Shep Hyken's Blog, page 147

5 Top Customer Service Articles For the Week of May 28, 2018

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.

The Customer Journey Begins – and Sometimes Ends – With Your Employees by Katherine Evans 

(CMSWire) Today’s customers don’t just expect high quality and excellent service at a fair price — they demand it. Luckily, today we know far more about how to provide people with the experience they want. And it all begins with employees.

My Comment: Every year the stats from numerous reports remind us that a good customer experience starts with a good employee experience. There’s plenty of proof and ideas in this article that will help you realize that what’s happening on the inside of the organization is going to be felt on the outside by the customer.

Service with a Simile. by Bruce Turkel

(Bruce Turkel) Willy went on to talk to his folks about what they had all accomplished over the last year and where they were going in the future. He used the Ritz-Carlton story as just one interesting illustration of how an All About Them culture was an important part of Walker & Dunlop’s client service and its business.

My Comment: Bruce Turkel is a branding expert and writes a weekly informative and often entertaining (and sometimes edgy) blog post. In this article, he shares a Ritz-Carlton story, which as usual, is a model for how to deliver a memorable experience that gets talked about.

Is Your Social Media Customer Service Helping or Hurting Your Customer Experience? by Sue Duris

(ICMI) We’re almost to the mid-point of 2018, and it still amazes me that many brands either have no social customer service or ineffective social customer service. For the record, contacting brands on social media only to be passed off to someone else is not social customer service.

My Comment: Social Media Customer Service (Also known as Social Customer Care) continues to grow in popularity. This article highlights a recent J.D. Power survey that says 67% of consumers have used social media to resolve customer service issues. And one-third of customers prefer to contact brands using social media rather than using the phone, email or website. Whether you are delivering a high-level of social customer care experience or not, there’s plenty of good insights, stats and facts that you need to pay attention to. (Pay close attention to the stats on response times. This is a “miss” for most companies.)

Ten tips for delivering a good customer experience b y Amanda Newman 

(IT Pro Portal) In an effort to help others on their own journey, we’ve taken some of the key pieces of advice that we’ve read over the past year and a half and put them all together in bite-size chunks.

My Comment: I always love a good list of ways to deliver a great customer experience. This starts with a tip that many companies forget. To have a good customer experience, the product needs to work and do what it’s supposed to do. If that fails, all the great CX and service in the world doesn’t matter. And, there are nine more that are just like that. Common sense that sometimes isn’t so common!

More Than One-Third Of Shoppers Would Pay For Enhanced Loyalty Programs by Marie Griffin

(Retail TouchPoints) With the benefits of loyalty programs well known, competition among brands for members and a larger share of their spending is fierce — and consumers know it, so they are expecting more in return for their loyalty.

My Comment: Loyalty programs can be powerful. Consider that consumers spend 37% more with brands when they are loyalty program members; 70% of members say they are more likely to recommend brands with good loyalty programs, and 77% say loyalty programs make them more likely to continue doing business with a brand. Those stats and more can be found in this excellent article that delivers plenty of insight into what drives a successful loyalty program.

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

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Guest Blog: 5 Keys to Building Sustainable Customer Relationships

This week we feature an article by Matt Nolan who shares five keys to building more compelling, sustainable customer relationships. – Shep Hyken

Customer retention used to be considered just a “service problem.” That’s before the service world went digital, and the old ways of doing business became almost shameful, which happened practically overnight.

We all know that we get no sympathy from customers, and one bad experience can ruin a relationship, so waiting for problems to happen before we fix them isn’t viable. We have to head issues off before they go nuclear.

Service has become an always-on, everywhere requirement – in the customer’s eyes, great experiences have to be connected and fluid. Our engagements must shift seamlessly between selling, serving, and retaining – adapting based on the customer context. We need intelligence that we can apply wherever the customer is, to keep their experiences from becoming disjointed and awkward.

