As the saying goes: there is no pleasing everyone. And no matter how well thought out your brand strategy is and the customer touchpoints are, there will inevitably be someone who feels disappointed, put out or dissatisfied by their brand experience. The focus on brand experience has become ever more prevalent and is used by brands to distinguish themselves with their customers. Customer care is the golden thread that has to be intricately and seamlessly woven throughout the brand experience.

5 Principles for Great Customer Care

  1. Effective listening

    Feeling as though you are being heard is a fundamental human need in any relationship, but even more so if things are not to your satisfaction. Allowing the customer to explain their position and to vent their frustrations is important for two main reasons. Firstly, it makes the consumer feel better, and secondly, it provides important feedback to take on board to ensure that the problem or issue does not reoccur.

  2. Practice Empathy

    Being empathetic is an important social skill that makes customers feel valued and reassures them that you can see the problem from their perspective. It creates behaviour that contributes towards helping, making it more likely that a resolution can be found swiftly.

  3. Personalisation

    Customer care issues are often resolved because their experience was out of the ordinary. These exceptional circumstances require a personalised solution. Creating personalised solutions helps redress the imbalance.

  4. Proactiveness

    Being proactive about the solution is also highly important. Make the customer feel valued and let them know that their issue is high priority. Resolving issues in a timely manner is also key to this process.

  5. Convenience

    We have written about the importance of convenience in customer care before. Just as customers like personalised solutions they also like to air the complaint through the most convenient channel to them; be this online, by phone, or through any other channel of their choosing. Ensuring that your customer care centre is set up to support the convenience of the customer is an important principle in good customer care.

The core principles themselves are intuitive and many would argue basic common sense. The challenge is not in identifying them but rather in finding the time and resources to manage this process consistently for your business.

There are various options available to address the situation; either by hiring staff internally to manage this or by using an outsourced customer care solution, such as the customer call centre at FMI. Or, one could utilise a hybrid of the two. All options have pros and cons to be considered. Finding the most comprehensive solution that can be used to support a seamless and positive brand experience may just go some way in ultimately helping you to please everyone.

Learn about FMI’s Customer Contact Centre Service and how they can help your brand today. Call us on 01 496 3399.

If you’re exploring customer service in more depth, you may also find these related articles useful:

FAQs About Customer Care

What is customer care?

Customer care is the ongoing support provided to customers across the brand experience, focused on addressing issues, managing dissatisfaction and ensuring customers feel heard, valued and supported.

What is good customer care?

Good customer care is built on effective listening, empathy, personalisation, proactiveness and convenience, ensuring issues are resolved in a timely and considerate manner while supporting a positive brand experience.

What are the 5 principles of customer service?

The five principles are effective listening, practising empathy, personalisation, being proactive and providing convenience through the customer’s preferred channels.

 

As the saying goes: there is no pleasing everyone. And no matter how well thought out your brand strategy is and the customer touchpoints are, there will inevitably be someone who feels disappointed, put out or dissatisfied by their brand experience. The focus on brand experience has become ever more prevalent and is used by brands to distinguish themselves with their customers. Customer care is the golden thread that has to be intricately and seamlessly woven throughout the brand experience.

5 Principles for Great Customer Care

  1. Effective listening

    Feeling as though you are being heard is a fundamental human need in any relationship, but even more so if things are not to your satisfaction. Allowing the customer to explain their position and to vent their frustrations is important for two main reasons. Firstly, it makes the consumer feel better, and secondly, it provides important feedback to take on board to ensure that the problem or issue does not reoccur.

  2. Practice Empathy

    Being empathetic is an important social skill that makes customers feel valued and reassures them that you can see the problem from their perspective. It creates behaviour that contributes towards helping, making it more likely that a resolution can be found swiftly.

  3. Personalisation

    Customer care issues are often resolved because their experience was out of the ordinary. These exceptional circumstances require a personalised solution. Creating personalised solutions helps redress the imbalance.

  4. Proactiveness

    Being proactive about the solution is also highly important. Make the customer feel valued and let them know that their issue is high priority. Resolving issues in a timely manner is also key to this process.

  5. Convenience

    We have written about the importance of convenience in customer care before. Just as customers like personalised solutions they also like to air the complaint through the most convenient channel to them; be this online, by phone, or through any other channel of their choosing. Ensuring that your customer care centre is set up to support the convenience of the customer is an important principle in good customer care.

The core principles themselves are intuitive and many would argue basic common sense. The challenge is not in identifying them but rather in finding the time and resources to manage this process consistently for your business.

There are various options available to address the situation; either by hiring staff internally to manage this or by using an outsourced customer care solution, such as the customer call centre at FMI. Or, one could utilise a hybrid of the two. All options have pros and cons to be considered. Finding the most comprehensive solution that can be used to support a seamless and positive brand experience may just go some way in ultimately helping you to please everyone.

Learn about FMI’s Customer Contact Centre Service and how they can help your brand today. Call us on 01 496 3399.

If you’re exploring customer service in more depth, you may also find these related articles useful:

FAQs About Customer Care

What is customer care?

Customer care is the ongoing support provided to customers across the brand experience, focused on addressing issues, managing dissatisfaction and ensuring customers feel heard, valued and supported.

What is good customer care?

Good customer care is built on effective listening, empathy, personalisation, proactiveness and convenience, ensuring issues are resolved in a timely and considerate manner while supporting a positive brand experience.

What are the 5 principles of customer service?

The five principles are effective listening, practising empathy, personalisation, being proactive and providing convenience through the customer’s preferred channels.

 

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