What is Customer Service?

Customer service is the support offered to customers before, during and after a purchase or use of a product or service. While customer service is an old concept, it has taken on increasing relevance in the "experience economy," with companies competing not just on the product or service they offer, but on the experiences they provide. Today, there is a premium placed on the speed, ease, convenience and satisfaction of interactions between customers and brands. Research convincingly shows that customers will take their business elsewhere if a company’s customer service is not up to expectations.

To excel at delivering consistently exceptional customer experiences, companies need to do more than just offer a phone number that customers can call. Companies also need to:

• Listen to their customers - Providing exceptional customer experiences starts with listening to customers. If an organization doesn't understand how customers are responding to its service, there is no possibility of exceeding their expectations. Customer journey mapping, customer surveys, advanced interaction analytics and more are all excellent ways to understand what customers are thinking. In addition, employees - especially customer-facing contact center agents - can also provide valuable insights.

• Streamline processes - After gaining a solid understanding of customer expectations, concerns and frustrations, it is possible to continually look for ways to streamline processes. Customers today expect smooth and seamless experiences. Process “breaks” are disruptive, and changes tend to come rapidly, so innovating and streamlining customer service processes is an important ongoing task. Understanding the customer effort score (CES) is also critical, as it points out areas where customers are exerting too much effort in their interactions with a company.

• Offer omnichannel options - Today’s consumer expects choices in how they interact with a company. There are many options, including SMS, messaging, social media and modern digital channels to interact with friends and family, and customers expect to be able to use these same methods when dealing with organizations. Digital-first omnichannel support options enable interactions with customers where and how they prefer, making it easier for them to quickly get the service they expect.

• Engage the workforce - A customer's experience comes from their interaction with company employees. Engaging and empowering customer-facing employees with deep product knowledge, empowerment to act, internal collaboration tools, coaching, training and workforce optimization solutions are all essential to building and maintaining an engaged workforce, tasked to deliver the brand promise.

Delivering consistent and exceptional customer service can have a profound Impact on an organization's financial bottom line, while also impacting its reputation in the market.