15 qualities of good customer service that enhance CX

Simply put, customer service is the assistance businesses provide customers before, during, and after a purchase. It seems straightforward, but every customer experience (CX) pro knows that customer satisfaction is a complex journey with various touchpoints. A strong customer service team ensures satisfaction and encourages repeat business, with 88% of customers more likely to repurchase after a positive service experience. 

Turning first-time patrons into vocal supporters is the name of the game. Positive customer experience leads to positive testimonials, online interactions, referrals, and more. In this article, we’ll explore 15 important elements of good customer service and how to measure your customer service efforts. 

Your customers want their needs met, but they also want a connection to service teams and a sense that their needs truly matter. Their interactions with your customer service team are so meaningful that nearly half of your customers will publicly share about their experience, good or bad. 

Each attribute of good customer care must work together to create a valuable, positive experience for your consumers. Here is a quick overview of the 15 key qualities that drive good customer service:

An empathetic listener understands and can share the customer's feelings. Allow customers to express their confusion, frustration, or interest and respond by first validating their feelings. If possible, share that you have been in their shoes and understand where they're coming from. Use your experience to build connections and trust. 

Communicating clearly and understanding the customer's needs enables service team members to respond effectively. To provide good communication to a customer: 

A communicative service professional gets to the heart of a customer’s needs and provides coherent solutions. 

According to a Hubspot study, a quarter of customers expect their ticket to be resolved immediately, and another quarter expect a solution within an hour. The reality of longer wait times may cause frustration for customers. 

Confiding in a caring, patient service professional alleviates customer stress. Allowing a customer to talk through their experience and provide background information will help reps fully understand a request. 

Finding solutions for complex problems will satisfy the customer, but it’s easier said than done. Let’s break down the steps of problem solving:

Boosting customer satisfaction is a complex endeavor, but using effective problem solving is a must.  

Engaging and responding while the customer is communicating ensures you have the full picture and can provide the correct information. Ask for clarifying details, empathize with the customer, and make sure you’ve heard them out. 

Feeling heard is a huge aspect of customer care and improves the customer experience. 

Reframing is the ability to change a customer's perspective and cast their situation in a positive light. It requires:

Remember, proper customer service is not a one-time act but a series of positive actions. 

52% of consumers state that support interactions leave them exhausted. The ability to use time productively to assist customers promptly brings customers a sense of relief. 

Automating tasks and delegating your time appropriately will improve your time management skills. Practice your prioritization and delegation skills to improve. 

Adaptability is the quality of being able to adjust to new conditions and effectively respond to changes in customer requests or a wide variety of inquiries. However, the adaptability paradox occurs when, in times of greatest need for learning and change, we cling to familiar approaches, hindering both growth and innovation. 

An adaptable customer service pro overcomes this paradox by focusing on the opportunities ahead: the chance to improve customer relations, find a novel solution, or learn a new skill. 

Professionalism means responding as a professional customer service expert, allowing customers to view you as competent. Maintain a professional demeanor during every customer touchpoint to build customer confidence in your abilities and represent your business well. This will drive customer retention and improve the customer experience. 

To fully assist customers, you must satisfy every aspect of their inquiry. This level of attention to detail requires preparation and efficient processes. 

To prepare personally: 

To conduct yourself efficiently:

No one wants to feel left behind or confused. Share in-depth product and service knowledge with customers in a way that they can understand. Your helpful guidance will solve their current situation and expand their familiarity with your business offerings. 

Good customer service makes life easier for customers, offering quick and easier solutions that grow their knowledge of your services and increase their attachment.  

Customer service pros often ask how to handle an angry or difficult customer. De-escalation is key. It’s the ability to turn a tense and stressful situation into a peaceful one, allowing you to satisfy the customer’s request and build their trust in the business. Common conflict resolution strategies include:

Your awareness that cultural differences and similarities between people exist without assigning them a value will help you to respect customers' cultural backgrounds and avoid making assumptions. Cultural sensitivity is an important tool in life and in your business. 

Customer service professionals get to interact with people from all walks of life. It's a wonderful opportunity to form connections and interact with others. Proper cultural sensitivity helps customer service pros treat people appropriately and with respect. 

Team collaboration is the ability to successfully work with other reps and departments, solving customer inquiries faster and more efficiently. A culture of collaboration isn’t an accident. It’s encouraged by a positive work culture and the desire to support team members. 

Use these techniques to fine-tune your collaboration skills:

Use your imagination and original ideas to satisfy uncommon and unfamiliar customer inquiries. An excellent rep thinks outside the box and impresses customers with their innovative solutions and creative drive. 

A customer service team is diverse, and many of your coworkers come from different professional and cultural backgrounds. Present unexpected customer inquiries to the team and brainstorm new solutions together. Over time, you’ll develop better processes and grow closer to your customer base. 

The results of a customer service survey will present opportunities to innovate and problem solve — use your creative streak to find new solutions with other pros.     

When customers are delayed, confused, or in need of assistance, they want a kind and helpful pro on their side. Here are some examples of good customer service skills in action:

Example #1: A customer bulk-ordered promotional t-shirts from a printing company well before a marketing event. They received a confirmation email but no shipping or tracking information, and now they’re concerned the t-shirts won’t arrive in time for the event. 

Response: An empathetic service pro will acknowledge and share in their frustration, using their active listening skills to gather the needed information. They’ll utilize their in-depth service knowledge to determine the t-shirts were made but never shipped and over-serve the customer by express shipping the shirts. 

Example #2: In another scenario, a customer may come to their service pro confused about their billing statement. They ask, "Why am I being charged this high amount for my simple streaming plan?" 

Response: The service pro uses their de-escalation powers and problem-solving skills to ease customers' concerns and then discovers the customer accidentally purchased the incorrect plan. The pro reframes the situation, and the customer sticks with the higher-tier plan. 

A successful service experience in both scenarios retains customers and leaves them confident in the business. 

Improving customer service requires accurately measuring it. Measuring your customer service team’s output allows you to address areas of improvement or highlight successful techniques you can incorporate into future strategies. 

Here are a few ways to measure your customer service: 

Customer service surveys help you identify trends, find gaps in service, and use sentiment analysis and automatic keyword tagging to find the reason behind the data. You’ll use these findings to create better customer service training.

Are your customers' pain points centered around active listening issues and a gap in expert’s knowledge? Implementing internal training and providing in-depth information on service offerings will directly impact your customer retention and satisfaction. 

Gathering this customer feedback requires asking the right questions at the right times. Try these customer service survey best practices:

It should be easy for customers to use your products, services, and website. Customer Effort Score measures how much effort a customer must put into interacting with your business. The Customer Effort Score (CES) survey template helps you easily discover your CES, identify areas of friction, and implement needed changes. 

Well-trained service professionals backed by the tools they need to succeed will improve your CES and turn one-time buyers into loyal customers.

With the CES Survey template, you can track successful service and continually improve customer experience using:

Finally, you can securely share CES insights across your business. Use findings to improve the tools, systems, and processes influencing customer experience.  

Use the 15 key qualities of good customer service, survey templates, and data analysis tools to track, measure, and improve your customer experience. 

Learn how SurveyMonkey can help you gather customer service feedback and turn neutral customers into die-hard fans.