How do you set customer service targets effectively?

1 Understand your customers

The first step to setting service targets is to understand your customers' needs, expectations, and preferences. What are the most common issues they face? How do they prefer to contact you? How quickly do they expect a response or a resolution? How do they measure their satisfaction? You can use surveys, feedback forms, interviews, or other methods to gather this information and use it to create customer personas and journey maps.

2 Benchmark your competitors

The next step is to benchmark your competitors and see how they perform in terms of customer service. How do they handle similar issues? What channels do they use? What are their response and resolution times? How do they measure and communicate their service quality? You can use mystery shopping, online reviews, social media, or other sources to collect this data and compare it to your own performance.

3 Define your metrics

The third step is to define your metrics and how you will measure them. Metrics are the indicators that show how well you are meeting your service targets. There are different types of metrics, such as efficiency, effectiveness, quality, and satisfaction. For example, you can use metrics like average handle time, first contact resolution, customer satisfaction score, or net promoter score. You should choose the metrics that are relevant, reliable, and realistic for your service.

4 Set your targets

The fourth step is to set your targets and how you will achieve them. Targets are the specific numbers or values that you aim to reach for each metric. For example, you can set a target of 80% for first contact resolution or 9 out of 10 for customer satisfaction score. Set your targets based on your customer expectations, your competitor performance, your current performance, and your improvement potential. Make sure that your targets are SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.

5 Communicate your targets

The fifth step is to communicate your targets and how you will monitor them. Communicate your targets to your team, your managers, and your customers and explain why they are important, how they will benefit everyone, and what actions are required to meet them. Share your progress and performance regularly, using dashboards, reports, or other tools. Celebrate your achievements, recognize your team's efforts, and solicit feedback for improvement.

6 Review your targets

The final step is to review your targets and how you will adjust them. YReview your targets periodically, depending on your business cycle, customer feedback, or market changes. Analyze your performance data, identify your strengths and weaknesses, and evaluate your impact on your business outcomes. Revise your targets if they are too easy or too hard, if they are no longer relevant or aligned with your goals, or if they need to be updated to reflect new customer needs or expectations.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?