Tag Archives: customer service

Doing Personalization Correctly

Doing Personalization Correctly

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

Companies today face three critical marketing and Customer Experience (CX) challenges:

  1. How can you keep customers coming back?
  2. How can you get your customers’ attention so they don’t consider switching to the competition?
  3. How do you create an experience that makes price less relevant?

These questions and others can be answered in one word: Personalization.

It used to be that personalization was a marketing tactic. Simply using the customer’s name in the salutation of an email or letter, such as “Dear Shep,” was personalization in its most basic form. Include a reference in the body of the message, for example, what city the customer lives in, and you had what many considered to be a more sophisticated personalization program.

Today, the concept of personalization has blended into part of the customer experience. Using a name is barely a personalized experience. Using information about the customer that feels like the company or brand knows them takes marketing from promotional to customer experience.

For example, if I call a company that I’ve done business with and have questions about a new product I’m interested in purchasing or a customer service question, the company representative should have enough information about me to know how long I’ve done business with them, what products or services I’ve purchased, what problems, questions, or complaints I’ve called about and more. Using that information the right way is the beginning of a more powerful personalized experience. Customers like it when you know them.

And this concept goes beyond live interactions between a customer and an employee. A modern-day personalization messaging campaign is powerful and turns traditional email or text message marketing into a highly personalized experience.

This same experience can be used in email or text messages, either as part of customer support when customers “write in” with a question or for marketing when you want to push a message to the customer. Used the right way, you’re showing your customers that you know them.

On a recent Amazing Business Radio episode, I interviewed Ronn Nicolli, chief marketing officer of Resorts World Las Vegas. He talked about how storytelling can hit an emotional chord with a customer, helping to create and maintain an image that customers embrace and look forward to. And when the customer can relate to the story—or maybe they are part of the story—you connect at a different level. A higher level.

Nicolli said, “Ten years ago, email marketing was like fishing with dynamite. Throw the dynamite in the water—in the form of a big email campaign—and see what floats to the surface.” It was a mass marketing campaign, and the extent of personalization was the customer’s name. Today, because of advances in technology, Nicolli says, “AI gives us the ability to market in mass, but on a one-to-one basis.”

What you’re selling may be the same for everyone, but the message is highly personalized by merging the customer’s name, dates they did business, comments they made and more into the message. Nicolli referred to the AI program as an intelligent learning program.

Curating personalized messaging and visuals in mass that speak to each individual is going to resonate far better than a general message with no personalization other than the customer’s name. Nicolli shared that he can send out a million emails, and the messages are all re-curated to ensure they are meaningful and speak directly to the customer. For example, the resort may want to promote a seasonal package to its database. A message to a customer/guest who comes in with a group of friends for college basketball’s March Madness tournament weekend will receive a different email than a customer who frequents the hotel with a spouse or loved one for the occasional romantic weekend—even if the promotion is asking for the same call to action.

So, whether you’re personalizing the experience for customer support or a marketing message, it’s now all part of the customer experience. Our latest customer experience research finds that eight out of 10 customers prefer a personalized experience. They will even pay more for it, making price less relevant. They want to do business with or go to the place, like the title of the theme song from the hit 1980s TV sitcom Cheers implies, ‘Where Everybody Knows Your Name’.

This is what your customers want and expect. So, take your customer experience efforts to the next level with a personalization strategy that creates an emotional connection and gets customers to say, “I’ll be back.”

Image Credit: Shep Hyken, Pexels

This article was originally published on Forbes.com

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The Enemy of Customer Service is …

The Enemy of Customer Service is ...

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to interview Brian Hamilton on Amazing Business Radio. Brian is the chairman of LiveSwitch and an entrepreneur who has started, built up, and sold numerous businesses. At the end of every show, I ask, “What last nugget of wisdom can you share with our listeners?” He shared an amazing answer:

“The enemy of customer service is pride.”

As he shared what he meant by this profound statement, I knew it was going to be something I would write and talk about.

