There’s no time like now to show customers love and gratitude. Here are 11 ways to make it special. Any time of the year – and especially after a year like the last one – is relevant to thank customers and send some gratis their way. But while our hearts and minds are on love – it is American Heart Month and nearly Valentine’s Day – it’s even more spot-on. Take time for one or some of these ideas this month: Use social media You can use any or all of your social media platforms to share the love: Mention them. Give a shout-out to customers for their business, great conversation, continued loy ..read more

Challenge. Change. Continue. If you’re a customer service pro, that was the pandemic M.O. What’s next? The Salesforce Fourth State of Service Report uncovered trends that emerged for customer experience and service professionals from the pandemic. The experience is more important than ever to customers who were rattled by COVID-19. So the findings will help you form smart business and customer experience goals for the post-pandemic economy. “We knew based on our previous research that businesses no longer view their service and support operations as cost centers, but as strategic assets that b ..read more

Customers are surrounded by options – even in the confines of their homes and home offices. But they’ll only dump you if you make one of these missteps. Commit these, and you can lose good customers. Of course, you likely try to avoid it. Yet, it happens. “Every single day, businesses lose people they’d like to keep. What’s going on?” asks Kate Zabriskie, president of Business Training Works, Inc. “While the root cause could be anything, usually, these defections stem from a few key mistakes.” Zabriskie shared the mistakes and ways to mitigate them: Mistake 1: Assuming long-time customers are ..read more

Pandemic-induced isolation forced new buying habits. Here are the five new customer types that emerged – and how you want to serve them now. Researchers at HUGE uncovered how the buying landscape changed through the last year. They looked into what customers experienced, felt and wanted. That helped researchers come up with five new customer types – aka buyer personas or customer profiles. Bottom line: Customers are slightly different emerging from lockdowns, limitations, stress and isolation. And you’ll likely want to serve them slightly differently. 3 things impacted changes Three things imp ..read more

We all hope most things look different in 2021 – and the customer experience is no different. Here’s where experts say the biggest changes will be – and how you can adapt. Customers will expect different kinds of experiences – distanced, efficient and personal, at least for some time, according to the Intercom’s 2021 Customer Support Trends Report. In fact, 73% of customer experience leaders said customer expectations for personalized and fast help are on the rise – but just 42% feel sure they can meet those expectations. “The … transformative trends point toward a new era of fast and personal ..read more

Before we turn the page on 2020, let’s look at what worked in this unprecedented year – the stories our CXI readers touched most. The top-rated stories were full of expert advice, real-life strategies and best practices in customer experience, sales and service. Better things are ahead in 2021, and these timely stories will help your organization navigate the new experience. Here are the top stories from Customer Experience Insight in 2020: 11 things you should never say to customers. The wrong words can derail a customer experience in a flash. Here’s how to avoid them. How to respo ..read more

One more casualty of 2020: Customer trust. Customers don’t trust companies the way they used to. Here’s why it’s important to win back their trust – plus how to do it. The “trust” factor dropped 10 points in the Forrester Consumer Energy Index, which essentially means customers feel companies are less likely to follow through on promises. It hurts to say, but customers aren’t optimistic their experience will be as good as you’ve made it in the past. Life in 2020 has made them skeptical of practically everything. So now what? “Almost every industry felt the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on th ..read more

Customer experience pros: Crank up the empathy! It’s one thing customers need more than ever from you now. About 75% of customers said they believe a company’s customer service should be more empathetic and responsive as a result of the pandemic, according to the Hiver study, “Customer Support Through the Eyes of Consumer in 2020.” “What qualifies as great customer service is changing, and changing fast,” says Niraj Ranjan, CEO and Co-founder of Hiver. “A few years back, you could make customers feel taken care of by sending automated replies and by convincingly stating that you are doing your ..read more

If you’ve been writing – and reading – about customer service as long as I have, you know the late Zappos founder Tony Hsieh was a pillar in this field. His ideas and ideals hold true today. Hsieh pioneered the new customer experience. I covered a conference where he spoke more than a decade ago, when the CX movement was emerging from plain old customer service. He shared company details, strategies, everyday tactics and anecdotes like an old friend. He didn’t hold back in fear of others stealing the ideas that made Zappos innovative and loved by customers. He wanted everyone to be as good at ..read more

Customer experience professionals might be the most valuable players in their company’s success in 2021. You hold the key to customer retention. Nearly 60% of the businesses that had to close temporarily due to COVID-19 won’t open again, according to the Yelp Local Economic Impact Report. Many just couldn’t retain the customers they had before they were forced to shut down. And some companies will see struggles into the next year. So retaining customers is more important than ever. Here are five best practices to keep customers happy and loyal: 1. Personalize every experience People feel ..read more