9 tips for good customer service

Do you remember a really good experience you had with a company’s customer service? Or maybe a bad one? If you do, then you are probably already aware of how much of a difference it makes for a customer to be met by helpful and responsive customer service.  

In fact, it can help determine whether a customer wants to shop with a company again. In a survey conducted in 2024, 88% of the 14,300 surveyed customers answered that their experience of customer service is decisive for whether they choose to buy something from a company again. 

In this article, we zoom in on what good customer service is and why it is so important for small and medium-sized businesses. You also get 9 actionable tips that will help you get more happy customers. 

What is good customer service?

Customer service is about more than just answering questions and inquiries from customers. Every customer must feel heard and understood. Although it is impossible to solve all customers’ problems immediately, by listening, explaining, and adapting communication to individual customers, you can make it clear to them that your company values them. 

Good customer service is also customer service that helps your company to better understand customer needs. If your company provides good customer service, the risk of misunderstandings is reduced even before they occur. The result is customers who want to buy something from you more than once because they trust your brand. 

The importance of good customer service

Regardless of whether you have an online shop, offer online courses, or run a B2B business, you should place good customer service at the top of the list of the most important priority areas in your business strategy. If your business is successful with customer service, it will have a positive impact that will have trickle-down effect on many other areas. Let’s look at the key benefits of good customer service: 

Loyal customers

The study we mentioned at the beginning of the article is clear evidence that customers are more likely to return to a business if they have a positive experience with customer service. 

Customers who return repeatedly without you having to entice them with marketing are loyal customers. These are the best customers you can get. It’s significantly cheaper to retain existing customers than it is to acquire new ones. 

Improved conversion rate

The quality of your customer service also has a direct impact on your conversion rate, i.e. the percentage of visitors to your website who buy something. If, for example, a customer is in doubt about the material composition of a shirt or needs information about your shipping prices, there is a much greater chance that they will complete a purchase if they can quickly get help or find an answer themselves on your website. 

Social proof

The result of good customer service branches out in many directions. One of them is social proof, which is a valuable type of word-of-mouth marketing where customers recommend your company to others, either directly or indirectly.  

An excellent example is positive reviews on platforms such as Trustpilot and Google Reviews. It is also social proof if a customer mentions on social media that they had a really good experience with your company, for example because they received knowledgeable and friendly customer service. 

A more competitive business

Ecommerce is competitive, and there are typically many companies that offer the same or similar solutions. If you provide excellent customer service that meets or perhaps even exceeds customer expectations, your company will be able to establish itself as a stronger player in the market.  

Very large ecommerce companies often disappoint customers with poor customer service, typically because they have become so large that it’s difficult for them to give equal priority to all inquiries. 

If you have a small or medium-sized business, you can give your customers something they can’t find elsewhere by providing fantastic customer service. Let customer service be the not-so-secret weapon in your arsenal that makes customers choose your company. 

How to provide good customer service – 9 tips

As we established in the previous sections, good customer service can help create positive awareness of your company and boost your sales. Below we have collected 9 tips that can help you deliver a superb customer experience. 

1. Show empathy

No matter what your customer’s inquiry is about, it’s crucial that you meet them with empathy and listen to them. Make the customer the main character during the time in which their case is processed.  

For example, if a customer is frustrated and unhappy because her package is delayed, you should express that you understand the situation and, if possible, suggest a suitable solution, such as free shipping or a discount code as compensation.  

Of course, compensation is not always necessary. The most important thing is that you tell the customer what the cause of the problem is, how it can be solved, and when she can expect to hear from you again.  

Even if it’s just an impatient customer and they’re not experiencing a real delay, that’s no reason to reprimand the customer. Just keep listening and convey the expected delivery time. Empathetic customer service is about being responsive, understanding and solution-oriented. 

2. Be honest

The saying “Honesty gets you far” also applies to customer service. Of course, this doesn’t mean that customers need to get all the details about the cause of an error. It’s more about the fact that you often get yourself into deep trouble if you start to make excuses or fail to tell the customer something because you don’t want to risk them getting angry or disappointed. 

For example, if a customer’s order is delayed due to a supplier issue, it’s far better to be upfront about the situation from the beginning. Explain the delay, provide an estimated delivery date, and reassure the customer that you’ll keep them updated on any changes.  

Taking an honest approach will build trust and reduce the likelihood of the customer becoming frustrated or dissatisfied.

3. Offer multiple communication channels

Some customers will try to give you a call if they are in doubt about something. Others prefer to send an email, while some may prefer to communicate via social media. If you make it easy for your customers to get in touch with you via various communication channels, you have already raised the quality of your customer service. Good customer service is customer service that is easily accessible. 

If you have a small business, it may be a good idea to start by providing service via e-mail and phone, and then gradually expand with chat and social media if it feels manageable. Too many communication channels can be difficult to manage for a sole trader or a company with a very small team. In that case it’s better to have fewer channels where customers actually get answers. If you create a website with one.com’s Website Builder, you can easily add a contact form to your website to ensure your customers can quickly get in touch with you. 

4. Provide fast customer service

Fast customer service doesn’t mean that you must be able to solve the customer’s problem at once. The most important thing is that they can get in touch with your company relatively quickly if they need help.  