If you’ve been following my work, you know one of my favorite concepts is The Customer Is NOT Always Right! Let’s use that as a starting point to understand how pride can be the enemy of customer service.

When we’re taught (or told) by the boss that the customer IS always right, and one day a customer makes a statement that isn’t right or accurate, we have conflict. Or maybe the customer is argumentative. We have been taught and told – maybe even ordered – to treat that customer as if they are right. But they are not. For example, what happens if you have a liberal 30-day return policy and the customer comes to return the item on day 60, insisting they were told the store had a 90-day return policy? Can you see the conflict? They are clearly wrong, and that conflict is where pride kicks in and gets in the way of good customer service.

Enemy of Customer Service is Pride

For some, it’s hard to put pride aside and empathize and sympathize with the customer’s errant point of view. While we may not directly tell the customer they are wrong, we say something that is combative or argumentative – even if we say it nicely. When pride gets in the way, we might find ourselves thinking:

  • “I know more than this customer.”
  • “They clearly don’t understand how our system works.”
  • “If they just listened to reason, they would realize they’re wrong.”

Those types of thoughts are our pride getting in the way of serving our customers at the highest level. Instead, consider this:

  1. Listen without interrupting, even if you know they’re wrong.
  2. When you do finally talk, choose the right words to avoid escalating the situation.
  3. Empathize and acknowledge their frustration or concern.
  4. Focus on finding a solution rather than proving who’s right.

Remember, the goal isn’t to win an argument. It’s to win the customer. (Another concept I’ve preached for years.) When we let go of pride and focus on helping, we create better outcomes for everyone involved. So, the next time you find yourself in a situation where you know the customer is wrong, ask yourself, “What’s more important, being right or being helpful?” The answer will guide you toward better customer service. Don’t let pride get in the way of good customer service!

Image Credit: Shep Hyken, Pexels

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Six Revolutionary AI CX and Customer Service Strategies

Six Revolutionary AI CX and Customer Service Strategies

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping customer service and customer experience faster than we could ever imagine. But some are getting it wrong. While everyone’s racing to implement AI, many are missing the most important part – keeping the human element alive. Smart companies have found the balance between the human touch and the digital experience.

One of my favorite AI and marketing experts is Ford Saeks, who recently released his latest book, AI Mindshift: Unleash the Power of AI, Avoid the Pitfalls, and Keep the Human Experience. The book is filled with practical strategies and tactics to help organizations leverage AI while maintaining the personal touch. The book isn’t about which specific AI tools to use. Many of those will be obsolete in a very short time. It’s about how to think about AI, hence the title, AI Mindshift. With that in mind, here are some of my top takeaways from the book:

  1. The Human-AI Balance Is Essential: This is the book’s central theme. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking AI can replace your customer service team. Instead, let AI handle the routine questions and problems while keeping your people focused on what they do best – building relationships and handling more complicated issues. This creates efficiency without sacrificing the personal touch customers value.
  2. Speed Matters: Your customers want answers now, not later. AI can deliver immediate first responses through chatbots, but here’s the key – make sure your customers can seamlessly transition to a human agent when needed. I refer to this as Time to Happiness – how quickly you can move a customer from frustrated to satisfied. The faster, the better.
  3. Feedback Is Your Friend: Create processes to continuously gather both customer and employee feedback about AI interactions. Consistently use this data to refine and improve your AI systems. If customers are frustrated with certain AI responses, fix them quickly. Otherwise, your faulty systems may frustrate your customers and drive them to the competition.

  1. Practice “Ethical AI” in Customer Service: Saeks emphasizes two big areas: transparency about when customers interact with AI versus humans and making sure your AI technology protects your customers’ privacy and data.
  2. Proactive Support: If you want to impress your customers, identify issues or problems before the customer finds them. Then, tell them you did. AI can help identify these issues.
  3. Think Big, but Start Small: Begin AI implementation with specific, manageable customer service tasks rather than trying to overhaul everything at once. For example, start with AI handling basic FAQs, then gradually expand to more complex customer interactions as you learn what works. Remember the old saying, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

The bottom line is this: AI isn’t about replacing your customer service team. It’s about making them more amazing at what they do. Saeks’ book reminds us that the future of customer service and CX isn’t about choosing between AI and humans. It’s about combining both to create experiences that get your customers to say, “I’ll be back!”

