Driving excellence in customer service

Claire Rowland at Node4 explains the human factor that drives modern customer service

Like many sectors across the economy, the customer service ecosystem has spent much of the last two years getting to grips with AI. What’s sometimes missing in these discussions, however, is the enduring human factor that characterises customer service relationships and plays a huge role in their success or failure.

The arrival of Customer Service Week 2024, therefore, is good timing. This year, it focuses on a number of themes that recognise what drives the most effective service-led organisations - a sector employing around 8% of the total workforce in England and Wales.

Service with respect

Let’s start with the concept of service with respect, which acts as the foundation for building effective and enduring relationships between stakeholders. When each party in a customer service relationship feels valued and trusted, they can establish the basis for positive and effective communication, collaboration and optimal service delivery, even at times of stress and uncertainty. 

From a business point of view, the impact of service with respect shouldn’t be underestimated, and success deserves recognition. When organisations embrace it as part of their culture, the positive impact can quickly become contagious, helping to build a strong reputation and long-term customer loyalty. Internally, organisations that reward excellence can build happy and motivated teams where job satisfaction and employee retention make a major contribution to bottom-line success.

Indeed, the overall effect of service with respect is financially tangible, with a study by PwC highlighting that customers who feel appreciated are willing to pay a price premium of up to 16% on products and services, with “every industry sees a potential price bump for providing a positive customer experience.”

Effective service leadership

Customer Service Week also emphasises the role of effective service leadership, which forms the basis of a strong and long-lasting customer-centric culture. It brings with it a series of important and challenging responsibilities with service leaders bridging the gap between customer and employee experiences.

Responsible for implementing company strategy, service leaders must ensure customer requirements are supported by a commitment to continuous improvement. These processes are increasingly data-driven, but the ability to listen to individual customers can also provide vital insight to address service issues or take advantage of new opportunities.

The future of service

Leaders must also be advocates for professional development so their teams can progress both individually and collectively. For example, many organisations are now more active in supporting apprenticeship and graduate programs because they provide a highly effective starting point for identifying and nurturing future talent.

As team members move up the management ladder, service leaders also have a responsibility to support the career aspirations of ambitious colleagues. Anyone with experience in the customer service space will understand the transformational benefits of working for a supportive leader. When that relationship delivers development and progression opportunities, it can drive huge benefits for the individuals involved and the organisation as a whole.

The arrival of AI is also adding an extra dimension to these processes as organisations try to ensure their employees are upskilled to integrate new advanced technologies into their workflows. This is already having an effect on the way organisations are designing their learning and development strategies – a process that will continue to accelerate.

Risk, reputation and trust

Every business leader knows that trust is hard-won and easily lost, yet many choose to play fast and loose with this invaluable commodity because they are unwilling or unable to prioritise customer service.

In the digital economy, the risks are arguably greater than ever. Given the complex nature of modern customer service interactions, where digital channels play a fundamental role, the issues associated with risk, reputation and trust are very different from a generation ago.

Today, customer reaction to poor service, ineffective communication, apathy, delayed response or a myriad of other issues can quickly snowball into a major online crisis. In the most extreme situations, the impact can be huge financial and reputational damage or, for smaller businesses, present an existential risk. In contrast, customers are also highly proactive about giving positive feedback, particularly when customer service exceeds their expectations.

Ultimately, as one of the primary interfaces between an organisation and its customers, service teams are mission critical. Not only do they mitigate risk, but they drive business success in both the short and long term, with one piece of research into the topic finding that global executives, on average, attribute 63% of their company’s market value to their overall reputation.

Customer service recognition 

Looking ahead, even though customer service dynamics will evolve as more AI systems are implemented, human relationships will remain at the core of how most organisations operate. Those that manage to strike an effective balance between the efficiencies offered by advanced technologies and the qualities that only human-led service can deliver will be ideally placed to succeed.

For Customer Service Week, let’s recognise those individuals who always go above and beyond to provide the ultimate customer experience!

Claire Rowland is Head of Client Experience at Node4

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com and Thapana Onphalai