If you run an online shop alongside your full-time job, it’s of course not realistic that you can always be available to provide customer service. If that is the case, you can clearly write on your website how long the customer should expect to wait for a response, e.g. 24 hours on weekdays. Don’t forget to write when your phone or chat is open. 

5. Be proactive

Proactive customer service is about anticipating the need for customer service before the customer contacts you. An example is if you know that many of your customers’ parcels are delayed during a certain period. Here you can provide proactive customer service by, to give one example, adding a banner at the top of your website with the text “Many parcels are currently delayed. We expect shipping to take place early next week. We apologise for the inconvenience.” 

Adding such a banner will minimise the number of calls to your customer service. Some will probably still contact you, but fewer than if you hadn’t been proactive. A proactive approach is both timesaving and an example of good customer service. 

6. Answer customers’ questions before they ask them

Another strategy that will minimise the number of calls to your customer service and help your customers is to answer their questions even before they ask them. 

Some of the most common inquiries to customer service are about shipping, returns, delivery time and product information. By clearly stating information about delivery time, shipping rates, and the return policy on your website, you enable customers to help themselves. Customers who can easily find this type of information are less likely to abandon their shopping cart. 

Also, make sure your product descriptions include the most essential information about dimensions, material composition, sustainability, and features. With excellent product descriptions, you automatically answer many of the questions that customers might otherwise have contacted customer service to inquire about. At the same time, you increase the chances that they will choose you instead of one of your competitors. 

If you have many products in your online shop, it can be time-consuming to write all the product descriptions manually. Here you can benefit from using an AI writing assistant, such as the one built into one.com’s Website Builder. It can generate a text for you in a few seconds, and adapt the text to your company’s tone of voice. 

7. Know your target audience

The best foundation for providing good customer service is to know the target audience. If you have insight into your target audience´s needs, preferences, issues and habits, you are better equipped to provide them with the service they need.  

To illustrate, if your target group mainly consists of young people in their 20s, it will probably be a good idea to offer customer service on social media and via chat, as many from this generation prefer quick written communication instead of calling customer service.  

Knowing the target audience will also make it easier for you to find out which details are important to include in your product descriptions. 

8. Offer a personalised customer experience

It’s no secret that many inquiries to customer service are about the same things, and many companies therefore use template answers that can be used repeatedly. There’s nothing wrong with that, and in fact we recommend that you do it, especially if you receive many inquiries every day. Regardless, you should make sure that the customer still feels that the communication is personal.  

To personalise, insert the customer’s name and perhaps also a “happy Monday” greeting. Consider adding recommendations for products that match with those the customer has ordered in the past. Small details like these make a substantial difference to the customer experience and add a personal touch.  

If you start an online shop at one.com, you always have an overview of the communication you have had with your customers. Each of your contacts is assigned a customer profile where you can see all the information you need, including order history, previous inquiries and contact information. 

9. Measure customer satisfaction

Good customer service is also customer service that is based on and adapted to customer expectations. Creating a good customer experience requires continuous adaptation of both customer service, website, products and solutions. By measuring customer satisfaction, for example by using an NPS measurement, you can gain important insights that will help you make data-based decisions. 
 
NPS is short for Net Promoter Score. It’s a form of market research where a customer is asked to rate a company in various areas, including customer service. Customers can typically give each area a score from 0 to 10, where 0 is the worst and 10 is fantastic. The result of your NPS measurement will give you insight into which areas can be improved and which your customers are already happy with. 

Tools like Google Analytics can’t be used for this type of market research, but they can still help you find areas that need improvement. If you set up Google Analytics on your website, you can see how many visitors you have on your website, how many complete a purchase and how many leave the shopping cart. It will enable you to improve the customer journey on your website and as a result also the customer satisfaction.  

3 examples of good customer service

The positive surprise

Why not exceed your customers’ expectations by giving them a positive surprise? Imagine that a customer has just received a package of coffee beans from your online shop. Along with the ordered coffee beans, the customer will find three small packages with free samples of coffee beans from your latest selection.  

A positive surprise can also be something as simple as a nice card, where you thank the customer for shopping with you – handwritten if you want to make it extra personal. Small surprises like these make it more likely that the customer will remember you and shop with you again. 

Provide multiple potential solutions

A good strategy when your aim is to provide good and empathetic customer service is to offer the customer several solution alternatives when a problem has arisen. For example, let’s assume that a customer calls because they have received a vase with a small cosmetic flaw. The vase is in good condition, but due to the error is not identical to the picture on your website.  

Instead of just offering a single solution, you can give the customer several options: exchange order with free return of the defective vase, a discount on the price, or a discount code that can be used for a future order. This strategy shows that your company is flexible and adapts to the needs of individual customers.

Reward loyal customers

We mentioned earlier that loyal customers are valuable to your business. Make sure they stay loyal by rewarding them with VIP offers, exclusive discounts or the opportunity to get a jump start on your summer sale shopping. If you have a restaurant or cafe, you can make a stamp card where the customer gets a free dish or a cup of coffee when they have ordered from you 10 times. It will also make it more attractive for them to choose you over your competitor. 

Start improving your customer experience

Good customer service can help put your company on the map and make you a customer favourite. If you own a small or medium-sized business, great service will be one of your most important superpowers. Personal and empathetic customer service enables you to take on even the biggest players on the market. Meeting and exceeding customer expectations requires a good deal of planning and continuous improvement, but if you do it right, the result will be a lot of delighted customers and a thriving business.