When I consider good examples of customer service, one incident stands out in my memory.
Health insurance reimbursements can be a pickle. They are synonymous with lengthy wait times, confusing clauses and rejected claims. However, my experience was starkly different and positively delightful. When I submitted my claim for a fractured elbow surgery, I was pleasantly surprised by the prompt, personalized and seamless service I received.
Document submissions and approvals were all paperless and instantaneous via the self-service app. The customer service representative was abreast with my case details and demonstrated superlative patience and empathy during interactions. The best part? The reimbursement was processed within 24 hours with minimal back and forth!
Pumped with positive sentiment, I shared this story within my circle of influence and social media networks, earning a shout-out from the company and its PR team as a testament to customer appreciation. Needless to say, my brand loyalty knows no bounds, and this one example of good customer service has shifted my entire perception of the health insurance industry.
Come, embark on a journey with us. We will walk through more inspiring examples that have earned a place in the Customer Service Hall of Fame for their unique approach and stunning results.
What is good customer service?
Good customer service is the delivery of prompt and personalized support to customers seeking information, troubleshooting advice and technical assistance.
For example, airlines providing baby food and cots for new mothers, shopping websites offering screen readers for visually challenged visitors and e-commerce brands offering no-questions-asked moneyback guarantees are all valid examples of good customer service.
Superior customer service reaps dividends in improved customer retention and loyalty as well as positive word-of-mouth referrals and revenue.
Delivering superlative customer service entails going above and beyond your call of duty and exceeding customer service goals by inculcating a customer-obsessed mindset across the board and innovating effective support strategies.
Did you know: Customer Support vs. Customer Service: What’s the Difference?
Benefits of good customer service
Market research shows customer service has become a prime driver of customer loyalty, brand health and revenue growth. In fact, it is stacked higher than product quality and pricing as a purchase driver for the modern discerning customer. In view of these facts, an investment in customer support strategies, resources and technology becomes a winning proposition for brands since it breeds:
Positive brand perception: Good customer service yields positive and authentic user-generated content in the form of online reviews and social posts, driving goodwill and brand health organically.
Higher customer retention rate: Delivering exceptional service (speedy answers, loyalty benefits, omnichannel customer experiences, etc.) demonstrates a high degree of customer centricity and results in improved customer retention.
Higher customer lifetime value: Customer lifetime value is a measure of the total money a customer is likely to spend with your business over their lifetime. Satisfied customers offer 306% more lifetime value than others, uplifting your bottom line directly.
Enhanced customer acquisition: Stellar customer service complements your customer acquisition efforts, helping attract competitors' clients and gaining market leadership.
Better customer experience: Customer service is a foundational pillar of customer experience. With tools like proactive support, 24/7 chatbots and empathetic agents, customer support elevates the overall CX and boosts CX metrics effectively.
💡Pro Tip: For amplified business benefits, try leveraging AI in customer service. AI takes the pain and friction out of routine troubleshooting with tools like automated workflows, surveys and responses, allowing you to focus on tactical decision-making.
13 Unique examples of good customer service for businesses
From personalized interactions to seamless issue resolutions, here are 13 great examples of customer service from brands that have exceeded customer expectations and wowed the industry.
1. JetBlue — Capturing in-the-moment needs via social listening
JetBlue consistently ranks among the top 3 North American airline carriers in customer satisfaction (CSAT) by capturing the unspoken needs of their fliers using 24/7 social listening.
An anecdote illustrates their commitment to customer happiness:
When a frequent flier couldn't grab his usual Starbucks coffee before departure, JetBlue staff, alerted by his Tweet, arranged for it to be delivered to his seat. With a dedicated airline crew trained to go the extra mile and a robust social listening tool, JetBlue embodies disruptive customer service.
📜Your takeaway: Social listening gives the best results when it’s backed with a precise strategy that hinges on the right keywords, right channels and right tools. Casting your net too wide will clutter your feed with irrelevant mentions that have no bearing on your customer service success.
Download this ebook: 3 Steps to Transform Your CX with Social Listening
2. Zappos — Killing the competition with kindness
No surprises here. Zappos has built a reputation of consistently delivering matchless customer service that transcends business gains and competitive advantages.
Their unique approach involves prioritizing customer satisfaction to the extent of referring customers to other stores or even competitors if they are better placed to serve. An unconventional practice, it may be, but it fosters customer loyalty and trust like no other strategy.
