How Businesses Can Recognize Customer Service
October’s Customer Service Week is a great time to throw some appreciation out there for your customers, employees, and vendors who help your business serve your customers. But it is always a great time to celebrate your customers!
Here are a few suggestions on how your business can recognize Customer Service.
Take Time to Thank Customers
This sounds like a no-brainer, but what better way to acknowledge Customer Service Week -- get a message out to your customers.
Send a thank-you card via email or write a short thank-you within the email. Let them know how much you appreciate their business -- after all, there’s no Customer Service Week without them!
Your thank-you email is the perfect opportunity to remind them that your business and staff are committed to quality, communication, and service. Maybe include a photo of your employees, particularly if you have staff whose roles are dedicated to customer service.
Acknowledge Staff
Employees who interact with customers regularly have some mad skills -- make sure you acknowledge their efforts as well as those who serve customers indirectly in behind-the-scene roles.
Keeping customers informed and satisfied is crucial to the success of your business, so be sure they know you get that and appreciate their work.
Among the ways to acknowledge them: create a certificate of recognition for specific employees or a team, i.e., outward-facing staff, honor their work during a staff meeting or at a kick-off Customer Service Week celebration event, or gift them with a treat or gift card.
If you have an employee who would prefer a more personal approach from you -- hand-write a note acknowledging their stellar customer service or have a 1-on-1 meeting to share praise with them directly.
Party Up The Place
Hang banners and balloons to show your Customer Service Week spirit -- you could even keep up decorations through October.
If you don't have an on-site location, “decorate” your emails and social media pages, acknowledging the week set aside for customers and customer service.
You can find resources, materials, and ideas for decorations at the Customer Service Group’s website. It’s been the week’s sponsor for more than 30 years. “Nothing says celebration like decorations,” exclaims the CSG.
Throw a Celebration
If you want to take it a step or two beyond decorations, theme a party or smaller event to honor Customer Service Week.
Go a simpler route and make it special by bringing in lunch or treats for employees or even an after-hours thing, depending on your size and type of business.
Consider bringing customers and employees together for a reception-like event at your business if you have a physical space or at a public venue.
Why Should Businesses Appreciate Customer Service?
Your celebration of customers and the staff who serve them could have an impact after Customer Service Week is said and gone, particularly the praise you dish out to your staff.
Your show of appreciation to customers can pay off in their repeat business and loyalty down the line.
And as far as employee appreciation during Customer Service Week? Recognizing their work could boost employee morale, motivation, teamwork, staff retention, and productivity.
Employees who feel valued and appreciated tend to be happier and more productive, according to multiple studies. Eighty-two percent of those polled by SurveyMonkey and the employee recognition platform Bonusly said they consider recognition an important part of their happiness at work.
Recognition helps employees feel more confident and respected. In the SurveyMonkey poll, 32 percent said they felt recognition improves the way their co-workers interact with them.
Further, appreciating your employees during Customer Service Week and in general could even have an effect on your bottom line.
A Deloitte study reported that employee recognition correlates highly with improving associate engagement and that a 15 percent improvement in engagement can result in a 2 percent increase in profit margins.