One bad customer service experience can tarnish customers' opinion of a product or a brand indefinitely. But one exceptional experience, on the other hand, can them into loyal brand advocates.

In fact, customers will do a lot for brands they're loyal to: 67.six% of survey respondents said they'd bring together the loyalty or VIP program of a brand they're loyal to (compared to 59.eight% in 2019), while 56% said they'd spend more on a brand they're loyal to even if cheaper options existed elsewhere (compared to 34.5% in 2019).

So, how tin brands actually earn the loyalty of customers? To answer this question, we've curated a listing of B2B and B2C brands that are established equally industry leaders -- and that deliver infrequent client service. Simply, before we dive into those examples, we demand to set a baseline for what "good" customer service is.

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In addition to the ones listed above, let's interruption down the six most common characteristics of good customer service teams.

ane. Rapid Response Times

Customers are ever looking for fast solutions. In fact, 66% of adults say that the most of import affair a visitor can practice is value their time. This means your squad needs to focus on efficiency and develop a workflow that streamlines unlike support functions. Consider adopting a assist desk tool to manage and automate a multifariousness of service tasks.

2. Customer Feedback Collection and Analysis

Since client needs vary from industry to industry, proficient customer service looks dissimilar depending on the type of business y'all're running. The best customer service teams use feedback collection tools to identify the specific needs of their customer base and create personalized solutions for them.

Rather than assuming you know what your customers want, achieve out to them through surveys and interviews to get their perspective on your business. These tools will aid your team uncover new opportunities to enhance your products and improve the customer experience.

3. Customer Self-Service

When your customers desire to observe their own solutions to service problems, they should use self-service resource provided by your business. For example, one of the well-nigh mutual cocky-service resources is a knowledge base.

Knowledge bases consist of categorized support manufactures and FAQ pages that supply customers with solutions to common user roadblocks. With more customers wanting to solve problems on their own, self-service tools like these are assets when providing high-quality customer service.

4. Omni-Channel Back up

It should be like shooting fish in a barrel for customers to contact your back up team, regardless of the medium they're using. Your team should be equipped to answer to incoming service requests via phone, electronic mail, social media, live conversation, and whatever other advice channel that your customers prefer. Providing this type of omnichannel experience makes your team more accessible and creates less stressful service interactions.

v. Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence refers to your ability to read and react to other people's emotions. This skill is highly valuable in customer service roles because it helps with diffusing hard customer interactions. Every business concern experiences a frustrated or upset customer, but the best service teams are able to de-escalate the situation and prevent potential churn. In fact, avoidable churn represents $35.3 billion.

6. Creative Problem Solving

At the end of the mean solar day, the best customer service teams solve their customers' problems. They're tenacious and adamant to help their customers attain their goals. In many cases, this requires agents to be creative and come up with unique solutions to customer issues. Every bit you lot'll meet in the examples below, sometimes excellent customer service means finding a solution that falls outside of normal company protocol.

one. ClusterTruck

excellent customer service examples: ClusterTruck

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The customer service at ClusterTruck is so seamless, you may not know whether you're troubleshooting with the client service team or the marketing squad — a telltale sign of superior omnichannel support.

The CEO, Chris Baggott, sends regular emails to the ClusterTruck customers. In 1 of the emails, a HubSpotter noticed she could get a actually proficient bargain on her next gild, but during the pandemic, she wasn't able to receive delivery in the surface area where she lived.

The client service team sprung into activeness offering her a long listing of exact locations she could choice up her society that were equally close as possible to her address without leaving the ClusterTruck delivery range. Another client service rep chimed in with a map that starred the locations for a visual representation of where she could choice up her lunch.

excellent customer service examples: ClusterTruck

Adept Customer Service Takeaway: That marketing email served as a cute instance where a team could not merely appoint the customer but delight them, likewise. ClusterTruck put the flywheel in motion starting past attracting the customer to an offer, engaging them when they had a question, and delighting them with a solution. Every bit a event, the customer sent the email with all of the helpful information to her network who were fans of ClusterTruck but had the aforementioned issue. Now that's brand loyalty in activity.

