Excellence in Customer Service: The forgotten marketing strategy - MaRS Best Practices

Post on 18-Dec-2014

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With company and brand reputations more transparent than ever, the importance of managing your company's customer service has never been more crucial. Learn ways to identify the channels that can have the most dramatic effect on your company’s reputation. Find out how to build a solid strategy for customer service that will fuel growth.

Transcript of Excellence in Customer Service: The forgotten marketing strategy - MaRS Best Practices

Excellence in Customer Service

The Forgotten Marketing Strategy

Excellence in Customer Service

Mike Rossi Mohsen Hadianfard

Why Us?

•  eCommerce Customer Loyalty Software – Oversees over $300m/yr in transactions

•  Partnerships: •  3000+ Paying Customers (Merchants)

No Outbound Sales

Keep Your Phone On

@sweettooth

Agenda

•  Benefits of Reputation

•  Controlling Customer Experience

•  Strategies Implemented at Sweet Tooth

•  Measuring Effective Customer Service

•  Building a Customer Service Culture

Our Reputation

Our Reputation

Benefits of Reputation

Our Reputation

How do we control our reputation?

How do we control our reputation?

Control the customer experience.

Our Reputation

Controlling Customer Experience

•  Determine Interaction Channels – Where customers interact with the brand – Ensure consistency

•  Determine Reputation Channels – Where customers can discuss their

experience with your brand – e.g. word of mouth, Twitter, review boards,

etc.

Controlling Customer Experience

•  Determine Interaction Channels – Where customers interact with the brand – Ensure consistency

•  Determine Reputation Channels – Where customers can discuss their

experience with your brand – e.g. word of mouth, Twitter, review boards,

etc.

Interaction Channels

•  Email

•  Face-to-Face or Phone Conversation

•  Website •  Support Portal

•  Twitter

Sweet Tooth Interaction Channels

Sweet Tooth Interaction Channels

Quick responses are essential!

Sweet Tooth Interaction Channels

Interaction Channel: Rogers

Interaction Channel Essentials

•  Have a process for EVERY possibility •  Ensure consistent monitoring & responses – Determine customer flow patterns

•  Leave no channel unattended – ALWAYS respond quickly

– Ask questions!

Tools for Interaction Management

Example: 37 Signals

Example: 37 Signals

Reputation Channels

•  Twitter

•  Review Boards •  Blogs

•  Forums

•  Word of Mouth

Sweet Tooth"Reputation Channels

Sweet Tooth"Reputation Channels

Reputation Channel: WestJet

Tools for Reputation Management

Quality of Interaction

•  Always Respond Quickly –  Customer feels important –  Gives the impression of superior competence

•  Always Ensure Needs Are Met –  Answer all questions/concerns –  Try Boomerang (for Gmail or Outlook)

•  Provide the Unexpected –  Go above and beyond your promises –  Make it personal!

Quality of Interaction

•  Always Respond Quickly –  Customer feels important –  Gives the impression of superior competence

•  Always Ensure Needs Are Met –  Answer all questions/concerns –  Try Boomerang (for Gmail or Outlook)

•  Provide the Unexpected –  Go above and beyond your promises –  Make it personal!

Quality of Interaction

•  Always Respond Quickly –  Customer feels important –  Gives the impression of superior competence

•  Always Ensure Needs Are Met –  Answer all questions/concerns –  Try Boomerang (for Gmail or Outlook)

•  Provide the Unexpected –  Go above and beyond your promises –  Make it personal!