📜 Key takeaway: Gaining – and keeping – customer loyalty and trust is easier said than done, we know. Customer Support Evangelist and Guru, Shep Hyken, coins it beautifully as “The value of creating positive experiences for customers is everlasting, even if it means breaking a few company protocols.” Go, break some rules think out of the box, your customers – and your company – will thank you for it.
3. Uber — Leveraging AI tech to expedite resolution
When COVID-19 crippled commuters, Uber ensured its customers received top-notch customer support in record time, thanks to their rapid care response team. Armed with a unified AI-powered customer experience tool, the team monitored health-oriented chatter on social and digital channels and swung into action when Uber customers raised health/safety concerns, directing them to customer support agents who responded in record time.
The result?
A remarkable 33% reduction in first response time, saving 4,000+ hours for customer support teams, thanks to Uber’s customer-centric mindset coupled with advanced CX tech-led.
📜 Your takeaway: Embrace Unified CX Management platforms like Sprinklr to shorten your response time and delight customers with timely assistance.
4. Starbucks — Taking the pain out of feedback collection
Feedback collection and implementation are the bedrock of good customer service, and Starbucks aces in this department. The coffee giant implemented a unique customer survey format that utilizes a grid for easy readability and response. To top it up, they offer loyalty points to each respondent, compensating them for their valuable time and patronage.
📜 Your takeaway: Employ innovative ways to measure CSAT, including surveys, customer interviews, usability testing and social listening. And don’t forget to close the loop on feedback by effective complaint management.
Editor’s Pick: How to Measure Customer Feedback Without Surveys
5. Southwest Airlines — Putting employee engagement in the spotlight
Believe it or not, employee experience (EX) and CX go hand in hand.
If the “Great Resignation” taught brands something, it’s this - when employees don’t feel emotionally connected with the company’s vision and mission, they feel disengaged with their jobs. Engaged employees, on the other hand, bring their best selves to work and contribute to CSAT in customer-facing profiles.
Southwest Airlines has earned the enviable reputation of being a great employer and a great customer service provider at the same time. The brand staunchly believes that happy employees produce happier customers. It puts customers at the heart of its support process, proudly flaunting customer-centricity on its website with its mission statement -
“The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit.”
📜 Your takeaway: Make workforce engagement management a focus area for your business by investing in agent coaching, upskilling and development. In this quest, make AI your ally since it can assess agent performance objectively, recommending tailored improvement suggestions.
Also Read: AI and the Human Touch: How to Fly High in the Customer Experience Sky
6. Tesla — Wowing car owners with on-the-spot customer service
Tesla cars are priced at a premium, and it ensures that their customers also receive premium service. They help fix cars at customers’ locations to avoid inconveniences like long wait times and queues at workshops. Customers can schedule the maintenance of their Tesla cars at a convenient location and time.
📜 Your takeaway: Meet your customers where they are on the customer service channel of their choice. Delight your customers with omnichannel customer service by virtue of shared insights and data.
7. Sainsbury — Closing the loop on all feedback
Sainsbury made waves for their endearing gesture. A young customer noticed the brand’s Tiger Bread resembled a giraffe rather than a tiger. Indignantly, she emailed the supermarket's manager to share her observation and was pleasantly surprised when she received prompt acknowledgment of her feedback. Not only this, but Sainsbury also went one step ahead and renamed the product, sharing the story behind it and earning significant customer appreciation.
📜 Your takeaway: Implement customer suggestions actively. Cultivate a customer-centric culture spanning product, sales and support. With restricted agent capacity, customer service teams can utilize Agent Assist tools like automated replies so no feedback goes unaddressed.
8. Chick-fil-A’s — Using corporate social responsibility to foster credibility
During a snowstorm in Birmingham, Chick-fil-A, a fast-food restaurant known for its chicken sandwiches, provided refuge to stranded commuters. The brand’s support team swooped into action, distributing free sandwiches and offering shelter to the homeless – a gesture that garnered goodwill from the world over.
Brands should contribute altruistically towards the greater good, especially in crisis. This drives trust, loyalty and advocacy. According to the Edelman Trust Barometer Report, 73% of consumers prefer brands that inspire safety and security.
📜 Your takeaway: Giving back to society and upholding humanitarian values is key to creating long-lasting goodwill. Companies neglecting their social responsibility are less likely to garner favor from customers, especially from values-driven Gen Z.
