SCAM ALERTS
(406) 586-3036
FREE PHONE SHOPS

Balancing Automated and Human Customer Service

The most important component of the customer experience—the combination of products, services, brand reputation, discoverability, and more—is easily customer service. In fact, one could say that no matter what your industry is, it’s your most important product. No wonder so many businesses are seeking new and innovate ways to enhance…
VIEW FULL POST

The Full Spectrum of the Customer Experience

Customer service transcends the boundaries that most people picture when they consider the term. It is no longer relegated to a department or call center, and has evolved into a holistic approach encompassing every interaction the customer has with your brand. This includes the initial discovery phase and the post-purchase…
VIEW FULL POST

Using Value to Make Cost Irrelevant

Price has long been a sticking point for many consumers, regardless of the economic conditions. Whether we’re in a boom or a downturn, no one likes overpaying, right? But most of us also understand that cheaper experiences are usually inferior. Consequently, companies must often grapple with the challenge of offering…
VIEW FULL POST

Endurance with Grace

According to Wikipedia, the “Customer experience, sometimes abbreviated CX, is the totality of cognitive, affective, sensory, and behavioral consumer responses during all stages of the consumption process including pre-purchase, consumption, and post-purchase stages.” Put more succinctly by Zendesk, the “Customer experience (CX) is the relationship between a company and its…
VIEW FULL POST

When a Problem Spirals Out of Control

One of the chief advantages of offering a superior customer experience is that you have far fewer customer service problems to combat. That said, there’s no way to entirely eliminate them because mistakes can and do happen, and some problems are completely external to your business. We must therefore admit…
VIEW FULL POST

The Downgrade Apocalypse

Customer reward programs have been around a long time: in fact, the earliest example may well be Betty Crocker, which, in 1929, introduced the idea of using box-tops as coupons to encourage repeat purchases. Since then, just about every major company—and a great deal of small ones to boot—have made…
VIEW FULL POST

Going Above and Beyond the Right Way

In previous blog posts, we’ve cautioned about the dangers of offering an above-and-beyond level of customer service. While that attitude can certainly delight your customers, the level of effort required becomes unsustainable; worse still, those customers may eventually take those efforts for granted. But there are situations when going above…
VIEW FULL POST

Is Tipping Getting Out of Hand?

When many new servers first start waiting on tables, they believe that in order to earn larger tips, they have to deliver an exceptional customer experience. The longer they work in the dining room, however, the more they come to realize that most guests have a specific tipping percentage in…
VIEW FULL POST

When a Problem Becomes an Opportunity

When we make the customer experience our number one priority—that is, when we offer high quality products, convenience, and consistently great customer service—the number of customer complaints falls to near zero. Near zero, mind you. Admittedly, we will never reach a state of zero problems because we are all human,…
VIEW FULL POST