2. OhLolly

excellent customer service examples: OhLolly

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Korean dazzler brand Ohlolly has fabricated waves in the LA beauty customs as a consequence of their dedication to the customer. The owners draw their business equally, "A place where customers were treated like friends."

Client service is at the forefront of OhLolly's business operations. To make the customer experience more personalized, they've started requesting feedback on the brands they offer. This helps the team curate the perfect selection of dazzler solutions for their customers. OhLolly even goes the extra mile to share updates when they restock a beloved brand or add new products to their collection. Our very own HubSpotter, Kassandra Mendes, experienced this offset mitt:

excellent customer service examples: OhLolly

Expert Client Service Takeaway: This instance shows u.s. that a simple gesture to evidence our customers that we are actively listening to what they tell us can grow make loyalty far beyond our initial interaction with them. Depending on the size of your business organisation, your team tin recreate this interaction fairly hands. When you lot bring on a new product or service, do a search in your customer service inbox for mentions of it. Then follow upward with customers who made the asking and let them know it's available. If your company is too large to practice this manually, y'all can export a listing of email addresses and upload them into your email marketing organisation to notify them that way. Either manner, the outreach is well worth the reward.

three. AdRoll

excellent customer service examples: adroll

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AdRoll helps D2C marketers reach and resonate with their audition by centralizing their marketing and advertising activities in one platform. By spending less fourth dimension looking for data, marketers who apply AdRoll spend more than time doing the work that makes the data.

We've mentioned earlier that i of the tenets of practiced client service is cocky-service support. AdRoll's robust aid center begins the user'due south customer service experience with iv options to choose from: an intro into AdRoll, getting started with setting up your AdRoll business relationship, FAQs, and an choice to browse by topic. If none of these become you exactly what yous're looking for, there'due south a search bar at the tiptop. Of grade, if all those options withal leave you lacking, their customer support team is available to help respond your questions. One customer wrote a review virtually AdRoll on G2 and said this:

The retargeting has helped generate a consistent conversion rate over the last half-dozen months and their customer service is helpful and super efficient.

Good Customer Service Takeaway: Your client service team doesn't have to provide round-the-clock alive back up to be a champion of the customer experience. AdRoll gives us an ideal example of "work smarter, non harder" when it comes to solving client pain points. With a self-service solution that is easy to navigate, your customers will be just as happy that you lot saved them a phone phone call and gave them a tool to find a solution instead.

4. Santa Cruz Bicycles

excellent customer service examples: Santa Cruz Bicycles

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Santa Cruz Bicycles articles and sells high-quality off-road bicycles. Its bikes are known for their high-performance and its customers securely care about the technology that they're riding.

Only, the cycle's performance isn't the only feature that Santa Cruz customers beloved. They're loyal to the visitor considering its service and support teams match the quality of its products. Customers can trust that any problem they take with a bicycle will be solved swiftly and with excellent service. Kyle Harder, Santa Cruz Rider Support Lead, noted in an interview with HubSpot that,

"What sets usa autonomously as a company is that we want to deal with anyone that owns our production, regardless of where y'all bought it. If yous have an issue with a Santa Cruz Bike and come to us with your issue, we'll help y'all resolve your issue."

And, Kyle wasn't just talking almost problems with the bike. The visitor is also focused on removing long-term roadblocks from the customer experience.

For example, when the business was first starting out, it experienced a sudden growth. Customers loved the bicycles and the demand for the product rose beyond what Santa Cruz's service team could support. Agents were working tirelessly and the team's electronic mail inbox virtually reached capacity.

Recognizing this flaw in its service experience, Santa Cruz adopted customer service tools to aid its support squad. Reps started recording data on customer issues and highlighted problems that were most common with their customer base. They created a shared inbox with an email alias and then customers could easily contact the support team. They as well created a customer feedback loop so they could collect and share customer reviews with the unabridged organization.