Our Strategies

What We’ve Implemented at Sweet Tooth

A Customer Service Culture

•  Create a Culture of Quality Service –  Make it a core value –  Lead by example

Story of Zappos

•  Largest online shoe retailer (started 1999) •  Not profitable at first •  Sales: – 2000: $1.6 million – 2001: $8.6 million

– 2003: $70 million – 2008: $1 billion

•  Minimal advertising

New Focus

Customer Service

$1.2 Billion"Amazon

•  Delivering WOW through service –  “Prank Call” at 3am for pizza delivery in Santa Monica –  To Zappos customer service in Las Vegas

Story of Zappos

Video

Delivering the Unexpected

Our Strategy

Follow the Zappos Example! (with our own twist)

Delivering WOW Through Service

A fast response from Sweet Tooth after hours:

Sweet Tooth’s Strategies

•  How did we go about implementing this?

– Our Culture – Resources – Building a Support Team – Exceeding Expectations – Making it Personal

Our Culture

•  Leading by Example – Customer Service is a priority for the whole

company – Customer Service attitude needs to come

from the top!

•  Good Reviews Emailed Company-Wide •  Peer-Reviewed Communications •  Constant Encouragement

Resources

•  Phone / Chat •  Sandbox & Demo •  Knowledgebase – Over 200 articles

•  Community Forums •  Support Portal

Support Team

•  Multi-Tiered Team of Agents •  Internal Wiki & Common Procedures •  Take Response Times Seriously – 90% of initial responses within an hour

•  Until Customer Issue is Resolved: – Constant updates

– Follow-ups

Exceeding Expectations

•  Advertise Support During 9-5 Core Hours – Available around the clock!

•  Managing Expectations – Sales Policies

– Support Policies – Going above and beyond

Unhappy Customer….

Now Happy J

Make it Personal

•  Not your typical service desk •  Learning about our customers •  Making friends with our customers •  Understanding their needs •  Being proactive – Offering tips on effective reward campaigns

– Remembering who’s been struggling – Keeping tabs on who asks for features/fixes

Sweet Tooth’s Strategies

•  How did we go about implementing this?

– Our Culture – Resources – Building a Support Team – Exceeding Expectations – Making it Personal

Then What?

•  Customer Service Strategy in Place

•  Must Gauge Success

•  Adjust and Improve

Gauging Customer Service

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Gauging our Success

Using Net Promoter Score (NPS):

How likely are you to recommend our brand

to a colleague or friend?

Gauging our Success

NPS Benchmarks

NPS Benchmarks

Using Your NPS Score

•  Your score is highly dependent on: – Region –  Industry, customer base, etc.

•  Useful to measure improvement

•  Generally not productive to compare your NPS to competition

High NPS Companies

Alternate Metrics

•  Customer Satisfaction

•  Customer Happiness

•  Tracking Referrals per Customer

Example: Dropbox

Example: 37 Signals

Example: 37 Signals

Example: 37 Signals

Strategies for Customer Service

Strategies for Customer Service

•  Know your Channels –  Interaction channels –  Reputation channels

•  Ensure NPS is measured –  Ask as many of your clients as possible –  Get feedback

•  Provide Quality Interaction –  Quick responses – Always! –  Deliver the unexpected

Strategies for Customer Service

•  Know your Channels –  Interaction channels –  Reputation channels

•  Ensure NPS is Measured –  Ask as many of your clients as possible –  Get feedback

•  Provide Quality Interaction –  Quick responses – Always! –  Deliver the unexpected

Strategies for Customer Service

•  Know your Channels –  Interaction channels –  Reputation channels

•  Ensure NPS is Measured –  Ask as many of your clients as possible –  Get feedback

•  Provide Quality Interaction –  Quick responses – Always! –  Deliver the unexpected

Get Started Early

•  Focus on Customers First!

•  Amazing Product OR Amazing Support

•  “The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago – the second best time is today.”

A Customer Service Culture

A culture of excellent customer

service is one of the most effective marketing strategies.

A Customer Service Culture

Improve Your Company’s Customer Service

5 Things to Implement Today

1. Build Your Team Culture

Identify Your Core Values

2. Establish Processes

3. Implement Systems

Boomerang, Zendesk, Nutshell, etc.

4. Track Everything

5. Talk to Your Customers/Users

Q & A

@sweettooth