Deadly Dozen: Tips for Creating Distinctive Customer Service

It’s never been more important to make your customer service stand out.

We asked our panel for their top tips on providing distinctive customer service.

1.    Don’t be afraid to phone social media customers

Don’t be afraid to talk to the customer on the phone – sometimes they just want to hear a friendly voice and feel that their custom is valued.

With thanks to Teri

2.    Make it clear to your customer if you can’t cover social media 24/7

If you can’t do 24-hour cover via social media make it clear in the description (some small businesses can’t).

With thanks to Vicky

3.    Link PR departments closely to Customer Service departments

Link your PR departments closely to your Customer Service departments to ensure that you give customer service that differentiates you from the market and is aligned with the business’s core values.

Our customer service department ‘feels’ like our brand. We have the same terminology, tone and behaviours aligned throughout our organisation.

With thanks to Jonny

4.    Get your customer care team to follow up negative comments

Trawl social media sites for negative sentiment and get your customer care team to follow it up.

Turn these comments around and these same customers are likely to promote you instead.

With thanks to Vicky

5.    Have a dedicated and trained social media team

Have a dedicated and trained social media team in place to match the core hours of your business – with an agreed timescale for responses.

Also use a platform that allows you to view the tweets and/or Facebook messages and understand their impact.

With thanks to James

6.    Proactively collect customer “handles” across channels

Try to proactively collect customer “handles” (for example: @JontyPearce) across channels so as to be able to improve the customer experience.

You can also use these to encourage your customers to use your preferred channels.

Anonymous

7.    Use a platform that allows you to see the user’s Klout score

Use a platform that allows you to see the user’s Klout score and their influence, as it’s not always the number of followers that counts!

With thanks to James

8.    Regularly carry out customer satisfaction surveys

Regularly carry out customer satisfaction surveys to ensure you are doing the best for your customers.

Include the Net Promoter Score to act as a benchmark as to how you are scoring in comparison to the market and your competitors.

With thanks to Teri

9.    Don’t underestimate the value of bonding with the customer

Don’t doubt how far empathy and bonding with the customer can take you.  Your customer is contacting you for a reason… don’t forget that.

With thanks to Amanda

10.     Log all interactions in a customer database

Use a good CRM system to log any communication so everyone in the team can get to know your customers. This will make the customer feel you have a personal relationship.

Taking the time to build personal and professional relationships will take you a long way and give you more loyal customers.

With thanks to Sofia

11.     Make training consistent across all channels

Customers expect the same experience of a brand no matter what channel they contact you through, so make training consistent.

With thanks to Vicky

12.     Understand the root cause to prevent situations recurring

Make sure that data taken from customer services is fed back for root cause analysis to prevent situations recurring, and is also passed on to sales and development teams.

With thanks to Teresa

BONUS TIP: Broadcast it when your agents do something right

When you catch your agents doing it right, make sure you broadcast the scenario in team briefs to share best practice.

With thanks to Richard

For more advice on delivering great customer service in the contact centre, read our article:

• 50 Call Centre Best Practices
• The Top 10 Customer Service Strategies That Stand the Test of Time
• 10 Exceptional Customer Service Examples