Also Read: How 6 Brands Succeed in Social Responsibility
9. Duolingo — Leveraging GPT-4 to improve CX
Generative AI tools like ChatGPT are a rage, and Duolingo, the language learning platform, has embraced them to enhance the learner experience. AI enables Duolingo to create interactive learning experiences and provide automated feedback on grammar and speech exercises. Additionally, Duolingo also uses AI and ML to generate insights on learner behavior, user experience and engagement.
📜 Key takeaway: Stay abreast with the latest technology to enhance customer support and experience. Embrace tech trends like virtual reality, augmented reality, Internet of things (IoT), and now GenAI to enhance customer experience.
10. Ritz Carlton — Personalizing the concierge service
Ritz Carlton Hotel empowers its employees to provide great customer service by allowing them a budget of up to $2000 to fix customer problems.
Recently, when a customer forgot their charger at the hotel, a customer service executive quickly utilized the budget to ship the charger back to the customer. They even included an extra charger and a personalized note.
📜 Your takeaway: Empower your employees to deliver delightful memories for customers with small swag gifts, hand-written notes and discount vouchers. Measure customer service representatives' performance not just by the number of tickets they resolve per day but also by the services they deliver and the qualitative feedback they receive.
Must Read: 5 Social Media Customer Service Metrics to Track
11. Trader Joe’s — Redefining the grocery shopping experience
Trader Joe's is celebrated for its excellent customer service ever since it transformed grocery shopping into a fun, relaxed endeavor. Some of its customer-centric strategies involve engaging kids with games to enable peaceful shopping for parents, responsive actions based on customer inputs and a straightforward approach to providing quality at great value.
Notably, Trader Joe's extends exceptional service, like opening early during calamities and stocking requested products, showcasing their dedication to going the extra mile for customer delight.
📜 Your takeaway: Localize your customer support experience to cater to local requests and needs. Adapt your service to align with local preferences.
12. Gaylord Opryland — Rewarding customer loyalty
Gaylord Opryland, a Nashville resort and convention center, left a lasting impression on BlissDom conference attendee Christina McMenemy. Delighted by the hotel's services and amenities, especially a unique clock radio in her room, she sought its supplier for three years.
Contacting Gaylord via X (formerly Twitter), she learned it wasn't publicly available. Upon her return, Gaylord surprised her with the coveted clock as a thoughtful souvenir, accompanied by a personalized note, showcasing commitment to guest satisfaction and personalized service.
📜 Your takeaway: Unexpected, pleasant surprises delight customers. Train your employees to focus on delivering positive CX every time. Listen proactively to mentions on social media and deliver great customer service by responding quickly, resolving concerns or going the extra mile to delight the customer.
13. TD Bank — Paying gratitude via a unique ATM
What happens when you convert your ATM into an “Automated Thanking Machine”?
TD Bank did exactly that to delight customers. A new model of their ATM surprised customers by dispensing gifts instead of bank balance statements. The result? Delighted and joyous customers.
People received Disneyland tickets, invites to baseball games and much more. In addition, over 30,000 customers who were in the branch at 2:00 p.m. that day received a $20 voucher.
📜 Your takeaway: Use innovative, creative ways to give back to customers. Delight them with special coupons and surprise gifts during festive seasons. Celebrate them with personalized offers and craft memorable experiences that go beyond expectations, fostering a strong and lasting connection with your brand.
Top 5 tips for good customer service
While following the above examples of customer service, maximize your results by implementing these time-tested tips and strategies:
Communicate clearly and in a timely manner: Respond to customer emails, phone calls and messages clearly and timely with the right information. Customer service automation software like IVR, chatbots and conversational AI can help shorten your response times.
Treat customers with respect and empathy: Train your staff to show empathy in customer service and treat customers with courtesy and sensitivity. These qualities of customer service will reap rich dividends for your business.
Provide personalized service: Enhance support experiences with a personal touch — address customers by name, understand their preferences and provide tailored recommendations.
Apologize when things go wrong: You must accept and apologize if your brand hurts customer sentiments knowingly or unknowingly. Accepting errors helps gain customer trust.
Leverage a modern tech solution to optimize and refine your customer service
With brands vying to win the top spot in the customer service game, technology can be the differentiator that helps you level up and outperform the competition. With a modern customer service solution like Sprinklr Service, you automate routine processes, expedite responses and personalize experiences with customer data and insights across 30+ touchpoints, including voice and social. With 9 out of 10 A-list enterprises trusting Sprinklr to power their customer service and countless testaments for its efficacy and performance, you just can’t afford to stay behind.
Book a free trial and get the Sprinklr advantage today!
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