[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2018\/03\/01\/going-for-service-gold-customer-experience\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2018\/03\/01\/going-for-service-gold-customer-experience\/","headline":"Five-star customer service experience: Going for service gold","name":"Five-star customer service experience: Going for service gold","description":"Engaging with your customers and providing a five-star customer service experience needs to appear effortless to consumers, but requires internal collaboration.","datePublished":"2018-03-01","dateModified":"2021-09-06","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/volker-hildebrand\/#Person","name":"Volker Hildebrand","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/volker-hildebrand\/","identifier":174,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5f58a914f2f51077355d5d7a11e13549e99c0a8d68b1b22eeba33fdce8906bb6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5f58a914f2f51077355d5d7a11e13549e99c0a8d68b1b22eeba33fdce8906bb6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Future of Commerce","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","width":172,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/thumbnail-08b6205b80e3a82d6c5f6b764d243017-1.png","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/thumbnail-08b6205b80e3a82d6c5f6b764d243017-1.png","height":368,"width":1185},"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2018\/03\/01\/going-for-service-gold-customer-experience\/","about":[{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/marketing\/customer-engagement-marketing\/","name":"Customer Engagement","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Customer_engagement","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q5196451"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/customer-experience\/customer-experience-general\/","name":"Customer Experience","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Customer_experience","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q984142"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/service\/customer-service\/","name":"Customer Service","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Customer_service","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q1060653"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/commerce\/intelligent-enterprise\/","name":"Intelligent Enterprise","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Intelligent_enterprise","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q6044119"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/service\/","name":"Service","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Service","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q7406919"]}],"wordCount":964,"keywords":["Best Customer Service","Customer Experience | CX","Customer Service"],"articleBody":"Every time the Big Winter Games come around, I find myself with an overwhelming sense of inspiration. The Big Games have been one of my favorite sports events ever since I was a child; I still remember watching virtually all of the events \u2013 yes, even figure skating \u2013 together with my dad, who was a huge fan of winter sports.Watching the best athletes in the world overcome obstacles, push the limits ,and achieve greatness serves as a great motivator for how we can apply the same level of dedication and excellence to our own fields.While I consider myself an avid skier, I’m not racing down the mountain nor physically soaring to new heights on the half-pipe like the athletes on TV. However, I like to think my career in marketing, commerce, and customer service has plenty of opportunities for a healthy adrenaline spike.Five-star customer service experience: Make customer service effortlessEngaging with your customers and striving to provide a five-star customer service experience is very similar to receiving a gold medal \u2013 whether it is on the halfpipe, the slope, the ice rink or the ice track \u2013 it needs to be effortless.Customers expect convenience, speed, reliability, and relevance when they interact with your company \u2013 whether they search for the right product, would like to get advice and recommendations, when they are ready to buy, or when they need help after the purchase.Nowadays, many shoppers prefer to do all of this online or on their mobile device, and they flock to the brands who provide great customer service via those devices.This requires a lot of effort, just like becoming a world champion. You need to be aware of everything that affects how you get down the mountain \u2013 and that includes the snow conditions, your gear, your posture, the strength of your core, and how you react to difficult conditions. This requires relentless practice, rigid preparation, and the ambition to win.When the final race is on, everything needs to come together and run like a well-oiled machine. To compete with the best of the best, you need to do all of this and perform with grace.The same principal applies to winning the customer experience \u2013 it encompasses a broad range of functions. So, it\u2019s important to hone and perfect all the various aspects of it \u2013 across the front-office and the back office \u2013 to achieve the ultimate prize: customer loyalty.      What is customer experience in 2025: Definition, strategy, examples                Everything you need to know about customer experience, including: CX meaning, tools, strategies, measurements, and real life examples.      The technology factor: Man and machineEquipment and technology have always been factors in the Big Games: the material and shape of the skis, the wax, the suit of the ski-jumpers, and more. Recently, video, analytics, and data have had a role in these events.Similarly, in customer service, technologies such as AI and machine learning, have become available and they can be used to improve customer experiences.Armed with these technologies, we are now entering a new stage of customer service. Chatbots never sleep and are easy to scale \u2013 posing many benefits for the \u201cgold\u201d standard of customer service.Chatbots can be a great supplemental service option that can help customers resolve simple requests quickly and conveniently, and enable human support resources to be more efficient and focused on larger, more in-depth customer demands.      Chatbots in the customer journey are a growing importance                Chatbots in the customer journey enhance e-commerce, providing personalized, omnichannel experiences to consumers, no matter where or when they shop.      Always on: Go digital for five-star customer service experienceAccording to a 2018 study,\u00a087% of U.S. consumers expect\u00a0 response from customer service within 24 hours of a request and 20% within one hour.Traditionally, customer service has been placed at the tail-end of any engagement \u2013 solely a post-purchase experience, however, that is no longer adequate.Service needs to be integrated into every stage of the buying journey, which can be particularly tricky with the proliferation of digital channels, causing shoppers to look for relevant and timely answers to their questions, regardless of when or where they are being asked.Airlines have become an early front runner in some aspects of the digital customer service race. In general, the industry makes a variety of online tools available \u2013 mobile apps, websites, and text alerts \u2013 allowing customers to answer questions themselves and handle routine tasks that were traditionally handled by agents.      4 ways airlines could soar using Twitter for customer service                Social media is a powerful tool for customer service, especially travelers. Learn how Twitter could help airlines soar with engagement and loyalty.      You are what you eat: Gather clean data and feed your botsWith machine learning evolving, virtual assistants including chatbots, are taking on more tasks by the day.Essential to success of this technology is quality data \u2013 the more of it, the smarter machines become and the more accurate insights are derived. If effective, companies can digitalize manual tasks, shaving off minutes of customer resolution time, keeping the customer happy and facilitating loyalty.Successful customer service is a combination of convenience (making service effortless), responsiveness (speed), and actual problem resolution. It doesn\u2019t happen overnight and takes time, conscious practice, and diligence. Fortunately, for those in the commerce industry, the \u201cgold\u201d standard isn\u2019t reserved to the lucky few, it\u2019s available for all. Next time you see your favorite athlete do something incredible, consider how you can do the same in your own field to get your own gold medal.  Customers want excellent service.Brands know they need to deliver it, but often fall short.Take a product tour to see how modern CRM powers great customer service HERE.This post first appeared on The Marketing Insider, and is republished with permission.\u00a0"},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2018","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2018\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"03","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2018\/\/03\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"01","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2018\/\/03\/\/01\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Five-star customer service experience: Going for service gold","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2018\/03\/01\/going-for-service-gold-customer-experience\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]