Image Credit: Pexels, Shep Hyken

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Why Customers Don’t Trust Five-Star Reviews

Why Customers Don't Trust Five-Star Reviews

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

How important are online ratings and reviews? Our annual customer experience research found that 85% of U.S. customers say ratings and reviews help them decide if they want to make a purchase. That’s almost nine out of 10 customers!

However, that same number of customers (85%) also believe that some ratings and reviews are fake. While not all ratings and reviews are fake, the number of dishonest reviews has become a problem. RetailWire’s recent article about how Amazon is fighting back against fake reviews with strict policies and technology is an important place to learn how top online brands deal with the problem. The article also cites research from Fakespot estimating that 42% of Amazon reviews are fake.

It’s important to note that the fake reviews are not Amazon’s attempt to persuade consumers. On the contrary, the company is waging a war against fake reviews with stricter policies and proactive detection.

I recently made a purchase from a retailer selling through the Amazon Marketplace, which allows third-party sellers to list and sell products on Amazon. About two weeks after the purchase, I received a postcard asking me to leave a five-star review. A request to leave an honest review is acceptable, but that’s not what happened. This “third-party” seller offered a bribe for the positive review in the form of a $20 Amazon gift card or a payment directly to my PayPal account. All I had to do was send a screenshot or link to the review.

Fake reviews come in several different forms:

  1. Friends, company employees or others—not customers—are asked to leave reviews.
  2. Customers are bribed, like I was, to leave a positive review.
  3. Companies take down negative reviews and only leave the good ones.

And, not all fake reviews are positive. Negative reviews left by competitors—not customers—that lie about a company’s products or customer service to make them look bad can impact the reputation of a company or brand.

But having 100% five-star ratings and/or reviews isn’t good either. Our annual research found that 76% of customers are skeptical about the authenticity of reviews if they are all positive, and 30% of customers say they won’t purchase from a company that doesn’t have any negative reviews.

So, what’s a company to do?

  1. Make It Easy for Customers to Leave Reviews: If you want reviews, it’s okay to ask for them. Send an email with a link to leave the review.
  2. Respond to Negative Reviews: If most reviews are good, having a bad one isn’t going to hurt, especially if the company responds to it. A good response from a company can actually improve customer trust. Use negative reviews as opportunities to demonstrate good customer service.
  3. Respond to Positive Reviews: We coach our clients to respond to all reviews, not just negative ones. Depending on how many you get, this can seem like a daunting task. But if someone takes the time to leave a lengthy message of positive feedback, give them the respect of a simple response.
  4. Identify Verified Customers: If you look at Amazon reviews, you’ll see the notation of “Verified Purchase” next to the review. This is credibility.
  5. Don’t Game the System: Offering bribes and incentives for positive reviews crosses an ethical line. And, taking down negative reviews is, in effect, lying to your customers.

Almost every industry, not just B2C, has the opportunity for customers to leave reviews. Depending on the company (and industry), the review sites may not be public like a retailer’s website or a review platform like Google Reviews. Many industries in the B2B world have forums where customers can share experiences about companies and suppliers they do business with. With a shift in the importance of reviews, the company that practices the five tactics mentioned above will build trust. It’s not realistic to have 100% perfect reviews. As the research shows, customers don’t trust the “perfect” company. But they do trust and appreciate the authentic company. The best way to get excellent reviews isn’t to buy them or game the system. It’s to earn them!

Image Credit: Pixabay

This article was originally published on Forbes.com

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Time to Stop These Ten Bad Customer Experience Habits

Time to Stop These Ten Bad Customer Experience Habits

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

Recently, Bob Newhart, a famous comedian and actor, passed away. He started his career as a stand-up comedian and eventually hit it big on television, starring in a TV series aptly named The Bob Newhart Show. His awards include three Grammy Awards, an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe, and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. In 1960, his comedy record The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart reached No. 1 on Billboard’s pop album chart.

