Four Core Principles of Good Customer Service

Let’s look at four core principles that enhance and ensure your customers experience exceptional service from your entire customer service team.

1. Proactive

When providing an excellent customer service experience, no other principle is more important than being proactive. All the other steps you take to ensure your customers’ issues and needs are addressed stem from being proactive.

Proactive is the opposite of reactive. That may seem overly simple, but it’s a vital differential to grasp. Proactiveness is the fundamental core principle of a customer-centric approach. Being proactive allows you to address challenges before they become a customer’s problems.

When your customer service team is reactive, it means they sit and wait for customers to have issues and then address those issues as they come. When your customer service team is proactive, they try to get ahead of customer issues and complaints and address them before the customer even realizes they exist.

A great way to implement a proactive customer service experience is to dedicate certain team members to this mission. Have your proactive customer service team reach out to customers and check if they are satisfied with your company’s products and services.

Additionally, try employing social media reps to gather critical metrics and real-time feedback from your audience.

Using chatbot messaging automations on your site can help lighten the load on support agents and customer service reps, allowing customer contacts to choose from self-service options when they need to follow up with your support team about an issue.

Utilizing all touchpoints and communication channels is crucial in guaranteeing excellent customer service and customer interactions.

Most of the time, they will have zero complaints or issues, but sometimes they will. In either of the two cases, the customer will appreciate that you dedicated time and resources to ensure they were satisfied.

2. Customer-Centric Strategy

A customer-centric strategy means that the customer's needs are at the core of everything you do.

From product development and marketing to customer service, the customer-centric business strategy creates an atmosphere that promotes customer satisfaction and happiness.

If you’re unsure where to start implementing a customer-centric strategy, the answer is simple — the customer. Your customers should be identified and recognized as your most valuable asset.

Your financial resources, key employees, research and development, marketing experts, leaders and managers, and other employees are not your most valuable assets. They are practical, of course, but they serve no purpose if you do not have customers.

Essentially, without customers, you don’t have a business; therefore, they are your most valuable asset and should be held in the highest regard in every aspect. Putting their needs above all other conditions is paramount.

3. First Contact Resolution

First contact resolution should be a staple of your customer service strategy. You will not always be able to achieve this level of resolution, but it should always be your target.

First contact resolution means the customer has their need or issue addressed with your customer service team at the first contact.

If you’ve ever needed help and called customer service only to be transferred to four different people before it was resolved, you understand how important this is.

Ensure your customer service infrastructure is designed to get customers to the correct department and person to ensure they can be assisted at first contact. Having a reputation for solving customer issues quickly and efficiently will spill over into your success as a brand.

4. Extra Mile Mentality

The extra mile mentality is closely related to the key principle of being proactive in customer service delivery. From the top down, it should be part of your company’s culture to go the extra mile addressing customer needs and issues.

Being proactive is one major step in the extra mile mentality, but it also means ensuring every possible need is addressed when a customer presents an issue. Once you have resolved their initial complaint, your customer service team should do a complimentary check of other potential needs that haven’t arisen yet.

For instance, if you own a small insurance brokerage and a client calls with a concern about one of their policies, review all of their other policies before ending the call or meeting. You may discover an issue that they weren’t aware even existed. That’s going the extra mile.

Awesome CX — How We Can Help

At Awesome CX, we specialize in providing enhanced customer service experiences that incorporate the four core customer service principles discussed in this article. Some of the fastest-growing eCommerce companies partner with us to ensure their customers receive the best customer service.

Our team-dedicated approach ensures that your company culture is translated throughout our partnership. We hold your customers as our most important asset, put them at the center of everything we do, and make it our mission to ensure they remain loyal to your brand.

We encourage you to connect with us to discover how we can help elevate the customer service experience for your brand and company.

Sources:

8 Tips for Becoming a Customer-Centric Organization | HubSpot

PROACTIVE | definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary

How to Build a Great Team Culture Everyone Feels Part Of | Pep Talk