Customer Service Process: How to Build & Optimize It

For modern corporates, operational efficiency and customer delight are cornerstones of business success. Scalable and evergreen customer service processes are aimed at attaining both objectives. They help businesses attain the highest level of operational efficiency while keeping the focus firmly on customer satisfaction.  

It wouldn't be an overstatement to say the customer service process is one of the foundational elements of good customer service and customer-centricity. In fact, logic dictates that any industry that interacts with scores of customers regularly would establish a failproof process to manage customer queries, yet we hear horror stories all too often.  

Case in point: American Airlines, one of the “Big Three” airline carriers in the United States, is often in the news for mishandling flyer luggage – a grievous mistake that can be avoided with watertight customer service processes. Meanwhile, analysts say that after the pandemic, hotels have gotten more expensive but are offering less and poorer customer service than before.  

Now, you may argue that customer service is harder for these industries given their complex logistics and time-sensitive nature of interactions. However, there are brands like Delta Airlines and The Ritz Carlton that defy the complexities and define the gold standard for customer service.  

How do they do it? Through a well-defined customer service process.   

Customer service processes — be it for contact centers, live chat or in-person interactions — unify the whole customer service unit, enabling it to function like a well-oiled machine where every cog and wheel works in perfect harmony.   

In this guide, we’ll walk you through what it takes to have an evergreen customer service process that leads to improved customer service operations, customer satisfaction and ultimately, your brand image.  

What is a customer service process?

A customer service process is a clear-cut, structured and repeatable strategy to handle customer inquiries and complaints effectively, which results in smooth customer service operations and improved customer satisfaction. 

It lays out a step-by-step approach for support agents to respond to different scenarios, removing ambiguity and standardizing customer communication across the board. Empowered agents can deliver consistent and efficient customer service, which wins customer loyalty in the long term.  

Though customer care processes are scalable and standardized, they offer scope for personalization and adjustment. A good customer service process doesn’t aim to bind agents to rigid scripts and workflows. In fact, it empowers agents to deviate from the script and offer tailored solutions without getting stuck in red tape. 

At this point, it becomes essential to pinpoint the salient features of customer service processes: 

• Customer service processes align with broader organizational goals. 
• Customer service processes are standardized yet flexible. 
• Customer service processes vary across industries and company needs. 

For instance, retail customer service is primarily delivered through call centers. The typical customer service process in retail call centers encompasses milestones like: 

1. Contact:​ The call center agent ​warmly greets the caller, introduces themself and tries to establish a good initial rapport. 
2. Information gathering: The agent listens closely to the customer’s needs/issues, asking follow-up questions to understand the caller’s intent better and verify their identity. 
3. Resolution/Escalation: The agent offers actionable resolutions or redirects the caller to the concerned team/department. 
4. Feedback and follow-up: The agent verifies if the issue has been resolved and offers additional assistance if the issue is unresolved. This is followed by a request for feedback on the services rendered and a note of customer appreciation for showing patience. 

A comprehensive process (like the one above) structures the interaction lifecycle into clear milestones and metrics, providing customer service teams with a roadmap for continuous improvement and scalability. 

Top benefits of establishing a ​c​ustomer care process

A rigorous, well-knit customer service process renders businesses with tons of benefits, including: 

• Consistent service quality: Standardizing customer service workflows, call center scripts and escalation protocols ensures consistent communication and service levels. 
• Operational excellence: Through efficient processes, empowered staff and integrated workflows, brands can execute their strategies better and build a culture of continuous improvement.   
• High agent morale: Customer service processes enable customer service agents to stay within their SLA, which boosts their overall morale and retention. 
• Increased customer loyalty: Happy customers are more likely to remain loyal to your brand. The latest CX statistics indicate that 74% of customers say their brand loyalty grows when they feel appreciated. They also spend 140% more on such customer-centric brands. 

On the flip side, the cost of bad customer service is humongous. For starters, you could lose your competitive advantage because 89% of businesses (according to the aforementioned statistics resource) compete primarily on customer service. Not only that, but you also stand to lose your customer base too. Six in 10 Americans say they’d drop a brand for its poor service, even if they like it. That’s 60% of your customer base! Can you afford these losses?  