But enough about Newhart’s history and accolades, why is he showing up in an article about customer service and experience? The answer can be found in one of his TV specials in a funny sketch titled Stop It.

Seven years ago, I first shared a link to the Stop It video in an article I wrote titled Just Stop It. The focus was to stop doing the things that customers complain about most. To honor and remember the late Bob Newhart, I’d like to bring back the theme of Stop It, and this time, focus on stopping bad habits, systems, or policies that destroy a good customer experience. With that in mind, here are ten (10) things that, if you notice they are happening, will make you want to say, “Stop it!”

  1. Stop putting customers on hold for too long. If you must put customers on hold, tell them how long and provide an option to be called back.
  2. Stop transferring customers multiple times. Get them to the right person the first time!
  3. Stop asking for feedback if you’re not going to take advantage of it. Our CX research (sponsored by RingCentral) found that 71% of U.S. customers assume the company won’t make changes based on their responses to a customer satisfaction survey.
  4. Stop using company or technical jargon your customers might not know or understand. This makes them feel uncomfortable and may make them feel like you’re “talking above them.”
  5. Stop making promises you don’t keep. For example, if you say you’ll call someone back in an hour, don’t be late.
  6. Stop making it hard for customers to talk to a live person. If you have live agents to support customers, don’t make it complicated or hard to get to them.
  7. Stop relying on too much automation. Some companies have gone 100% digital, eliminating customer service agents. Even Amazon, the most digital retailer in the world, has customer service reps to help when problems arise.
  8. Stop blaming others for a mistake or problem, even if it is someone else’s fault. Customers don’t care who is at fault. What they care about is talking to someone who will help them. Even if it’s not your fault, it’s your opportunity to make things right. No blame is needed for that.
  9. Stop being anything less than easy to do business with. This is a big one. Customers want friction-less, no-hassle experiences. Evaluate your processes, systems and policies to ensure they are customer-friendly.
  10. Stop being average! Even an experience that is the tiniest bit better than average, as long as it’s consistent, will get customers to say things like, “They are always so helpful (friendly, knowledgeable, etc.).” The consistent above-average experience will make customers say, “I’ll be back!”

Shep Hyken Bad Habits Cartoon

This list of ten ideas to stop is just a start. Sit down with your team and use this list as an idea starter to discuss the issues, problems and complaints you hear about more often than others. Then, as the late Bob Newhart said, “Stop it!”

Image Credits: Shep Hyken, Pexels

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The Secrets of Customer Support Triage

The Secrets of Customer Support Triage

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

Recently, I had the privilege of being a keynote speaker on customer experience (CX) at a company’s quarterly event. Following the speech, the CEO shared an insight into their approach to customer service and CX, comparing it to a medical emergency room. “Our response to customer complaints and issues is akin to triage,” he said. “We effectively diagnose the problems, yet find ourselves treating similar cases repeatedly as if sending them to an emergency room that never addresses the underlying causes.”

Triage is an interesting word. It’s a medical term, but I wanted to better understand the definition, so I did what most people do. I Googled the word, and this is the definition from Merriam-Webster:

  1. The sorting and allocating of treatment to patients, especially battle and disaster victims, according to a system of priorities designed to maximize the number of survivors.
  2. The assigning of priority order to projects on the basis of where funds and other resources can be best used, are most needed, or most likely to achieve success.


The first definition confirmed that the CEO’s comment was accurate. They fix problems, but don’t seem to be preventing the problems. The second definition sounds like common practice for most businesses, not just hospital emergency rooms. They prioritize projects – in this case, customer service issues – and focus on what will provide the best return.

I loved the CEO’s comment because he recognized the end goal wasn’t to deliver great customer service when there was a problem but to create a customer experience that had few, if any, problems. Put another way, it’s one thing to fix problems. It’s another to understand why there’s a problem and create a preventative solution or system that eliminates – or at least mitigates – the problem in the future. Yes, there will be customer service issues, but with this line of thinking, you can eliminate many problems and complaints.