Here are five keys to building more compelling, sustainable relationships – concepts which help us avoid creating unwanted tension and ensure both parties receive value from each exchange:

Get out in front, before things get bad

Modeling churn risk isn’t optional – it’s become an absolute requirement. When a customer is in pain or trending towards churn, you need to know so you can proactively address it. If you wait, it’s usually too late. Retention-focused companies are constantly monitoring churn risk with propensity models, then triggering service or retention outreach automatically, when it’s needed, with timely solutions, recommendations, offers, and personalized incentives. This not only saves relationships, it reduces call-center FTE costs, churn rates, and retention discounts, while increasing satisfaction and helping earn the right to cross-sell later on.

Focus on the context – not the function

Marketing has always been about pushing products, and service has been about solving problems, but that’s an outdated outlook. Today, we have to approach things from a customer perspective. We can only create an excellent experience when we understand what’s going on with each specific individual – their context – and align our approach.

Context-savvy companies often use a next-best action approach to engagement – which rapidly shifts between selling, serving, retaining, collecting, negotiating, etc., based on what best serves the relationship. For example, if a customer is angry, next-best action ensures you don’t try to sell them something on any channel – they likely won’t respond, and you’ll just seem tone-deaf. But when they’re in the market for a new product, next-best action guarantees you don’t miss a great chance to upsell just because the customer is interacting in a traditional service channel, like the call-center. It’s a constant balancing act, wherever and whenever the customer touches your brand.

Select the next-best action for the person, and moment

People tend to understand next-best action at a high-level, but not how it works behind the scenes. What happens is an organization builds strategies to control how they interact with customers in certain situations, like retention, sales, service, risk, etc. Each strategy has options you could use in those situations, like when it’s time to sell, there may be 50 offers you could present to a customer. Or when a customer is at risk of churn, there might be 25 types of incentives you might use to keep them from leaving.

When the times comes to interact with that person, each potential option gets scored for propensity (p) and value (v). For propensity, you use predictive models to calculate how likely a customer is to accept what you present. For value, you calculate how much that action is worth for your company, financially. After those are factored together (p*v), the highest “score” wins – that’s what’s best for both parties, and what you present to the customer. That’s your next-best action.

Respect their preferences – and don’t clutter your channels

Customers obviously have preferences and are more likely to do things in certain channels, and those channels cost different amounts to support. We need to respect and embrace that if we want to provide a great experience while still optimizing profit margins. Many organizations will use multiple propensity models for each action (one for each combination of offer and channel) to account for individual preferences. They also leverage value models that factor in channel constraints, like cost-to-serve.

If a customer is most likely to accept an offer via direct mail, but not when it’s presented by email, call-center, or a website, that’s figured into the next-best action. They’ll only see that offer or action presented in channels where it’s relevant so it won’t clutter their experience when it isn’t.

One channel at a time

Companies often try to bite off more than they can chew and make sweeping changes all at once, which is often a recipe for disaster. Instead, I’d recommend building in proactive, personalized next-best actions one channel or use-case at a time. This allows you to iterate through problems at a smaller scale, build momentum, and earn the right to expand your approach by showcasing results.

For more information on how organizations are re-shaping their approach to customer engagement, I’d recommend reading Retention Re-Invented – which explains why retention and service matter more than ever and breaks down these five keys in detail.

Matthew Nolan is a marketing director at Pegasystems, enabling the vision and go-to-market strategy for Pega’s marketing and advertising technology portfolio.

For more articles from Shep Hyken and his guest contributors go to customerserviceblog.com.

Read Shep’s latest Forbes Articles: Change In Amazon’s Liberal Return Policy Is Good For Customers

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$75 Billion Dollars Is Lost Due to Poor Customer Service

Two years ago I reported on NewVoiceMedia’s “serial switchers” report that indicated that $62 billion was lost due to poor customer service. That number, in their new report now has that number pegged at $75 billion! That’s a lot of lost business!

Here’s my take on this. Customers want and expect more than ever before – because that’s what we have we taught them.

The customer service rock stars tout the accolades and awards that they have received. And, when our customers visit these businesses, they experience what great service feels like. And, then they come to us.

We promise our customers that we will deliver amazing service, and we may. But, whether or not we do is for the customer to judge. And, here is where that judging gets interesting. They are no longer comparing us to our competitors. They are comparing us to the best service they ever received from anyone.

And, what happens when a customer doesn’t receive the customer service they expect? They switch!

