a few customer service related Tweets (a couple of mine are included) and put them into the SlideShare with their comments in the form of “takeaways.” You’ll definitely find a Tweet or two you’ll want to share with your colleagues.

Turn that frown upside down: how to handle negative user reviews by James Thornton

(GetApp) With so many negative reviews out there, why should you even put yourself out there at all? And how do you cope with the haters? Have no fear, we’re here to offer you a guide on how to respond to negative reviews and turn them to your advantage.

My Comment: Everyone hates to get a negative customer review. This article is full of information including stats and facts as well as ideas on how to deal with negative reviews – and why.

Taming the beast – do have the rein on brand strategy? by Niamh Lynch

(Synchroteam) Does your company operate in the area of field service? Do you dispatch technicians, manage call outs, and organize schedules? You might not believe me, but businesses like yours already have a leg up when it comes to brand strategy.

My Comment: One definition of a brand is “a promised delivered.” Part of that promise is how you treat the customer. It can build up – or take down – your brand.  While this article focuses on the field service industry, there is information here for just about any type of business in any industry.

6 Offline Skills Your Social Media Customer Service Representatives Must Have by Infinit Contact

(Infinit Contact) Social media is being used these days as a venue for customer service by a lot of businesses.  There are many factors that contribute to your success in social media customer service outsourcing or in-house, and one of them involves your social media team.

My Comment: While the title of this article focuses on the skills someone in the social media customer service needs to have, I think they are skills that every customer facing employee must have. And, I’ll include “internal customers” as well.  People do business and work with people. These are the skills and personality traits we hope others have when we interact with them.