This reminded me of commercials I remember seeing when I was a kid. From 1967-1988, there were commercials for Maytag washers and dryers. Many of you are too young to remember the Maytag repairman known as “Ol’ Lonely,” who was lonely and bored because the Maytag equipment was so dependable. Of course, the machines weren’t perfect, but they were reputed to be more reliable than competitors.

I like the idea of boring – when it comes to problems and complaints. Nothing would make me happier than to see the true depiction of a company’s customer service agents sitting around bored because customers seldom called with complaints.

So, consider this question: Would you rather be the company known for solving problems when they happen or the company that doesn’t have problems?

Image Credits: Unsplash

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The Dark Side and the Shep Side of Customer Service

The Dark Side and the Shep Side of Customer Service

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

Let’s play a game. We can call it ‘Lousy Service Versus Good Service’, or a better title I came up with: ‘The Dark Side Versus the Shep Side’.

‘The Dark Side of Service’ is just bad. The opposite is what I teach in my customer service (CX) keynote speeches and customer service training program. Here are some Dark Side and Shep Side examples:

Dark Side: Making customers wait for long, unreasonable lengths of time.

Shep Side: Customers don’t wait. But that’s not always possible, so if they do have to wait, they are told how long, and the company honors its commitment.

Dark Side: Employees are rude. In my annual customer service research (sponsored by RingCentral), the top reason customers leave one company to go to another is rude employees!

Shep Side: Employees are the exact opposite of rude. Our research found the top reasons customers come back to a company are employees who are helpful, knowledgeable and friendly.

Dark Side: The experience is marred by friction and unfriendly customer policies. It seems like it’s never easy to reach a person or get help, and even if you’re trying to buy something, sometimes the company makes it hard. It’s almost as if they have a sales-prevention department.

Shep Side: Customers love companies that are easy to do business with. It’s more than convenience – although customers love convenience. Being easy in business means processes and policies that are customer-friendly. It’s easy to reach a customer support agent. Employees respond quickly to customers’ messages. Maybe it’s a hassle-free return or exchange policy. The point is, the experience is just easy!

Dark Side: Inconsistent experiences … one day, the service and experience are great. The next time, they aren’t. The customer wonders, “What will the next experience be like?”

Shep Side: When customers have a consistent and predictable experience, they trust you. They know what they are going to get. They “own the experience,” often to the point where a customer won’t take the risk of doing business elsewhere for fear of being let down. This is what you want customers to experience.

The Dark Side and the Shep Side of Customer ServiceI could go on and on with examples like these, but instead, how about you come up with your list? Use these examples as conversation starters to find your version of the Shep Side of service. Start by asking where you fall short or receive complaints. Dig deep to find the root cause of these problems. Then, determine what the opposite of these problems would be. More importantly, what drives the opposite experience? And when you find it, do what’s necessary to make it consistent and predictable. That’s what customers want: a consistent and predictable experience they can count on.

Image Credits: Unsplash

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Don’t Throw Teammates Under the Bus

Don't Throw Teammates Under the Bus

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

I couldn’t hold back. I told an employee to stop complaining about her fellow employees in front of us, her customers. Here’s the story.

My wife and I were at a restaurant. The server seemed pleasant and professional, but as our food was delivered, we saw a different side of her. There was a mistake in the order. The side dishes we received were not the ones we chose. I didn’t think it would be a big deal. She could either take our meals back to the kitchen or let us keep our meals and bring out the side dishes we ordered. But to the server, it was a big deal.

She started to complain about how this happens “all the time.” She said, “The people in the kitchen don’t read the orders properly. They don’t know what they are doing back there.” She said a few other words that insulted her coworkers, but I stopped her and said as nicely as I could, “I’m sorry you’re frustrated with the team in the kitchen, but you really shouldn’t complain about them to us.”