The NewVoiceMedia reports that “Brands are failing to create the positive, emotional experiences that drive customer loyalty.” That failure results in 67% of customers becoming what they call “serial switchers.” Simply put, these customers are willing to switch brands because of poor customer service. And, that’s a 37% increase since their last report. Customers are grading the companies and brands they choose to do business with, and it’s simply a pass/fail grade, where failure means the customer moves on.

The main reasons customers switch are obvious. They feel underappreciated. They are not able to speak to a person who can provide answers. They experience rude employees. And, they are put on hold for unreasonable lengths of time. Personally, I hate holding for a long time while the company’s recorded message states, “Your call is very important to us.”

However, it’s not all “gloom and doom.” There is some good news in the report. 86% of surveyed customers said that if there was an emotional connection with a customer support agent and the customer felt they were cared for and valued, they would be willing to continue to do business with the company again. And, if the company provides good service, 66% of customers would be more loyal and 65% would be willing to recommend the company, and my favorite stat, 48% would spend more.

While the NewVoiceMedia survey focused on customer support centers and B2C, don’t think that the B2B customer won’t switch. The numbers are different in the B2B world, as the customer may have fewer options. Yet, when the B2B customer is ready to renew a contract or reorder supplies, don’t think they aren’t comparing you to other companies outside of your industry. They are. And, some of those companies have created higher expectations that you, at a minimum must meet, but even better, exceed.

Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, award-winning keynote 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 www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken

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Amazing Business Radio: Jamie Edwards

Grow Sales, Revenue, and Customer Loyalty While Improving the Customer Experience

How can you create a better online support experience for your customers?

Shep Hyken is joined by Jamie Edwards, Kayako’s co-founder and chief operating officer, all the way from London, to discuss the importance of live chat and how it can improve the customer service experience.

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Top Takeaways:

Live chat can boost customer loyalty – customers are more likely to stay with or become a repeat customer if a company offers live chat support.
Chatbots are with computers and live chats are with people. When using a chatbot, customers can get a response instantly, yet chatbots are not good enough to replace actual people for anything complex.
With Kayako, the live chat conversation is always ongoing – you can start a conversation, step away from it, and you’ll be able to pick up the conversation right where you left off.
For some businesses, around-the-clock live chat staffing may not be practical – or even expected. For “off hours,” include a message providing business hours, frequently asked questions, and assuring a representative will get back to the customer soon.

Quotes:

“You can’t get more personal than having a one-on-one conversation in real time with a customer service agent or support rep.” – Jamie Edwards

“It drives people completely insane when a chatbot gets things wrong – it’s the worst form of customer service.” – Jamie Edwards

“Customer service engineering needs to be the top priority.” – Jamie Edwards

About:

Jamie Edwards is the co-founder and chief operating officer of Kayako, a service helping companies improve their customer service.

Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and your host of Amazing Business Radio.

This episode of Amazing Business Radio with Shep Hyken answers the following questions … and more:

What is the best way to get into contact with a company?
Where does live chat fit into customer service?
Are chat bots helpful in communicating with customers?
What’s the difference between chatbots and live chat?
How do live chats benefit both companies and customers?
How can companies staff for live chats?

The post Amazing Business Radio: Jamie Edwards appeared first on Shep Hyken.

5 Top Customer Service Articles For the Week of May 21, 2018

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.

5 Ways Starbucks is Innovating the Customer Experience by Liz Barrett Foster

(QSR) In the fight to win back its brick-and-mortar customers, Starbucks is leveraging technological and experiential methods. But will it work?

My Comment: Starbucks is a leader in customer service and experience. Books have been written about the Starbucks experience. Here is a short article that shares five insights into how Starbucks innovates CX.

Customer service worst practice: everything you shouldn’t do when supporting customers by Niamh Reed

(CustomerThink) There are a few things that you absolutely shouldn’t do when supporting customers. Being deliberately insulting, swearing and simply not responding are all obvious contenders. But there’s more to the list than these obvious no-nos.

My Comment: If you were ever interested in ruining a relationship with your customer, then read this article. Here are a number of ways to destroy credibility and trust, starting with lying, being hard to reach and being defensive. Just three of a number of ways the author shares on how to lose a customer.

