Customer Service Hall of Fame: How 5 Companies Deliver Excellent Customer Service

Providing excellent customer service can be an extremely large project to undertake. Sure, you want to give great service that meets the expectations of your customers, but in today’s day and age, is meeting their expectations enough?

In this very special article, we’re showcasing 5 very different companies that are making waves when it comes to providing unique and innovative customer service.   

5 Companies That Deliver Excellent Customer Service and How They Do It 

Creating a Unique Customer Experience

The Dollar Shave Club (DSC) is an eCommerce business that caters to supplying disposable razors to consumers using a monthly subscription business model. The DSC is an excellent example of how really knowing your target market will allow you to create an authentic and unforgettable customer experience. 

This wildly successful eCommerce business uses their extensive customer knowledge to: 

• • Create content and marketing campaigns that personally speak to their customers.
• • Cater to customers with VIP treatment; delivering products in a stylish, branded box.
• • Offer custom referral programs and giveaways to increase social exposure.

In just a few years of existence, DSC has been able to parlay their complete understanding of their target market to introduce new products to their basic lines. By knowing exactly who they’re selling to, they’ve strategically created a more diverse lifetime value of their customer by branching out and offering additional products their customers want and need.     

To see this outstanding eCommerce business in action, visit their site here.

Providing Fantastic Features

Launched in 2008, Spotify is a music-streaming site that has helped change the way people listen to music. As of 2016, Spotify caters to 100 million listeners worldwide with 30 million songs in their database. 

Although Spotify doesn’t hold a monopoly on the music streaming industry, their customers are extremely loyal. One of the main reasons that Spotify has been able to stay relevant is their ability to give their customers a little something special.

This music-sharing site constantly introduces features, apps and services that help their customers enjoy music on a whole other level. Here are just a handful of various structures put in place to offer outstanding customer service by utilizing groundbreaking technology.

• Discover Weekly: Personalized Music Playlist

Spotify listens to you while you listen to your favorite musicians and songs. In an effort to thank their customers, Spotify creates personalized weekly playlists that recommends new songs, artists and genres that they think you’ll enjoy based on your music history. 

• Musical Map: Cities of the World

For those traveling to other cities, or just interested in other cultures, Spotify has created a musical world map. You can click any of nearly a thousand cities to hear a playlist of the music that is most distinctively enjoyed there.

• Behind the Lyrics: Teaming Up With Genius

In order to give their customers a behind the scenes look into song lyrics, Spotify collaborated with Genius, a website that offers the world’s largest collection of song lyrics and crowdsourced musical knowledge.

• Delivering Custom Music: Running Originals

Spotify has launched a new slate of original content that is geared towards providing a personalized playlist for your daily run. This music is specifically designed for running and dynamically adapts to your unique running tempo.

Learn more about how Spotify introduces advanced technology to their customers and offers them a little something extra.

Providing Empathy and Compassion

Chik-fil-A, has consistently outperformed other fast-food chains despite the fact that they’re closed on Sundays. When surveyed, “47% of customers rated the company’s customer service as excellent, nearly 10 percentage points higher than last year’s 38.6% of respondents.” 

One of the main things that set this fast-food restaurant apart from its competition is the extreme dedication they have to providing outstanding customer service. Employees at Chick-fil-A are taughtthat, “Every life has a story, and often our customers and our employees, need a little grace and a little space when you deal with them because they are either experiencing a problem, just finished having a problem, or are about to have one.”

Chik-fil-A’s empathetic approach to customer service can be seen in their viral video: Every Life Has a Story. This video (that is shown to all new hires of the restaurant), showcases how if you offer compassion and empathy to your customers, you can give them service that uplifts them. 

Anticipating Customers’ Wants and Needs

We’ve all heard of The Ritz-Carlton, a brand that in the past 100 years of service has been recognized with countless awards for epitomizing the gold standard of hospitality. The Ritz-Carlton promises elite customer service and they achieve this, largely in part, due to their specific and selective hiring processes.   

The former CEO of the global brand, Horst Schulze, expands on his customer service secrets, “Employees who are controlled cannot respond caringly, you need superior knowledge and real leadership, not management. Because of this we specifically developed a selection process for leaders; we don’t hire managers.” 

After hiring the best candidates for any given position, this seasoned and luxurious brand then trains their team to anticipate the needs of their customers. By supplying their staff with extensive training, their hotels are able to cater to their customers in a streamlined and satisfactory manner. They’re able to continuously deliver anticipatory customer service because they recognize that they’re employees are their most important resource.  

Get a sneak peek into The Ritz-Carlton’s strict employee gold standards by visiting their site here.

Providing Options and Convenience

Warby Parker (WP) first opened because they wanted to find a solution for a very common problem; finding quality eyewear at a reasonable price. After researching the industry, they discovered that, “The eyewear industry [was] dominated by a single company that [kept] prices artificially high while reaping huge profits from consumers who have no other options.”

WP opened their online store in hopes of providing consumers with an alternative to purchasing from the expensive corporate giants. What makes their customer service really standout is how they offer home try-ons to ensure complete satisfaction. They’ve created a seamless way to sell their products and give their customers exactly what they want. 

Here’s how they control customer satisfaction:

• • Customers pick 5 frames they want to try on and WP delivers all 5 pairs, free of charge.
• • After 5 days of testing the frames out, the customer then selects the frame(s) they want to purchase.
• • Lastly, the customer returns the trial frames in a prepaid postage box and waits for their selected frames to arrive.

To learn more about how this company is able to offer personalized customer service options, visit their website here.

Our Approach to Excellent Customer Service

Our digital call center has been recognized for providing our customers’ customers with excellent customer service for over 30 years. We strongly believe that our success depends on our customer’s success and as such, we strive to deliver the best virtual receptionist services available today.

If you’d like to discuss how our award winning virtual receptionist team can bring our outstanding customer service to your business, give us a call today at 1-800-785-6161.