Customer service is a team sport. There are others who support you and those whom you support. Sometimes, things go wrong, and they need to be fixed. Often, the person the customer is talking to isn’t at fault, but that doesn’t mean they can’t own some responsibility and represent the company and its employees in the best light.

Blame Game Cartoon from Shep Hyken

I thought about how a company can avoid an employee “throwing other employees under the bus” and came up with a number of ideas to mitigate or eliminate this from happening. Here are three of them to get you thinking:

  1. Emphasize the Team: Encourage employees to use the word “we” instead of “they.” The right vocabulary can support the idea of a team effort in taking care of customers.
  2. Teach Accountability: It may not be an employee’s fault, but it is now their opportunity to fix the problem. Think about the last time you called a company’s customer support number with a complaint and it was handled perfectly. It wasn’t the customer support agent’s fault, but they owned the problem and solved it.
  3. Recognize Employees Who Support the Company and Employees When Mistakes Are Made: Praise employees who handle mistakes properly and uphold the dignity of their coworkers in front of customers. You can use the example for both recognition and a teaching opportunity for others.

When mistakes occur in the workplace, especially in customer-facing roles, the manner in which employees manage these situations can impact a customer’s perception of the business. Everyone must remember their Awesome Responsibility, which is that at any given time, one employee interacting with a customer represents all other employees.

Image Credits: Pexels, Shep Hyken

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The State of Customer Experience and the Contact Center

The State of Customer Experience and the Contact Center

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

Oh, what a difference a year makes. A few months ago I traveled to Las Vegas to attend the Customer Contact Week (CCW), the largest conference and trade show in the contact center industry. For the past several years, the big discussion has centered on artificial intelligence (AI), and that continues, but Customer Experience (CX) is also moving into the spotlight. AI and natural language models can give customers an almost human-like experience when they have a question or complaint. However, no surprise, some companies do it better than others.

First, all the hype around AI is not new. AI has been in our lives for decades, just at a much simpler level. How do you think Outlook and other email companies recognize that an email is spam and belongs in the junk/spam folder? Of course, it’s not 100% perfect, and neither are today’s best AI programs.

Many of us use Siri and Alexa. That’s AI. And as simple as that is, it’s obviously more sophisticated when you apply it to customer support and CX.

Let’s go back 10 years ago when I attended the IBM Watson conference in Las Vegas. The big hype then was around AI. There were some incredible cases of AI changing customer service, sales and marketing, not to mention automated processes. One of the demonstrations during the general session showcased AI’s stunning capability. Here’s what I saw:

A customer called the contact center. While the customer service agent listened to the customer, the computer (fueled by AI) listened to the conversation and fed the agent answers without the agent typing the questions. In addition, the computer informed the agent how long the customer had been doing business with the company, how often they made purchases, what products they had bought and more. The computer also compared this customer to others who had the same questions and suggested the agent answer those questions. Even though the customer didn’t yet know to ask them, at some point in the future, they would surely be calling back to do so.

That demonstration was a preview of what we have today. One big difference is that implementing that type of solution back then could have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more than a million. Today, that technology is affordable to almost any company, costing a fraction of what it cost back then (as in just a few thousand dollars).

Voice Technology Gets Better

Less than two years ago, ChatGPT was introduced to the world. Similar technologies have been developed. The capability continues to improve at an incredibly rapid pace. The response from an AI-fueled chatbot is lightning fast. Now, the technology is moving to voice. Rather than type a question for the chatbot, you talk, and it responds in a human-like voice. While voice technology has existed for years, it’s never been this good. Google introduced voice technology that seemed almost human-like. The operative word here is almost. As good as it was, people could still sense they weren’t talking to a human. Today, the best systems are human-like, not almost human-like. Think Alexa and Siri on steroids.

Foreign Accents Are Disappearing

We’ve all experienced calling customer support, and an offshore customer service agent with a heavy accent answers the call. Sometimes, it’s nearly impossible to understand the agent. New technologies are neutralizing accents. A year ago, the software sounded a little “digital.” Today, it sounds almost perfect.

