Raising The Bar On Customer Service

By Debbie Hauss, Editor-in-Chief

 
These days it takes a lot to impress a consumer with customer service, especially when that consumer is tech-savvy.

So that’s why I felt compelled to share this story: a CIO friend-of-mine shared a surprisingly great customer experience he had with American Express a few days ago.

First the disturbing part: He had tried to purchase both gas and coffee at a rest stop on the highway in New Jersey, to no avail. For some reason consumers are not able to use the same credit card to make two different purchases at the gas pump and the convenience store. That’s an issue for another blog…

But within a few short minutes after this debacle, he received an automated call from American Express, letting him know that there was a problem with his card. Although the call was automated, it also was completely interactive. He was able to choose to have the information sent to him by text message while remaining on the call; and as soon as he checked the text message the automated caller let him know the message had been retrieved.

Cheers to American Express for this effective and efficient, tech-savvy customer service!

This really raises the bar for other retailers. Lesson learned: The status quo is not going to garner the attention you are looking for when it comes to delighting customers.

Here are a few more examples of our coverage of the innovative use of automated and/or call center customer service:

• Hanover Direct Makes Move To Omnichannel
• Health Products Retailer Invests In Omnichannel Customer Service
• Positec Improves Call Center Productivity

…and some insights into customer service challenges:

• Why Customer Service Is The Achilles Heel Of Omnichannel
• Forrester Analyst Shares Social Customer Service Best Practices