Customer Service Strategy 101: A Framework for Serving Customers & Measuring Success by Alan Finlay

(Relay) Modern businesses can’t afford for customer service to be an afterthought. Why? Because bad customer service is bad for your reputation.

My Comment: How do you create a customer service strategy? Here are some basics that will get you started. And, if you already have a great strategy in place, you’ll still find an idea or two to deliver better customer service experience.

5 Reasons Why Your Business Is Losing Customers by Katie Lundin

(Entrepreneur) Ever think about why people keep buying iPhones, even though they’re so darned pricey?

My Comment: Why do companies lose customers? Here are five good reasons why. Is your organization guilty of any of these?

Creating Good Employee Experiences Is Within Reach by Chris Poteet 

(CMSWire) Organizations have renewed their focus on providing quality customer experiences (CX). They are shifting their practices and offerings to better accommodate and serve their customers, regardless of the types of customers they have. However, companies must be mindful not only of the experiences they offer their customers, but also of the experiences they offer their employees.

My Comment: Before you can have an amazing customer experience, you must start with an amazing employee experience. While compensation and benefits are part of it, there is so much more. As the author states, “When your employees feel supported and cared for, they will often put more of themselves into their work, and their energy and thoughtfulness will flow downstream to customers.”

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

The post 5 Top Customer Service Articles For the Week of May 21, 2018 appeared first on Shep Hyken.

Guest Blog: What’s Most Vital to Success: Product, Price, or Experience?

This week we feature an article by Gary Anderson who explains why the customer experience creates customer loyalty and generates repeat business. – Shep Hyken

The goal of this article is to touch on three pillars of a business –– product, price, and experience –– and break down which of these three is the most important to driving success. The article will argue that while offering a superior product at a competitive price is a must, it is this third pillar, experience, which can build a brand’s reputation, create customer loyalty and generate crucial repeat business.

The customer experience you provide will set you apart from the competition. There are many ways a business can improve their customer experience, and we’ll highlight a few of these ideas and offer specific examples which can be applied to your business. These ideas include tracking customer information, establishing loyalty programs, listening to customer concerns, and focusing on building your online reputation.

By applying a few of these concepts to your business, you can dramatically improve your customer experience. This can have a direct impact on revenue and sustainable growth.

In today’s customer-driven economy, consumers are becoming more and more demanding about the products and services they choose, and it’s not surprising. With the rise of eCommerce, customers have more choices than ever before. Today, customers are armed with smartphones and tablets that give them instant access to information about almost anything — including mobile shopping options.

Attracting new customers can be expensive. Advertising and marketing your brand is costly, and it’s never certain whether these efforts will attract enough new customers to justify the cost of expensive advertising. Never underestimate the value of a customer base that is loyal to your brand, though. Did you know that repeat business from loyal customers can create 10x the profit that is derived from a new customer who finds your brand through advertising?

How can your business attract customers — and make them stick? Is it through a superior product, price or experience? Let’s take a look at all three pillars and see which one holds the most promise for attracting new customers:

The Product

Having a quality product is a must in any market, but product competition is usually stiff since there are always new, competitive products being introduced into your market. Comparing the nuances of your product’s benefits versus those of your competitors can be extremely challenging in today’s competitive environment, and focusing on these comparisons is not guaranteed to lead to a profit for your brand. To be sure, there’s no doubt that customers want a quality product — but, in the end, customer service and experience are what determines whether customers maintain a positive view of your brand.

The Price

As with products, the prices within your market are also subject to change at a moment’s notice. Unfortunately, there is usually very little you can do to prevent competitors from introducing new products that boast similar features at a slightly lower cost. You can offset this lower cost by providing an excellent customer service experience, though. Surveys of customers frequently show that customers are usually willing to pay more for a product if the brand provides superior service.

