How Do You Define Great Customer Service? Related Articles Courtesy Calls: A Great Way to Enhance CX 18 Characteristics of Great Customer Service 26 Great Techniques for Showing Real Empathy in Customer Service 50 Great Customer Service Ideas © meeboonstudio - Adobe Stock - 487258792 5,280 Filed under - Definitions, Customer Service What is the definition of Great Customer Service and how does it compare with Good Customer Service? This is one of the areas where a dictionary definition does not help you. Dictionary definition Wikipedia defines customer service as “the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase”. In my dictionary, ‘Great’ is defined as “a quantity considerably above average”. A practical definition from the professionals I was at a conference and I posed a question of the 80 or so customer service professionals in the audience – “How do you define Great Customer Service?” The examples provided gave a fascinating insight into the difference between Great and Good Customer Service. The 3 themes that seemed to emerge were: “Great customer service is all about exceeding customer expectations.” “It doesn’t matter who you speak to in in organisation you get a consistently good experience or problem resolution.” “The best service is no service.” I have coupled this with some insight from a number of previous workshops that I have held and have created this handy table that highlights the differences: Good Customer Service Great Customer Service Meets expectations Exceeds expectations Self-service Proactive differentiation One size fits all Personalised service Easily forgotten Creates a lasting impression 80% of calls answered in 20 seconds 95% of calls answered in 15 seconds Efficient Fast Customer satisfaction Customer delight Communication Rapport Low customer effort Easy to deal with Customer owns the problem Employee owns the problem May require several inbound contacts First contact resolution Customer selects communication channel Able to easily switch between communication channels With thanks to Jonty Pearce at Call Centre Helper Author: Megan Jones Published On: 3rd Jun 2016 - Last modified: 7th Apr 2022 Read more about - Definitions, Customer Service Recommended Articles Courtesy Calls: A Great Way to Enhance CX 18 Characteristics of Great Customer Service 26 Great Techniques for Showing Real Empathy in Customer Service 50 Great Customer Service Ideas Related Reports eBook: Customer Success Stories 2024 eBook: How to Transform Your Customer Service Contact Centre Reports, Surveys and White Papers Get the latest exciting call centre reports, specialist whitepapers and interesting case-studies. Choose the content that you want to receive. Contact Centre Reports, Surveys and White Papers Invites to exclusive Webinars & Events Weekly Newsletter