Why Customers Struggle with AI and Other Self-Service Solutions

As far as these technologies have come, customers still struggle to accept them. Our customer service research (sponsored by RingCentral) found that 63% of customers are frustrated by self-service options, such as ChatGPT and similar technologies. Furthermore, 56% of customers admit to being scared of these technologies. Even though 32% of the customers surveyed said they had successfully resolved a customer service issue using AI or ChatGPT-type technologies, it’s not their top preference as 70% still choose the phone as their first level of support. Inconsistency is part of the problem. Some companies still use old technology. The result is that the customer experience varies from company to company. In other words, customers don’t know whether the next time they experience an AI solution if it will be good or not. Inconsistency destroys trust and confidence.

Companies Are Investing in Creating a Better CX

I’ve never been more excited about customer service, CX and the contact center. The main reason is that almost everything about this conference was focused on creating a better experience for the customer. The above examples are just the tip of the iceberg. Companies and brands know what customers want and expect. They know the only way to keep customers is to give them a product that works with an experience they can count on. Price is no longer a barrier as the cost of some of these technologies has dropped to a level that even small companies can afford.

Customer Service Goes Beyond Technology: We Still Need People!

This article focused on the digital experience rather than the traditional human experience. But to nail it for customers, a company can’t invest in just tech. It must also invest in its employees. Even the best technology doesn’t always get the customer what they need, which means the customer will be transferred to a live agent. That agent must be properly trained to deliver the experience that gets customers to say, “I’ll be back.”

Image Credits: Pexels, Shep Hyken

This article originally appeared on Forbes.com

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Not All Customers Are Worth Doing Business With

Not All Customers Are Worth Doing Business With

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

In some of my customer service speeches, I joke that some customers aren’t worth doing business with. The way I position it in the speech is funny, but in reality, it’s pretty serious. Sometimes, a customer isn’t worth doing business with because they are truly a bad customer. The result could be choosing to say, “Goodbye,” and sending them to the competition.

While there are many reasons you might end your relationship with a customer, I came up with six obvious ones to get you thinking:

  1. Customers who repeatedly return products. This is often the result of a liberal return policy that some customers abuse. Repeated returns cost money – sometimes more than the profit from the sale.
  2. Customers who make unwarranted complaints about service. You’ve heard the recording: “These calls are recorded for quality assurance.” Not only are recorded calls great for training, but they can also become evidence of a customer who has an unwarranted complaint about the company’s customer service – or any other situation.
  3. Customers who demand unreasonable solutions to problems. If the customer’s demands are unreasonable and they won’t accept the solutions or compensation an employee is offering, it may be time to let them go.
  4. Customers who take up too much time. For example, customers who repeatedly send back products, which takes up too much time and costs the company money.
  5. Customers who are argumentative. Some customers will argue, and nothing will make them happy. When they realize you are about to “fire” them as a customer, they sometimes recognize that they are being unreasonable. But, when they don’t, it’s time to consider saying, “Goodbye.”
  6. Customers who are abusive toward employees. This is more than an argumentative customer – it is taking rude and argumentative to another level. The customer curses, insults or threatens the employee. While we always want to be polite to our customers, sometimes it’s okay to politely transfer them to a manager or, if empowered to do so, politely say goodbye and hang up.

Bad Customer Cartoon from Shep Hyken

Keep in mind that it’s our job to take a negative event or abusive customer and turn the situation around. Another way of saying it is to turn rants into raves. Yet, in some cases – hopefully very few – the customer may truly not be worth doing business with … today. That could change in the future. Keep that in mind. Remember one of my favorite sayings:

The customer is not always right, but they are always the customer.

Consider that saying before slamming the door on an abusive customer. If you feel it can’t be worked out – today – close the door quietly, but consider leaving it open, ever-so-slightly, just in case they realize the error of their ways. Maybe they will come back, apologize, and become a great customer – one that is well worth doing business with!

Image Credits: Pexels, Shep Hyken

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