Customer Expectations & Customer Service By Abraham Zavala

By Abraham Zavala

Customer service is about customer personal experience and meeting their expectations. The expectations that customers have today were shaped by their previous experiences.  

Businesses needs to meet or exceed these customer expectations; customer service is praised or criticized because of expectations. Today’s article will boil down to the following idea:

Great customer service and poor customer service are the two extremes that are talked about; however, no one talks about good, or average, customer service.  

Customer Service timing generally does not enter most people’s stream of consciousness but the fact is that when people use a service, they subconsciously go in with certain expectations regarding the timely delivery of a Great Customer Service.

Expectations vary from industry to industry for example, when people order food in a restaurant, they typically expect it to be on their table in about 10 to 15 minutes; anything beyond that time, and the restaurant will begin to receive complaints and be badly rated by customers.

Anything before that and it is typically a pleasant surprise for its customers. This does not mean that customers are timing every second as soon as they order food, however customers’ mental clock goes starts as soon as the order was taken by the waiter/waitress.

In the auto repair industry good service is generally not expected. A shop is expected to be an untrustworthy, expensive, dirty, noisy, male dominated facility. Therefore, any service that is good will have a competitive advantage. Many auto repair shops have already attempted to make their places more family and female friendly with coffee, Wi-Fi, and other amenities.

Other industries make great customer service available at a cost. This has led people to assume that the only way to get great customer service is to pay a premium.

Success depends on our ability to provide customers with quality service that not only meets our stated and agreed commitments, but also meets and exceeds customer service expectations.

If we are unable to provide customers with quality customer support in a variety of areas, we could face customer dissatisfaction, dilution of our brand, weakening of our main market differentiator, decreased overall demand for our services, and loss of revenue.

In addition, our inability to meet customer service expectations may damage our reputation and could consequently limit our ability to retain existing customers and attract new customers, which would adversely affect our ability to generate revenue and affecting in a negative way our business growth.

Important Considerations When Implementing a Good Customer Service Program

How is customer service viewed in your industry?

How is the customer service of your competitors viewed by their customers? If everyone in your industry has great customer service, like the real estate industry, than just being “good” in your industry is “great” by other industry standards. If your industry is known for offering poor customer service, then average or excellent customer service can be a big competitive advantage.

 How does your company communicate with customers? Email and telephone? That might need to change.

Expectations are always evolving. People are using new ways to connect with companies. Social media is now a customer service channel; this does not mean that your company needs to address customer problems via social media.

 The Expectation Game

It is important to know where you stand in the Expectation Game. Most of the time, customers will let you know how you are doing by giving you feedback. To garner feedback, a simple four, or five, question survey will do. This should be asked once the customer service “ticket” has closed.

 Was customer issue resolved up to his/her satisfaction?

• How was your customer service experience? A) Below expectations; B) Met expectations; C) Exceeded expectations
• Is there anything you would change about the service you received today?
•  Is there anything else we can help you with?

Customers will also let you know via social media, email, or simply quitting your service. Your business should have a critical feedback loop in which outside criticism and praise are taken in and evaluated. Avoid an echo chamber in your business, and listen to what people are saying about you. It can help your business to know where you are and where you need to be. 

Avoiding Poor Service

By avoiding poor customer service, you are thus providing either good or excellent service, which is what you want to do. Some general tips to help you avoid poor customer service:

• Be available and answer emails/calls/tweets seven days a week. If a customer sends you an email the minute after you leave the office on Friday, are you really going to make the customer wait until Monday to get an answer?
• Make sure customers know how you can be reached. You can put this on your “Contact Us” page and your support page. Telephone number, email address, contact form, social media contacts, and live chat too.
• Use your customer’s name. It may seem like a small gesture, but using the person’s actual name can go a long way. Treat the customer like the fellow human being they are, not like “just another customer.”
•  Make it really easy for customers to contact you. One way is to have a feedback box at the bottom of every page