BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here

More From Forbes

Edit Story

How To Use Technology, Brains, and Service To Build Customer Loyalty

This article is more than 10 years old.

When you think of great customer service, what comes to mind?  Probably great performances by well-trained employees.  I'm, of course, quite the fan of this approach, professionally as well as personally.

But I'm going to focus for today on using technology to provide exceptional customer service. Specifically, I want to talk about achieving the level of service I call "anticipatory customer service" by using your technology to “get to the customer first.”

The power of anticipatory customer service – whether delivered by humans or technology

Anticipatory customer service is the highest level of service. It's a customer experience that manages to serve even the unexpressed wishes and needs (to use the Ritz-Carlton’s great phrase) of your customers.

Whether delivered by humans or technology, this is your opportunity to use customer service to distinguish your business in the eyes of (and emotions of, and memories of) your customers.  This is important--extremely important.  It's here that you shift your customers' perception of your company out of the "they're perfectly fine for now" to "they're my one and only." It's here that they become truly committed to, loyal to, the idea of working with you on a permanent basis.

So, how does technology fit into this?  Well,  technology doesn’t do anything on its own.  But it works in your favor as soon as you develop a company policy and mindset of using communications technology and automation to let customers hear from you before they have to ask for anything themselves.

In other words, this is as much a brain change as a technology change.

Like much else in customer service, this requires a masterful touch, far removed from the hamfistedness of a spammer. Applied properly, the principle of ‘‘getting to them first’’ is a powerful way to make customers feel remembered, cared for, and, ultimately and paradoxically, left alone and unbothered, since they can now relax knowing you will, for example:

• Notify passengers if flights have been delayed or gates change, and if the worst happens (a cancellation) rebook them and alert them to the new arrangements, without any work on the passengers’ part.

• Reach out to customers if there’s a delay in shipping the item you’d promised to deliver before the holidays.

• Remind customers of something they ‘‘should’’ be keeping track of themselves, but that you, in your quest to become their irreplaceable vendor, are happy to put on your own shoulders. For example, you can remind them, before they ask, when their mortgage payments are due or when a medication needs to be refilled.

Along these lines, my credit card company has won me over by taking what should be my responsibility—posting my payments on time—off my shoulders and put it on the company’s. Now, as a result, I’m rarely late on my credit card payments these days, and I don’t really think of switching companies anymore, thanks to the simple automated alert sent to by voice or to my email inbox or to my mobile by text, whichever is my preference.

Provide human alternatives as well

This sense of being able to relax in the vigilant care of your company is analogous to being cared for by a caring parent, an ideal I often suggest you compare your service to. This effect works best if you accompany these automated additions to your repertoire with an option for the recipient to easily reach a human being. Remember, your marketing department would spill its blood to reach a live customer one on one; this isn’t an overhead expense. It’s an opportunity. So strive to offer customers a chance to talk with a human, if that’s their preference, even when you’re reaching out to them through automation.

Where are these opportunities to "get to the customer first"?

•  With anything you think about more than/more frequently than your customers do. If your business is a mail-order pharmacy, it means you work all day on the intricacies of injectable medications. These are expensive and involved medications used for managing multiple sclerosis and other chronic illnesses, requiring pre-approvals from insurance agencies, typically shipped to the customer every ninety days.  Your customer --the patient-- on the other hand, has a life. She’s doing everything other than thinking about her medication supply in the eighty-nine-day span between reorders. So, you set up the ultimate in bulletproof reminder systems, check for her that insurance and physician verifications have remained up to date, etc., and handle everything for her as transparently as possible, thus becoming her indispensable dispensary.

• Any time your customers would otherwise be waiting in the dark. Projects and products built or shipped in stages, from insurance applications and disaster relief efforts to cross-country relocations and event planning, are important opportunities to get to your customers first. ‘‘No news is good news’’ isn’t something customers assume or should assume. Regular updates should be your mode of operation.

• With anything that customers need to know about, if you’re aware of it before they are. This could be protection from a new software virus; many stitches are saved when electronic patches are provided to customers before they need them.

It even works for the ballet

Or, let’s look at an example from the fine arts world: Don’t make your patrons find out for themselves that their normal driving route to the ballet is suddenly closed off.

I was impressed one evening when, courteously and cannily, the ticketing service used by the Philadelphia Ballet sent an automated call to my phone to alert me to leave extra time so as not to miss the opening curtain that Saturday—which we would have by at least forty-five minutes. It also coupled the phone call—just for safety—with an email, as follows:

An important message regarding your performance on Saturday at 12 p.m. The International Dragon Boat Festival and the U.S. Pro Bike Race will take place Saturday. Throughout the day Kelly Drive will be partially closed and MLK Drive will be completely closed. Please allow extra time to arrive at the Academy of Music for your 12 p.m. performance.

Now, the ballet is obviously not responsible for the traffic delay.  And, speaking literally, they can’t lose their money for this particular performance, as their patrons have all bought in advance their nonrefundable tickets this time, but they may never buy them again or become that legacy donor you’ve been looking for if they encounter an aggravating experience that leaves a poor taste in their mouths.

So the ballet is also anticipating the future of its own organization. In an important way.  I encourage you to do the same for yours.

Micah Solomon is a customer experience consultant, customer service consultant, thought leader, keynote speaker, trainer, and bestselling author.