Good Customer Service Takeaway: When your visitor experiences growth, information technology can sometimes create unexpected problems that popular up downwards the road. If these issues are left unchecked, they tin can become a detriment to the customer experience and halt your business'south success.

Santa Cruz recognized a potential flaw and acted immediately. They adopted client service tools to ease the pressure on their support team while simultaneously improving the customer experience. That style, reps weren't being overworked and had the time and energy to provide first-class customer service.

Additionally, Santa Cruz used its new tools to conduct reporting likewise. This allowed the visitor to maintain loftier levels of customer satisfaction while its customer base continued to grow. Fifty-fifty though more customers were interacting with the business, each interaction still felt genuine and personalized because of the client information Santa Cruz had gathered.

5. Lyft

excellent customer service examples: Lyft

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Ride-hailing app Lyft succeeds in the customer service infinite by making its customers proud by putting its coin where its mouth is toward values and causes customers truly intendance about.

For case, Lyft announced its delivery to minimizing the environmental bear on of the millions of car rides it provides every 24-hour interval by declaring all of its rides to be carbon neutral, thanks to its voluntary purchase of carbon offsets.

And in 2017, Lyft donated $1 million to the American Civil Liberties Spousal relationship (ACLU) in response to the introduction of an executive order that restricted immigration from seven Muslim-bulk countries to the United states -- an deed majority of Americans opposed. Lyft condemned the executive guild, writing in an electronic mail to customers:

"Banning people of a particular faith or creed, race or identity, sexuality or ethnicity, from entering the U.S. is antithetical to both Lyft'southward and our nation's core values. We stand up firmly against these actions, and will non be silent on issues that threaten the values of our community."

Wherever you stand on these important problems, it's undeniable that Lyft's customers care nearly these topics all over the earth. Lyft is doing work that'due south of import to its customers with initiatives like those described above, and Round Up & Donate, its program that lets customers round up the toll of their rides and donate the actress change to the charitable organisation of their choosing (the ACLU is ane cause).

Good Customer Service Takeaway: An important facet of customer service that can exist difficult to measure is continuing for the values that are important to your customers. Customers take pride in supporting businesses that stand for them -- and lxx% desire to know what businesses are doing to address these issues -- so companies shouldn't be afraid to serve customers in big-flick ways that make them proud to support them, which will encourage them to share and refer their friends and colleagues. Even if you don't accept the budget for a $1 meg donation like Lyft, getting customers involved with and excited most fundraising and charity partnerships can go a long fashion towards fostering loyalty.

6. Basecamp

excellent customer service examples: Basecamp Paradigm Source

I recently heard from Kristin Aardsma, who works in customer support at Basecamp. She spoke most Basecamp'south customer back up squad -- more than specifically, how the team measured success to reduce employee stress and turnover, and attain better outcomes for customers.

Part of Basecamp'south solution to solving for the customer and reducing employee stress was creating time in the workday for research, innovation, and creativity. To that end, customer support reps spend two hours per mean solar day off the phone lines and away from the queue -- and they re-dedicate that time toward other projects. Employees have more opportunities for company-wide impact by collecting research, analyzing data, identifying patterns and trends, and working on projects and processes to accomplish ameliorate results.

Two hours per mean solar day, or 10 hours per week, might sound like a lot, merely information technology paid off for Basecamp. Employees weren't called-for out due to overload and stress, and Basecamp wasn't over capacity and unable to solve customer problems considering team members were happier.

Practiced Customer Service Takeaway: Time spent away from the queue isn't time wasted -- so make certain to dedicate fourth dimension during your week to identifying patterns, analyzing data, and creating processes to piece of work more efficiently. When you're burning through tickets or on the phones non-cease all day, it can be difficult to step away, simply front-line customer service insights and feedback can help your organization, so brand sure to collect and share them.

seven. Wistiaexcellent customer service examples: Wistia

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Our friends over at Wistia -- a video hosting and analytics platform -- believe in the power of video to help tell visitor stories. And that isn't just restricted to marketing videos and social media content -- Wistia uses videos to provide great customer service, too.