The Experience

First and foremost, providing customers with respect is the foundation to creating a superior customer experience. One of the best ways to show your customers that you truly respect them is by valuing their time. Time is extremely precious for most of us, so reducing the amount of time your customers wait for a product or a service is extremely valuable to many — if not most — of your customers. Let’s look at a few ways to improve your customer experience:

Track Customer Information  One of the most effective ways to reduce customer wait time is by retaining your customers’ contact information and keeping track of their buying habits. By keeping track of contact information, you will prevent your customers from the time-consuming and tedious task of providing this information for every transaction. Similarly, keeping track of customers’ buying habits will allow you to steer customers to their preferred products, and prevent customers from searching endlessly to find what they need.

Establish Loyalty Programs  By establishing a customer loyalty program, you can achieve both of these goals while showing respect for your returning customers through additional incentives that they can only get from your brand. The loyalty program allows you to keep tabs on your individual customers’ preferences while you provide a brand experience that is uniquely tailored just for them. You can further ensure an individualized customer experience is respectful of their time by employing the right type of technology for this experience. Technology that creates a prompt, pleasant buying experience for your customers will further illustrate your company’s respect for their time and overall regard for their experience with your brand.

Listen  The respect you show for your customers doesn’t end after the sale, though. In fact, the service you provide to your customers following a sale is crucial to maintaining customer loyalty in the future. After a sale, listen thoughtfully to your customers about any problems they may be having with your product or service, and be sure to immediately resolve the problems or issues they identify. Timing is key because a delay in resolving these problems indicates that you don’t respect your customers’ time once you’ve made your sale.

Follow Up  After the issue has been resolved, keep in close touch with your customers to make sure the issue has been effectively resolved to the customers’ satisfaction. When necessary, coupons and discounts applied to current or future purchases can go a long way toward effectively compensating your customers for any inconveniences they suffered due to poor products or services.

Request Feedback  One of the most effective measures of customer satisfaction is to gather customer feedback through short, convenient surveys. Surveys give customers an opportunity to share feedback about their experience with you brand so that your brand can improve and make changes as necessary. Surveys also demonstrate to your customers that you value their insights and experience interacting with your brand.

Build Your Reputation  Just as surveys allow you to gather feedback about your customers’ experiences with your brand, social media sites like Yelp, Google Reviews, etc. allow customers to share with others online about their experiences with your brand. When you invest substantial time and energy into giving your customers the best possible experience with your brand, your customers will respond with positive stories online about their experiences with your company, and your online reputation improves substantially. Otherwise, your online reputation will suffer, and you are likely to lose the business of potential future customers — not just the business of the customers who are complaining online. Bad reviews also give you the chance to reach out to dissatisfied customers who need your assistance to improve their experience.

By doing this you can demonstrate to dissatisfied customers that you care about fixing any problems they have encountered, and you can demonstrate to future customers that your brand promptly corrects any problems for its customers once they have been brought to your attention.

The Takeaway: The Customer Experience Matters Most

If there’s anything you should take away from this information, it’s that product and price are very important to your brand, but experience is the most important factor in determining whether a customer buys from you one time or remains a loyal customer over time — possibly even a lifetime. Think of the enormous profit your brand would gain from retaining loyal, lifelong customers. It sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?

If you’ve spent most of your time focusing on product or price, but you haven’t spent very much time on your customers’ experience with your brand, don’t fret — there’s still time to improve your brand’s customer experience. These days, there are numerous B2B customer service providers, queue management systems and digital customer service solutions that help you improve your experience – and by securing lifelong, loyal customers, the investment pays for itself in no time.

So, instead of focusing on gimmicky ads, expensive marketing schemes, or drastic quality cuts to reduce price, focus on improving your customers’ experiences with your brand. After all, investing in the tools and team members who will help your customer service reach its greatest potential is not just a good strategy –– it’s good business!

Gary Anderson is a freelance writer from Los Angeles, California. With over 10 years of experience writing for many different industries, he is an accomplished and published writer and editor. 

For more articles from Shep Hyken and his guest contributors go to customerserviceblog.com.

Read Shep’s latest Forbes Articles:  Businesses Lose $75 Billion Due To Poor Customer Service

The post Guest Blog: What’s Most Vital to Success: Product, Price, or Experience? appeared first on Shep Hyken.

For a Successful CX You Must Have a Successful EX

A successful customer experience strategy is a result of the company’s culture. In other words, and I’ve said it many times before, what’s happening on the inside of the company is going to felt on the outside of the company by the customer.

