How customers prefer to communicate with your brand is continually evolving, and customers expect to be able to reach you across multiple channels based on their timelines.

However, customer expectations go beyond simply wanting service when they’re ready for it. To make sure your interactions with them are convenient and helpful, you need a clear customer service strategy. 

The following best practices can help your team offer an exceptional customer experience.

Why following customer service best practices matters

A customer’s positive experience with your brand can encourage them to keep coming back for years. Plus, loyal customers are more likely to refer others to your business.

Here are the benefits you can look forward to when your team uses a customer-centric support strategy:

Lower customer costs

Keeping your existing customer base is far more cost effective than finding new customers. However, to retain those customers, it’s important to focus on customer service best practices that are known to keep customers happy.

More customer referrals

Happy customers are more likely to offer word-of-mouth recommendations and reviews on social media, which can help you gain new customers. Leveling up your customer service strategies can help you reduce complaints and increase referrals. 

Moreover, by providing a seamless experience and incorporating a referral program with a unique referral link, you can further boost customer engagement and bring in new business.

Better service offering

One effective way to know how to improve your customer service is to gather feedback about how customers perceive and interact with your brand and how they’d like to see your service improve.

Developing a repeatable process for customer data collection, such as emailing a satisfaction survey at the end of each phone call, can help you pinpoint existing issues and help your support agents offer even better service.

Create a competitive advantage

Exceptional customer service doesn‘t just help your brand reputation and bottom line. It can also propel you ahead of your competition. By instilling customer service strategies that create an exceptional experience, you can set the customer service standard for your industry.

7 recommended customer service strategies

These seven best practices for customer care can help your team have better interactions with your customers.

1. Get the first touchpoint right

First impressions are everything. Prepare your team members to deliver outstanding customer service during a customer’s first touchpoint, no matter the channel or customer issue.

According to Coveo Research, customers lose patience when they can’t reach an agent or get conflicting information from agents. This increases churn rates and reduces loyalty, especially early in the relationship. 

In fact, the report says, “76% of customers said they would abandon a brand after three negative service experiences.”

Best practices for improving the first touchpoint include:

• Gather and assess customer data to see how well your team responds to questions. Metrics like Customer Effort Score (CES) are helpful for analyzing those early touchpoints.
• Enhance your customer service software tools. The right tech can improve efficiency and response times.
• Do test runs with new tech and processes to ensure everything works before it reaches the customer.
• Use helpdesk software to track and review requests in one place and spot opportunities for improvement.
• If you have any automated service solutions in play (such as live chat or other assistants), make sure you have handoff processes in place—remember, it’s about AI helping human agents, not replacing them.

2. Add more customer self-service options

While fantastic customer associates are key to offering quality service, modern customer service strategies should also include ways for customers to help themselves. 

Some customers are actually happier if they can find the answer without contacting you at all.

Here are some tips for providing more self-service options:

• Create and maintain a knowledge base. Provide FAQs, guides, and how-tos to empower your customers. Organize it well so customers can easily find what they need.
• Keep the knowledge base current. Add new answers, tutorials, and tips, and enrich the experience with images and videos. For example, a free online video maker can help you create engaging tutorials.
• Use a chatbot to direct customers to answers for FAQs. Chatbots help when a live agent isn’t available or when a customer prefers a quick digital interaction.

3. Expand front-line decision-making

Many customers want a personal touch from a live agent. These customers value friendly, knowledgeable, and proactive support. Empowering your agents to make decisions can speed up resolution and improve the customer experience.

Here’s how to empower your front-line team:

• Provide training and mentorship so they have the knowledge to make customer-focused decisions.
• Ask for input from your team on where they feel confident and where they need more support.
• Clearly define what decisions they can make and document policies that guide them.
• Keep communication open between agents and management, so help is always within reach.

4. Maximize data collection

Customer data is gold. It helps you understand what’s working and what’s not, and helps refine your customer service strategy.

Useful sources of data include:

• Customer reviews
• Surveys and interviews
• Support ticket histories
• Call transcripts
• Embedded analytics and reports

5. Commit to an omnichannel presence

Support should be available on your customer’s terms. Some prefer live chat, others email or social media. Whatever the mix, your team needs to preserve context across all channels to deliver a consistent omnichannel customer experience.

6. Deliver consistent service experiences

While the first experience counts, every interaction matters.

To ensure consistency:

• Create an internal playbook with guidelines, canned responses, and situation-specific tips.
• Provide ongoing training to reinforce protocols and introduce new tools.
• Run a quality assurance program so reps get feedback and improve interactions.
• Develop a positive team culture. When your team is supported, your customers feel it, too.

7. Ask for (and use) feedback

Feedback is your secret sauce. It’s not always easy to read, but it’s essential to improving the customer experience.

Here are some ways to encourage feedback:

• Add survey links throughout the customer journey—on your site, in emails, post-purchase, or even after an abandoned cart.
• Use tools like CSAT, CES, and Net Promoter Score (NPS) to get quantitative insights.
• Share the feedback with your team and use it to fine-tune training and interactions.

Improve your customer service strategy by staying current and consistent

By following the customer service strategies above, you can reduce churn, retain more customers, and gather meaningful insights to improve service.

From first impressions to omnichannel support, self-service tools to data-driven decisions, consistent delivery to empowered agents—every piece of your strategy counts. 

And remember: a great customer service strategy isn’t just about solving problems—it’s about setting the standard.

Want more customer service insights, tips, and tricks? Check out the PartnerHero blog.

Need a little help with your customer support or some assistance from Augmented AI? Get in touch, and let’s have a chat—no strings attached!

‍