Wistia team members create personalized how-to videos and individualized thank-you notes to assist customers and demonstrate how to apply unlike aspects of the software using a visual medium.

It makes sense for a video hosting brand to employ videos when helping customers, merely it'due south also helpful for the customers themselves, too. As Harper, a Client Happiness team member at Wistia says,

When it comes to communicating technical concepts or processes, videos are the best."

"Fifty-fifty if I can explicate something clearly with words," he says, "it's totally different to exist able to bear witness someone how few steps it takes to get from point A to betoken B. Realistically, optics will gloss over a wall of text."

That's how Wistia has seen such success in achieving good customer service -- by showing, rather than telling, customers how to troubleshoot, they can learn more than finer and remember solutions better than reading an electronic mail or hopping on a call.

Good Customer Service Takeaway: Don't feel restricted to telephone calls to provide exceptional client service. Instead, apply engineering to deliver support in the medium that makes the almost sense. Tools similar screenshots, GIFs, and videos can go a long mode toward explaining a tricky concept, and they don't demand to exist fancy to work. Tools like Jing, Crawly Screenshot, LICEcap, QuickTime Thespian, and fifty-fifty your own smartphone or webcam can be used to create helpful resources customers can refer to again and once again.

And, of form, if yous're a HubSpot customer, you can integrate with Wistia to create and host video using its neat software.

eight. Glossier

excellent customer service examples: Glossier

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Skincare and makeup brand Glossier is hailed as an industry disruptor for preaching "skincare offset, makeup second," simply its customer-centric business model and customer service team are confusing, also.

CEO and co-founder Emily Weiss explains that she built Glossier effectually the crowdsourced opinions of real women about the beauty and skincare products they loved -- and the ones they wanted, too. By reading and engaging with readers on her blog and on social media, she congenital a make that was about affordable skincare and beauty products that made women feel good to use.

That social media savvy and crowdsourcing prowess hasn't faded from view since Glossier has grown bigger and bigger -- in fact, it'due south still the guiding philosophy when Glossier brings new products to market, like when it launched its commencement sunscreen later on calls from customers to create a product that wasn't pasty and didn't smell like sunblock. Weiss told Entrepreneur that she received "and so many DMs from people on Instagram writing to say, 'Thank you so much for listening; we've been waiting for this moment.'" Most of the products Glossier offers are made vegan and cruelty-free in some other example of the brand listening to and immediately implementing customer feedback.

Glossier's customer service department, otherwise known every bit the gTEAM, are responsible for collecting and responding to customer comments and messages on social media, and creating individualized experiences with each engagement. Mayhap that's why the team is a team inside the marketing department, and why they're called "editors" -- considering content cosmos is a large part of Glossier'southward customer service strategy. With likes, retweets, emoji-busy DMs, and blog posts, Glossier strives to brand each slice of content engaging and authentic to the brand.

For case, here's an email I received from the gTEAM after making 1 of many contempo purchases:

excellent customer service examples: Glossier

The emails were clearly written by a existent person, and they feature analytics and feedback tools to go quantitative numbers to support the qualitative feedback editors receive, too. This simple act of proactive outreach and help was helpful and memorable for me as a customer, and information technology ensured that Glossier would solve a trouble I was having with the production before I got frustrated and complained.

Good Client Service Takeaway: It's not enough to admit and respond to every piece of incoming customer feedback if you're not listening to what your customers are maxim. Make certain you lot're responding to customer feedback, only also make certain your team is identifying and communicating whatever recurring trends to your company'southward leadership and product teams so you're able to consistently meet customer expectations and fulfill their needs.

nine. The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company

excellent customer service examples: Ritz Carlton

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The Ritz-Carlton's service policies are so legendary, stories of satisfied customers have even made it into books -- like this one.

In it, client experience expert and author John DiJulius describes the story of his stay at a Ritz-Carlton hotel -- when he unknowingly left something backside in his guest room.

