Sahail Ashraf — February 25, 2019 — February 25, 2019
Customer service is actually very easy to do badly.
Try ignoring your customers for a week and see how that one plays out. However, we have seen some excellent examples of high-quality customer service in recent times.
These examples generally make life easier for customers.
Morton’s
This brand does a great steak, and they’re well known in the United States for doing just that in the very best way possible. However, they showed an almost supernatural level of delivery when a hungry fan of the steaks tweeted that he would love to have one when his plane touched down in Newark. The whole thing was actually meant as a joke. No company would actually bring a free steak to a fan when their plane landed, right?
Wrong, because Morton’s did. And the fact that it was also presented so well is only part of the amazing customer service story here. Morton’s also managed to give him some shrimp and bread, as well as everything else that makes a great steak so wonderful. The whole thing was done in less than three hours and delivered by a guy in a tuxedo.
This is obviously a one-off (we don’t recommend you try it again, they probably will just laugh), but the fact that the community manager of Morton’s Twitter team saw the tweet and thought it would be a great idea to fulfill the fan’s wishes is something pretty awesome. And of course, on top of all of that, it also brought a ton of kudos on Twitter.
Hey @Mortons – can you meet me at newark airport with a porterhouse when I land in two hours? K, thanks. 🙂
— Peter Shankman (@petershankman) August 17, 2011
A Masterpiece Of Social Listening
Social listening is a big part of customer service and you should never forget that. Delta hotels saw a tweet from a guest who loved his room but hated the view. Unlike the previous entry on our list, the guy wasn’t asking for anything. He just wanted to explain how he felt about the view. He didn’t even tag the hotel.
Within one hour the hotel responded with a room that had a better view. On top of that, a handwritten card greeted the guest in his new room. All of this happened via Twitter. And it all happened because Delta had a team that knew the benefits of social listening.
Big And Clever
Xbox is huge. It has become a major part of the lives of many people, and one of the reasons why it makes so many people happy is that it is huge. So it could be excused for messing up on customer service now and then.
However, it continues to show that it knows just how to do it right. A recent episode involved them managing an issue that a Twitter user had and then following up nine days later. This showed amazing levels of customer service, especially when you realise that Xbox handles hundreds of interactions a day. It has a team of nearly 30 Twitter workers though, so that kind of interaction kind of makes sense.
@Kona570 This what you’re looking for? http://t.co/AanDXOZTjj^KC
— Xbox Support (@XboxSupport) March 7, 2013
Nike
Not the world’s smallest brand, we’re sure you’ll agree, but still pretty capable of delivering awesome customer service.
A recent episode involved Nike taking a complaint from a customer who had made a genuine error but thought Nike was responsible for the issue. It was the customer’s fault basically, and the guys at Nike knew this.
They still treated the customer with complete courtesy and respect. Even after they found out that their problem was actually nothing to do with them, they still tweeted out their best wishes to the customer.
That’s simply an example of treating the customer like royalty even if the problem is not one your brand created.
Jetblue
An airline of some years, Jetblue is not jaded. In fact, it has a strong reputation for great customer service on Twitter.
This was perhaps best exemplified when a customer had a dud TV on his flight so he couldn’t watch anything. Within half an hour, the ever-watchful team at Jetblue had secured credit for him against the cost of renting the service. It was incredibly responsive, and effective. On top of that, the thankful customer’s tweet was respectful and grateful. Just what customer service teams need.
Oh, and one more thing
All of this happened on Twitter. That’s because Twitter is becoming the best place to ask for and receive customer service. It’s quicker than pretty much anything else (save instant messaging) and it allows a strong customer service team to get in touch with people quickly.
So if there are any lessons to learn here they involve listening (always) and being as helpful and proactive as possible. The examples here show that customer service can be done well on social, as long as your team is trained, alert and focused on what the customer wants above everything else.
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