Is delivering great customer service good enough?

Posted 14th September 2015.

Many retailers are constantly being tasked with providing ‘great service’ to their customers, but is ‘great service’ good enough? With customer’s expectations rising and the complexity of delivering across multi-channels, what do retailers need to do to win customers’ loyalty?

So is great service good enough, no it isn’t. To be outstanding in today’s competitive environment is really about delivering a distinctive customer experience that connects emotionally to customers in a way that evokes memories of the retailer’s brand.

Many organisations adopt a micro approach as they try to improve their customer experience looking, often in isolation, at each individual touch point (or sub-touch point). There is nothing wrong with improving a touch point that is not delivering to customers expectations but if this micro approach comes at the expense of the end-to-end view of the customers’ experience, then it is likely that the organisation will be missing out on the opportunities to create real value for customers that goes beyond great service.

If you look at the Virgin Money who have recently opened a new business lounge in Central London. Being Virgin, this is no standard bank lounge. They have furnished the whole lounge to look like the Upper Class cabin of a Virgin Atlantic 747. A great example of how to do something that other banks may also offer but to do so in a way that is distinctive, memorable and connects with the brand. It is no accident that the financial performance of the branches in the vicinity of the lounge have dramatically improved since the lounge has been open!

Delivering an exceptional customer experience as part of a wider brand strategy can move your service beyond just the product your selling, into a space where your brand can count on high levels of customer loyalty.

Great service is vanilla, there is nothing to complain about it but there is also nothing to get excited about.