So, let’s look at the inside of the company. Let’s look at the EX, which is the Employee Experience. The EX is part of the culture. It starts with how leadership wants their employees to feel about working for their company. One of my favorite concepts to write and talk about is the Employee Golden Rule, which is to treat employees like you want the customer to be treated. The EX is what will make or break the CX.

First, let’s talk about the customer experience. What department is in charge of CX? Is it marketing? Customer support? It’s both – and much more. A good CX is the responsibility of everyone in the company. It’s not a department. It’s the entire company, and it’s important for everyone in the company to know the role they play when it comes to CX.

If someone in the accounting department sends out an errant invoice, it impacts (negatively) the CX. If someone in the warehouse doesn’t properly pack a product, it may show up broken at the customer’s home or office. That’s a definite negative CX.

Then there is the employee experience, also known as the EX. What do employees experience when they come to work? For example, if you have an employee break room, how do your employees feel about it? Is it a tiny, dirty, rundown part of the building? Or, does it measure up to the experience you would want your customers to have? Years ago I wrote about when the Ritz-Carlton took over a hotel that needed serious renovations. The first area they remodeled was the employee entrance. They made it nice, and the message that sent to their employees was in alignment with their customer service “credo,” which is: We’re ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen. Simply put, if you want your employees to treat customers like ladies and gentlemen, then treat the employees like ladies and gentlemen. And, the perfect place to start is the first experience they encounter when they come to work; the employee entrance.

Another example of creating a good EX is finding the one thing that your employees enjoy doing most, and let that be part of their job. For example, Stephanie in our office loves recording and editing video. It’s her favorite thing to do, so we made it one of her main responsibilities. Every week she has “video time.” By the way, if you want to see her work, just click here and you’ll be taken to www.ShepTV.com. This is my YouTube channel, and she has been a part of almost 150 of the videos on that site.

So, when you’re considering your CX, take a good look at your EX. The EX affects the CX, or worth stating again, what’s happening on the inside of the organization is felt on the outside by your customers.

Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, award-winning keynote 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 www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken

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Amazing Business Radio: Joshua March

The Future is Here: Artificial Intelligence and Bots in Customer Service
How will AI and bots transform customer service in the near future?

Shep Hyken discusses the next phase of customer service, automated messaging, with Joshua March, Co-founder and CEO of Conversocial.



Top Takeaways:

March shares his Six Pillars of Customer Service: 1) be prepared for crises in social era; 2) lean into the power of messaging; 3) make effective use of bot technology; 4) deploy AI effectively; 5) adopt a messaging approach to all digital channels; and 6) use social agents as the model of future customer service teams
March gives the history of clients using Twitter or Facebook pages as customer service platforms despite other channels; a recent trend is private messaging, which significantly reduces email and chat volumes.
The next evolution in social customer service is artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and automation, which enable humans and bots to exist in the same conversation in a way that isn’t really possible on other service channels.
According to March, private messaging is the first service channel to potentially replace phone-based customer service. Although phone AI misunderstandings can lead to awkward transitions to human representatives, messaging AI can make seamless transitions.
Hyken and March both see a trend in consumers very rapidly starting to expect a messaging option.
March urges entrepreneurs to take baby steps – don’t build a massive chat-bot; instead use machine learning to recognize and respond to the most common questions you currently receive. Automating just 25% creates a huge efficiency gain, speeds up resolution for your customers, and saves your agents a lot of hassle. Small changes can yield big returns.
March sees a future in which AI will handle routine questions, while humans will be top-tier agents who can handle complex issues that require greater access and ability to resolve them, so make sure your human messaging agents have good typing skills.

Quotes:

“We’re seeing [messaging platforms] become the primary channel of choice for customer care from the business perspective and the customer’s perspective.” – Joshua March

“Over the next few years, your customers are going to expect that they can speak to you seamlessly and easily on their phones by messaging you on [Facebook, Twitter, Instagram], and if you’re not there, it’s going to be a problem.” – Joshua March

“Anyone in the customer service role today needs to be thinking about how they can adapt their organization to this messaging-centric future, which is very rapidly coming.” – Joshua March

About:

Joshua March is Co-founder and CEO at Conversocial, provider of social customer service software for Fortune 500 companies. Marsh is also the author of the forthcoming book, “Message Me, The Future of Customer Service in the Era of Social Messaging.”

Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and your host of Amazing Business Radio.

This episode of Amazing Business Radio with Shep Hyken answers the following questions … and more:

What is a message bot?
What is social customer service?
What can I do to improve customer service?
What is the next big customer service innovation?
How does automated customer service messaging work?

The post Amazing Business Radio: Joshua March appeared first on Shep Hyken.

5 Top Customer Service Articles For the Week of May 14, 2018

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.

Google’s robot assistant now makes eerily lifelike phone calls for you by Olivia Solon

(The Guardian) Google Duplex contacts hair salon and restaurant in demo, adding ‘er’ and ‘mmm-hmm’ so listeners think it’s human.

My Comment: This is one of the most incredible demonstrations of AI I’ve seen – direct from Google I/O 2018 (their developer’s conference). While the short article and video is focused on the consumer, imagine what the experience would be in a customer service role. Be sure to watch the short video. It is amazing!

How Ann Taylor and Loft Create Customer Loyalty Through Charitable Efforts by Carol Roth

(Entrepreneur) Ann Taylor and Loft build up charities and customer loyalty at the same time — here’s how you can do it, too.

My Comment: Charity is part of the customer experience. Customers like to do business with businesses that give back to the community or are involved in a cause. This short article covers a clever promotion that is a win/win for the customer and the charity.

Great Employee Experiences Beget Great Customer Experiences By Lisa Loftis

(CMSWire) Granted, I may be biased vis-à-vis my employer, but the premise that great employee experiences translate to great customer experiences is real.

My Comment: Before you can have a good CX, you must have a good EX – that’s Employee Experience. The best companies to buy from are often the best companies to work for. (Imagine that!)

Complaining Customers Are Your Best Customers. But Why? by Isabella Steele

(Comm100) If you work in customer service, chances are you know the signs of a complaining customer.

My Comment: The complaint is an opportunity to take care of a customer who cares enough to let you know they aren’t happy. It’s also a potential opportunity to improve. This is an excellent article about how to manage those complaints. Don’t be afraid of them. Embrace them!

Two black men arrested at Starbucks settle with Philadelphia for $1 each by Rachel Siegel 

(Washington Post) Two African American men arrested at a Philadelphia Starbucks last month have reached a settlement with the city and secured its commitment to a pilot program for young entrepreneurs.

My Comment: Just a few weeks ago Starbucks had a PR crisis when two African-American men were arrested in one of their stores. The rest of the story is in this article. Both sides showed class and diplomacy.

BONUS

‘SNL’: Prisoners Trade Horrible Stories While Working Customer Service (Video) by Phil Hornshaw 

(The Wrap) “SNL” suggests there might be a reason nobody likes calling customer service lines: The people working them are convicted criminals, who are paid only 33 cents per hour.

My Comment: Let’s close this week out with a departure from the norm. This is not an article, but a video from “Saturday Night Live.” It’s is a hilarious sketch about customer support/call centers. WARNING: This is a late-night TV sketch. Not cuss words or nudity, but the material is a little edgy.

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

The post 5 Top Customer Service Articles For the Week of May 14, 2018 appeared first on Shep Hyken.

Guest Blog: Customer Service Trends for 2018

This week we feature an article by Rohit Prasanna who shares a great list of 10 customer service trends that will affect the customer experience this year. – Shep Hyken

The customer-centric economy has taken the front-seat across the globe, and it is no different for B2B businesses. When customers call the shots, having a good CX and offering fantastic customer service will benefit your business all around.

In the buying cycle, customers are more informed, they have become smarter and understand/consider the umpteen options to choose from, before making a decision. In the service niche, customers have come to expect real-time resolutions to their problems. In this background, a B2B business not only needs to take on a different and informed kind of marketing strategy but is also required to take care of service issues in a way that customer loyalty stays intact and is in the driver’s seat.

In this article, let us discuss a few upcoming trends of 2018 that will affect the customer service as well as CX for business and look at some resolutions that you may have to undertake.

