Marvin Hernandez, manager of Ducky’s Car Wash in San Mateo, California, offers customers more than just a clean car: He also provides an opportunity for those customers to say how they liked the service, and to specifically let him know about anything that wasn’t done right.
“Delivering great service makes the customer come back,” Hernandez said. “I’m always asking, always looking forward to delivering better customer service every day.”
With today’s vast and growing landscape of new technologies, new pathways of delivery and new methods of communications, it would be easy to think that everything about customer service must be new, as well.
Hernandez, however, is on to something: The same basic rules — such as remembering to ask the customer if needs have been met — still apply. Ask the experts, and customer service is still customer service.
For the most part.
Trends are emerging that slightly tweak the tried-and-true.
Tried-and-True Rule No. 1:
KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER
For 2015 and beyond: Build a vibrant, relevant, trust-based relationship with
the customer.
A study of 1,000 U.K. adults by Engine Service Design asked respondents to select their top three priorities for customer service.
• 56 percent said they expected services from brands to be open and honest, or that they are “clear, trustworthy, nothing is hidden.”
• 52 percent said they expected efficiency, or that service is “quick and responsive.”
• 44 percent said they expected the brand to be knowledgeable and the service to be delivered in a manner that was “skilled, competent.”
According to the 2012 “Global Customer Service Barometer,” which Echo Research prepared for American Express:
• 23 percent of respondents felt that companies valued their business and would go the extra mile for them.
• 22 percent said they believed companies took their business for granted.
• 43 percent considered companies helpful, but not doing anything extra to keep them coming back.
Accenture’s 2013 “Global Consumer Pulse Survey” reported that customers are increasingly frustrated with the level of service they receive.
Tried-and-True Rule No. 2:
LISTEN TO YOUR CUSTOMER
For 2015 and beyond: Communicate with customers through the channels that are most convenient/important to them.
trendwatching.com’s September 2014 Trend Briefing, “The Future of Customer Service,” lists the use of “video valets” among its top five trends in the field. Webcam-enabled, face-to-face interaction is already prevalent in everyday life. So why not in customer service? These are already growing in industries such as banking, according to the report — and Esurance now allows accident appraisal via smartphone video.
By mid-2014, 70 percent of companies were expected to be using social media as part of their overall customer service strategy, according to Aberdeen Group.
The “crowd” is king: Google Insights reports that one-way participation in content will decline to less than 20 percent in “Route to 2015.” Customers continue to seek interaction with others in their community.
Deloitte’s 2013 “Global Contact Center Survey” showed that 92 percent of the organizations that consider the customer experience a strategic “differentiator” offer more than one channel for customer contact. (See infographic above.)
Tried-and-True Rule No. 3:
PAY ATTENTION TO THE DETAILS
For 2015 and beyond: Learn to effectively gather and use data from numerous sources to strengthen the business.
From Customers 2020:
“Customer expectations in the future are the outcome of movements that have been underway for decades. Changes such as the explosion of digital, the empowered customer, and the acceleration of innovation are having a profound impact on customer expectations. The customer of 2020 will be more informed and in charge of the experience they receive. They will expect companies to know their individual needs and personalize the experience. Immediate resolution will not be fast enough as customers will expect companies to proactively address their current and future needs.”
Just offering multiple channels for communication isn’t enough. According to customer service software company Synthetix, a 2012 survey of U.K. and U.S. consumers showed that:
• 91 percent of consumers expect to receive consistent information over multiple customer contact channels.
• 65 percent report that they’ve been given inconsistent information when contacting brands via multiple channels.
• 74 percent consider a poor multi-channel experience to be a major annoyance.
Customer service software provider NICE Systems discovered that 40 percent of customers speaking with a contact center representative expect that representative to already know about their attempts to resolve an issue through other channels. On average, according to NICE Systems’ 2012 “Customer Channel Preference Survey,” consumers use as many as six channels to find answers or resolve issues with a company.
Tried-and-True Rule No. 4:
DELIVER WHAT YOU PROMISE
For 2015 and beyond:
Expand your ideas about “delivery.”
“The Future of Customer Service” from trendwatching.com speaks of “a smartphone-fueled rush of delivery innovations.” Companies helping customers receive what they want, where they want and when they want it, according to the report, include Dutch e-tailer JeansOnline, which gives home delivery recipients 15 minutes to try on garments and return to the courier any that they don’t wish to keep, as well as Pizza Hut Panama’s innovative delivery service complete with electric ovens on the back of delivery motorcycles, saving time and improving quality.
Self-service also is on the rise in customer service. A study by Nuance Research showed that:
• 75 percent of respondents consider self-service a more convenient way to handle customer service issues than speaking with a person.
• 6 percent of respondents consider speaking with a person more convenient.
Remember that “everything speaks.” This from customer service expert Dennis Snow of Snow & Associates, Inc.: “The ‘everything speaks’ philosophy means that all employees understand that even the ‘little things’ count. So pay attention to everything, including whether the physical environment is neat and clean, whether all necessary supplies are available, and whether the employees are dressed appropriately. Anything that sticks out as ‘wrong’ becomes an intrusion on the customer experience. These intrusions add up and result in customer concern. On the other hand, when customers sense an atmosphere of professionalism, care and order, they feel a sense of confidence.”
Tried-and-True Rule No. 5:
BE FLEXIBLE
AND AVAILABLE
For 2015 and beyond: Mobile, mobile, mobile.
By 2015, according to IDC’s “Worldwide New Media Market Model” and Bloomberg, more people will access the web using a mobile device than a wireless computer, and smartphone use will reach 2 billion worldwide.
CONCLUSION
Keep in mind that great service is pretty rare, said customer service expert Dennis Snow, author of Unleashing Excellence: The Complete Guide to Ultimate Customer Service and Lessons from the Mouse: A Guide for Applying Disney World’s Secrets of Success to Your Organization, Your Career, and Your Life. When customers receive it, it almost “feels like a gift.” That remains true no matter how it’s delivered, what year it is or even what technology is being used. “It makes us want to continue to do business with an organization over the long haul. And that alone is the secret to business success — retaining customers by providing great customer service. With so much competition out there, customer loyalty is the single most important attribute your business can have. You achieve loyalty by doing ‘the little things’ that make customers want to deal with you again and again and recommend you to their friends. The real difference is how a business makes their customers feel.”