I left The Ritz-Carlton Sarasota in such a rush for the airport that I forgot my laptop charger in my room. I planned to call when I got back into my office, but before I could, I received a side by side-day air package from The Ritz-Carlton Sarasota. In information technology was my charger, with a note saying, 'Mr. DiJulius, I wanted to make sure we got this to you correct away. I am sure you lot need it, and, just in case, I sent yous an extra charger for your laptop." The note was signed by Larry K. Kinney, in Loss Prevention.'"

If this customer service story sounds over-the-tiptop skillful, it's non. Ritz-Carlton's commitment to exceptional customer service is then strong that any employee is independently authorized to spend upward to $2,000 per twenty-four hours to improve guest experience. That'south right -- whether an employee works at the reception desk, in the restaurant, or cleaning hotel rooms, they tin independently determine to brand a guest'due south experience infrequent -- as was the case in the example in a higher place.

In an interview with Forbes, The Ritz-Carlton Group President and COO, Herve Humler, describes the organization's key to making customer service so stellar: employee appointment. Humler noted,

I believe in the power of recognition and empowerment leading to great employee appointment. And employee engagement is critical to guest engagement."

Skillful Customer Service Takeaway: Employee empowerment is critical to achieving good outcomes for your customers. The beginning step toward employee empowerment is engagement: Make customer service part of your mission, and brand your mission a function of everything your organisation does. And so, structure and incentivize your team so employees tin can work independently to solve customer problems and think creatively.

And if you don't have $2,000 per twenty-four hour period in your budget, you tin can even so empower customer service reps with strategies like:

  • Measuring qualitative and quantitative feedback, and not just how many cases or tickets they resolve in a given solar day
  • Freeing upwards employee time off the phones or the queue to bear inquiry, analyze data, create processes, or work on other projects to have greater impact
  • Devote artistic or monetary resource to helping employees create moments to delight your customer with handwritten thank-yous notes, small swag gifts, or disbelieve codes

10. Whirlaway Sports

Whirlaway Sports is a running apparel and equipment shop located in northern Massachusetts. It differentiates itself from competitors through its above-and-beyond customer service feel. And, that's non just my stance. Facebook and Yelp reviews requite it a five out of five-star rating.

Here's why Whirlaway Sports is unlike. They guide you through every step of the heir-apparent journey. For example, I went there to purchase a pair of running shoes. Some other disclaimer: I never purchase running shoes. I'm more of an athlete who begrudgingly chose running. So, when I needed a pair of shoes I went on Yelp and plant Whirlaway Sports. The reviews didn't permit me downwardly equally I was greeted immediately as I walked into the store. I told them I needed shoes and they paired me with 1 of their running specialists.

This rep knew his stuff. He asked me about my running style, where I ran, how often I would run. And then we talked about price range and brand preferences. They even had a high-tech pes scanner that analyzed my feet to match for potential inserts. It was clear that every step of the experienced was planned and detailed.

And, to really get above-and-beyond, the rep knocked the price downward because he knew the shoes I chose were going on sale the post-obit calendar week. He didn't have to mention that, but it was articulate he was focused on my goals, not getting me out of the store.

Good Client Service Takeaway: It doesn't matter if you're a multi-billion-dollar company or a local business organisation, your service should be consistent throughout the entire customer experience. Even though Whirlaway is a pocket-size business, they've made their mark by committing to the client's goals. This, in turn, produces loyal customer advocates who willingly refer new leads to the concern.

You're On Your Way to Good Customer Service

Every year, customers change their buying habits, marketing preferences, and so on. One thing that volition never alter is the customer's demand for support and service. Companies should always be thinking about the all-time way to serve their customers and how they tin arrange to see the moment. Now that y'all accept the tips and all-time practices for good customer service, apply this information during your adjacent client interaction.

Editor'due south note: This post was originally published in July 2017 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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Originally published Aug 19, 2021 12:45:00 PM, updated Baronial 19 2021