Brick-and-mortar moves online and vice-versa: Traditional and digital retail is joining hands and lines are getting thinner by the day. Business are recognizing the importance of creating a balance between the two sales funnels. Amazon is a fantastic example of digital retail moving to the traditional space while many brick-and-mortar businesses are moving online. The consumer is the most benefited in this scenario since it will result in more competitiveness and the focus for survival will be on customer-service, CX, and convenience.
New CX Strategy: Believe it or not, CX and customer-service, both will be impacted by the convenience factor. The faster a customer complaint is resolved, the better loyalty you will gain. Additionally, the best CX or ease of usability will become the most critical factor for the consumer. Both these will drive businesses in the competitive economy. One of the best examples of convenience is UBER that changed the way a common man travels.
Customer Loyalty: Customer loyalty will be the key to survival in the new customer-centric world. Apart from convenience, the one factor that will define and underline customer loyalty is personalization. Today’s customer expects a business to understand him or her fully and suggest or recommend service/product options. Sending the right marketing messages and treating customers as a unique individual will drive your business. Everyone, including you and me, love the personalization.
Customer Service as a self-support tool: A smart customer looks at convenient and easy ways to learn and troubleshoot. A customer visits your website to find an answer first and not to look at the toll-free number to call. If he has gotten there, your website is not doing much in keeping him informed. Keeping that in mind, and the power of video, interactive support in the form of how-to videos have become very popular in recent times. To kill two birds with a single bullet, you can opt to create such videos, not only as support tools but also to drive your marketing and brand equity to decimate the competition.
Evolution of the customer: The customer is always evolving, and the only logical way to go ahead and grow your business is to grow with him. In the last three decades, the customer mindset has changed drastically concerning knowledge, maturity, research and many other parameters. Additionally, a customer will not give you a second chance since the competition has also grown manifold. Customers understand what good service is, and you will need to meet the expectations.
Communication: Today, unarguably, a mobile phone is the best means to communicate with a customer. Be it through a voice call, SMS, Whatsapp, your app or push notifications, and a customer has given you explicit consent to communicate by leaving his number with you. Using these channels, the best way to disrupt your competition becomes easier.
Technology and reality: With technology advancing leaps and bounds, virtual reality and augmented reality is catching up, and you need to be ready to leverage it as a service tool. Customer Service can be greatly enhanced by offering a better customer experience (CX) which makes it more exciting and easy. If you are gunning for branding, using this kind of technology can be a major step to accelerate the process. In stark contrast with video, engagement is 100% with virtual or augmented reality, and it is time to think and invest in it.
AI [Artificial Intelligence]: The hottest topic in the customer service world today, AI is about handling rudimentary and regular questions at the computer/machine level. With AI capabilities increasing year on year, this technology could enhance the quality of customer service while greatly reducing the man-hours. AI is cost-prohibitive for smaller businesses. However, lower-end solutions are cutting into the market presently. You can have a look at them and think about leveraging them to enhance your service.
The human factor: It is a myth that AI will replace humans. This is not going to happen, at least in 2018. AI may answer basic questions and save some man-hours, but a human brain is far more capable and put to better use answering complex questions and in suggesting innovative answers. So, AI will only help humans perform better by improving their efficiency and saving time.
A WIN-WIN: AI is a two-pronged efficiency booster. On the one hand, it helps answer questions for the customer, and on the other hand, it helps the agent discover answers to the questions faster. It is AI (Artificial Intelligence) and IA (Intelligent Assistant), both.

In this backdrop of top 10 customer service trends for 2018, are you, as a business offering the best of customer service to your customers? Are you using the available technologies to better the CX and service verticals, or at least planning to do so? If yes, you are on the path to glory; if not, you will need to give it a serious rethink.

Rohit Prasanna brings about 14 years of digital marketing experience and has been an advisor to software start-ups in the mobile and SaaS areas. Before getting into startups, Rohit worked in various marketing, and product management roles at Unisys, Dell, and IBM.

For more articles from Shep Hyken and his guest contributors go to customerserviceblog.com.

Read Shep’s latest Forbes Articles:  Would You Do That To Your Mother?

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