Customer service process: B2B vs. B2C

While the essence of superior customer service is the same for all brands, there are technical differences in how B2B and B2C companies approach their processes. This has to do with myriad reasons, including the complexity and longevity of B2B customer service vs. the straightforward approach of B2Cs. Let’s understand the differences in detail. 

B2B or B2C, keeping your focus on the human side of customer service always works, as articulated superbly by professional speaker and author of All Things Employee and Customer Experience – Joey Coleman: 

How to create an effective customer service process

An effective customer service process helps your team consistently meet and exceed customer service expectations. Here’s how you can create a robust one: 

Step 1: Define your customer service goals

Every brand has a specific vision and mission of what it wants to deliver to its customers, which applies to every aspect of the business. For instance, Disney is in the “business of happiness” while Nike strives to inspire the athlete within us. Therefore, Disney’s customer service hinges on customer happiness and Nike’s on inspiration.  

As explained, your customer care process needs to take you closer to your organizational goals. These goals set the context for your customer service objectives - the overarching, long-term direction in which you want your customer service to move steadily. Your objectives shape your customer service goals - tiny steps in the desired direction.  

Goal setting is the first step in establishing your customer service process. Your goals ought to be SMART [Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound] which can be broken down as follows: 

• Specific: Clearly state the exact outcome you desire. 
• Measurable: Identify the customer service metrics you will use to quantify your progress. 
• Achievable: Factor in resources and constraints that may impact your goal achievement. 
• Relevant: Pick goals that are in line with your broad customer service objectives. 
• Time-bound: Define a specific timeline to achieve the goal.  

Example of a SMART customer service goal: 

Let’s say a pharma company wants to prioritize quick service delivery to its consumers for which it formulates the goal statement: Reduce average response time by 50% within one year by incorporating chatbots and agent training. The goal is SMART since it’s: 

• Specific: Reduce average response time to patients. 
• Measurable: Slash average response time from 24 hours to 12 hours. 
• Achievable: Get chatbots for handling initial requests + increase agent training to deliver quicker resolutions. 
• Relevant: Aligned with the vision of being responsive to customer needs. 
• Time-bound: Implement this within one year. 

Unlike vague, aspirational goals, SMART goals provide clarity, focus and motivation and keep your customer service process targeted and directional. 

A point worth noting is that customer service goals look different for different customer journey stages. Let’s unpack this in the next step. 

Step 2: Map out the customer journey

To truly provide impeccable customer service, you must walk in your customer’s shoes. What better way to do this than to trace their journey? To map your customer’s journey, start by building your customer’s persona, understanding their needs and pain points and identifying the different touchpoints they use for brand communication.  

To gather holistic customer insights, you may look into customer behaviors and comments on your website, social media, emails and other communications. Or leverage an omnichannel survey platform that captures your customer’s voice across all communication channels. Analyze the gathered data, understand friction points and develop solutions to address these concerns.   

💡 Pro tip: Incorporating AI in customer journeys helps with spotting trends and anomalies in customer behavior that can escape the human eye. AI is also more efficient at pinpointing loopholes in customer journeys.  

Circling back to our pharma company example, here are the steps one would follow to build the company’s customer journey map: 

• Identify different customer personas. E.g. patients, healthcare professionals, caregivers, etc.   
• Outline each persona’s unique needs. Patients may desire empathetic treatment while doctors may seek medical literature.  
• Trace the customer touchpoints for each persona. Patients may use the website/app, or Google search to connect with the company while doctors use pharmaceutical reps, etc.  
• Devise a customer service strategy for optimizing every touchpoint. Websites can be equipped with chatbots to provide automated responses while pharma reps can be trained in using the company’s knowledge base to glean information. 

Step 3: Establish customer service workflows 

At this point, you might be wondering if the customer service process means the same as the customer service workflow. The answer is no, they aren’t the same. The customer care process is a sequence of repeatable activities designed to achieve a specific organizational goal. It encompasses broader objectives and occurs at various levels within an organization. Conversely, the customer service workflow is a structured process outlining how your company interacts with and resolves customer issues. It’s more detailed and planned. In short, while the process guides overall organizational goals, the workflow focuses on specific interactions and steps taken by your team. 

