NEW: Customer service goals in 2023

Cresencia Marjorie Chiremba

“Instead of focusing on the competition, focus on the customer.”- Scott Cook

Goodbye 2022, hello 2023.

The festive season is finally over and it is now back to business.

As organisations tap into a brand-new year, it is important that they have roadmaps that will help direct their customer service conduct throughout the year.

Making headlines because of poor customer experience must not be part of this year’s to-do list.

Successful businesses do not just dive into the new year without goals.

Whatever goals a company will have for this year, they must incorporate the customer.

All activities this year must leave a good impression on customers about the brand.

To this extent, customer service and perception management must be part of the priority list.

Some firms excelled in some areas in the previous year but need improvement in others.

In order to correct past mistakes and thrive in the new year, companies must set smart targets.

For instance, if the customer satisfaction or experience rate was 40 percent in 2022, this year the team must work hard to improve it to, say, at least 55 percent.

An organisation must have an idea of what it wants to achieve.

Management should therefore come up with a plan on what they will do to achieve their goals.

This plan will act as a guide for the team, which they will continuously refer to when carrying out their duties.

This will help them not to operate outside the set customer service objectives for the year.

Here are some smart 2023 customer service goals:

Customer Survey Strategy

Goals are guided by a strategy, and for an organisation to realise its targeted goals, it must have a strategy in place.

It is important to develop a customer survey strategy.

The strategy can then be used regularly by sending surveys to customers at set time intervals such as quarterly or fortnightly.

These surveys not only give customers control, but they also give true information on how an organisation can better its customer experience.

You can begin developing your survey by asking what you are trying to find out.

Whatever you get will help you to determine several things, including ways to measure the concepts, how to be accurate, ways to get support from both the stakeholders and team players, and know-how on effectively distributing these surveys.

Serve Customers Quickly

The modern customer is very impatient when it comes to waiting times.

Customers are always in a hurry, and when they approach you, they want instant service.

This means, as an organisation, you should be able to offer your services correctly and timeously.

Nonetheless, your customer’s waiting time will depend on your customer support channel(s).

Therefore, if the company or organisation is going to be competitive in its industry, efficiency is a must because the faster it makes things happen, the higher the chances that it will become the preferred supplier or service provider.

Customers who receive a short waiting period tend to consider it a positive customer experience.

This is because they want to have more time to do other businesses, and when a company gives them exactly that, they are delighted.

An organisation can shorten waiting times by either adding artificial intelligence-based platforms such as live chats on top of human customer service representatives.

These will help the company’s agents to manage multiple chats.

The firm can also increase the rate of conversation through the use of scripted live chats as well as canned responses.

Improve Customer Experience and Satisfaction

Every customer touch-point has an influence on customer satisfaction. What a company has in its customer service data is precious, because it has all the necessary information on what efforts are working and those that are not working in the customer satisfaction journey.

It is important to always have information about customers, and this can be obtained by asking customers to leave a review after making a purchase.

Alternatively, a company can send a survey after a customer interaction.

During customer analysis, a company may discover that some customers are no longer patronising the service(s) or purchasing the product(s).

The firm can reach out to these customers to conduct interviews to find out why they are no longer doing business with the entity.

It is also vital to know what people are saying about the organisation’s brand, and the best way to find out about it is by using social listening skills on social media.

Give the Service a Human Touch

When a company wants its customers to feel heard and understood, it must give its customer experience a human touch.

It is easier to give this human touch through empathy.

Empathy is a special skill that helps you to put the company in its customers’ shoes and be able to feel exactly what they feel about the brand.

When customers realise that their service provider cares about them, it makes them want to continue to be associated with the organisation.

It is easy for organisations to convert happy customers into loyal customers.

*Cresencia Marjorie Chiremba is a marketing enthusiast with a strong passion for customer service. For comments, suggestions and training, she can be reached on [email protected] or on 0712 979 461, 0719 978 335