What Company Delivers the Best Customer Service?

What company delivers the best customer service? While doing the research for our book, The Effortless Experience, we posed this very question to a thousand customers and let them write in their responses to see what we might learn. Like you, we thought the winner would be one of those companies known for their legendary service—a high-end travel and leisure company like Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons or Disney, or maybe a retailer like Nordstrom or Zappos. 

But, much to our surprise, the top vote-getter wasn’t one of those companies. In fact, it wasn’t a company at all. The top response—by a landslide—was “I can’t think of one.”

 So, what does this mean for business leaders?  Let me offer three takeaways:

• Stop Trying to “Keep Up with the Joneses” – First off, it’s worth pointing out that your customers don’t really know who these “Joneses” are that you’re comparing yourself to. To the extent that leaders aspire for their service levels to model the companies I mentioned above—Ritz-Carlton or Nordstrom—keep in mind that what many of these companies sell is delight. And, as we’ve noted before, being a delight-focused company is expensive. These companies, whose mission statements center around delighting customers, accept significantly higher customer service operating costs than the average company. What’s more, they set an incredibly high bar that anchors their customers on the expectation that they’ll be wowed in every service interaction. Think about it—what happens when something goes wrong with your Four Seasons stay and the hotel manager handles the issue the same way the staff would at a two-star motel? You’re probably pretty disappointed.
• Being the “Best at Customer Service in Your Industry” Doesn’t Really Matter – Now, hear me out on this one. One major mistake we see leaders make is that they compare their service levels to those of their industry peers. On the surface, being the best service provider in your industry seems like a great aspiration and chance to differentiate yourself from your competitors. But, when we run focus groups with customers, we find that they don’t actually compare service quality within industries. After all, most customers only do business with one bank or one cable provider. As unfair as it is, customers are much more likely to compare customer service quality among the companies they interact with in their everyday lives. So, they don’t benchmark AT&T with Sprint, T-Mobile or Verizon—they benchmark them against companies they think do a good job at service. In their world, their airline should deliver the same intuitive Web experience as Amazon and their bank should let them go online to schedule an appointment like you can for the Apple Genius Bar. Unfair? Maybe, but your customers don’t care.    
• Take a Page out of the “Start-up” Book – One question I’m asked all the time—after I finish telling leaders who they shouldn’t compare themselves to—is which company I think delivers the best customer service. My answer? Well, it’s not any of the companies in that word cloud. In fact, it’s not the kind of company you’d hear leaders benchmark themselves against. Rather, the companies I think are really getting customer service right are those smaller, more nimble, early-stage companies that aren’t encumbered by decades of policies and processes, aren’t hindered by antiquated technologies and don’t manage their service organizations like a factory floor. The companies I suggest big companies compare themselves to include wireless speaker-maker Sonos, online eyewear retailer Warby Parker and clothing retailer Bonobos. These companies have built true low-effort service experiences—from simple, guided and intuitive self-service options to real, unscripted phone support. Their service models were true greenfield projects, but they represent a picture of what great customer service should look like. It’s something that big companies can and should aspire to.

 As surprising as it is to think that we’re comparing ourselves to the wrong exemplars when it comes to service, it’s even more surprising to stop and ask yourself what the “best” kind of service even is. In our research at CEB, we’ve found that it’s actually not the kind of service that delights or wows the customer. That service, while it makes for great branding and PR, doesn’t actually deliver higher levels of customer loyalty. The hard truth is that most service experiences make customers more disloyal than loyal. We take customers who are already frustrated and angry because the product they bought from us isn’t working and we make it worse by running them through the grist mill. In other words, service experiences that force the customer to put forth a lot of effort to get their problems resolved. Instead, what we’ve found is that the best service experience is actually the easiest service experience. 

What does easy service look and feel like?  More to come on that in future posts.