There are different customer service workflows for different customer service scenarios, such as placing an order or filing a complaint. Besides, customer service workflows advocate technology to automate resolutions of routine tasks like sharing order information or refund policies that eat up your call center agents’ capacity. For complex issues that require human oversight, there are trained agents equipped with productivity tools like scripts, macros and generative AI.  

How to establish a process flow 

• Identify common customer service scenarios your agents face regularly. 
• Map the conversation flow in each scenario, indicating the decision points and loops from initiation to resolution.  
• Bring in technology for interactions that can be automated. For instance, IVR can be used to greet callers and verify caller identity instead of an agent doing it. 
• Run the workflow on sample groups and iterate for the best results. 

Example: 
Shoppers often cart items on e-commerce websites/apps and then abandon their carts. In such a scenario, an abandoned cart workflow is triggered, which looks like this:  

The result is a smooth customer service process with minimal agent intervention. However, not all workflows are as smooth; some hit turbulence when the customer or the situation demands escalation. A watertight escalation management workflow needs to be established to handle such cases. Your agents should be well versed with the escalation matrix to follow and the SLA to quote to the customer. This way, you manage customer expectations and drive the customer service process unhindered. 

Source  

Step 4: Train your agents 

Automated or not, the customer service process is impossible to navigate without customer service agents. It is your agents that drive the process, triggering workflows, leveraging top customer service tips and delighting customers with the human touch they so crave. 

Training your support teams will help them navigate typical and atypical customer interactions with confidence, knowing they have well-documented SOPs and help resources to fall back on if they falter.  

For your customer service training, here is a roadmap you can follow: 

• Provide comprehensive customer service scripts to your agents. 
• Tailor training to employee-specific functions.  
• Apart from product knowledge and tool savvy, customer service skills like customer empathy, problem-solving and active listening are vital. 
• Track agent success using call center metrics and contact center metrics like average handling time, average speed of answer, first contact resolution, etc. 
• Use AI to train contact center agents since it’s excellent at detecting patterns and improvement areas and designing individualized learning paths. 

Agent training should be accompanied by agent empowerment. A tool that can lift your agents’ productivity is a unified agent desktop that houses the entire case history and customer profile to hasten the resolution process. Agents have all the pertinent information at their fingertips, along with responses that have been successful with similar cases as well as tailored content/shopping recommendations.  

👉 Also Read: Top 11 Features Agents Need in Their Agent Desktop 

Take a look at Sprinklr’s unified agent desktop which can be used to train your newbie agents and track their progress over time. 

Step 5: Analyze, review and update the process 

It isn’t enough to create your customer service process once and forget about it. A static strategy will stagnate your service quality over time. You need to understand whether your approach is working, how well it is working and what you can do better to improve it.  

• Be proactive with gathering customer and employee reviews even if there are no apparent issues.  
• Engage all stakeholders, i.e. customer service agents and customers in the review process.  
• Identify and use customer service analytics to gauge the success or failure of your process.  
• Lean on technology and advanced customer service software for data collection, analysis and process optimization. 

Example

The pharma company schedules quarterly reviews of its customer service process, engaging both agents and customers. Their data shows a spike in call handling times and a fall in first contact resolution rate for the latest quarter.  

Upon analyzing customer surveys, they read about customer dissatisfaction due to long wait times. Immediately, the company pivots its customer care process, setting up training sessions for agents and integrating skill-based call routing in their phone system, so calls are directed to experienced agents automatically and are solved on the first go.   

Chart your customer service success today with Sprinklr

Stellar customer service doesn’t have to be aspirational — you can get it right now if you put in place a customer service process that works for your business!  

Developing and optimizing your customer service process isn't rocket science. With a structured approach, similar to the one outlined in this guide, you can improve your operational workflow, boost agent productivity and improve customer satisfaction multifold. When you focus on customer needs and build lasting relationships, your business will automatically thrive.  

To take charge of your customer service journey today, check out Sprinklr’s holistic customer service solution that leverages industry-leading AI with quality management, agent desktop and generative AI to give you the competitive advantage you deserve. The best part? Sprinklr is up for a 100% FREE trial for 30 days. Grab yours now!