Eight Key Benefits of Personalization in Customer Service

No matter the size of your business, delivering a truly meaningful customer service experience is vital to your long-term success. And today, making it meaningful is all about PERSONALIZATION.

Delivering personalized customer service goes far beyond merely welcoming customers at the door or having courteous employees answer the phone. Customers want to feel cherished – and “seen” – not simply acknowledged. This alone can make the difference between a single-transaction customer and a loyal customer for life.

Here are just a few ways you can create a more personalized customer service experience – and grow your business faster:

• Tailor service to your customers’ specific needs. A one-size-fits-all approach simply falls short. Learn from your customers’ past experiences with your business and use that knowledge to offer relevant solutions, make thoughtful recommendations, and build loyalty.
• Spotlight your best customers. Recognize a customer every month on your website and social media accounts. This shows the world that you honor those who support your company.
• Encourage customer feedback. Ask your customers to share their experiences with your brand – both good and bad – so you can take steps to improve your organization. Most consumers – by a wide margin (97%) – are more likely to remain loyal to a business that implements their feedback.
• Implement a customer loyalty program. The data around the effectiveness of customer loyalty programs cannot be ignored. No less than 81 percent of consumers are more likely to stick with brands that offer loyalty programs, while 73 percent of loyalty program members are more likely to recommend brands with healthy loyalty programs.

Taking steps like these to bring greater personalization to your organization’s customer service processes opens to the door to a host of measurable benefits. Doing so can help your business:

1. Elevate customer retention & loyalty
   According to Forbes, 44 percent of consumers say that they will likely repeat a purchase after a personalized shopping experience.
2. Grow trust
   Personalization instills trust by showing customers that your company listens to, understands, and can respond appropriately to their specific needs. According to PWC, 35 percent of consumers list trust among the top three reasons they purchase a product or service.
3. Drive impulse buys
   A recent study shows that 49 percent of customers purchase items they did not intend to buy because of a personalized recommendation from a trusted brand (Forbes).
4. Build the bottom line
   According to Fivestars, 66 percent of consumers believe that personalized customer service is their biggest spending motivator. What’s more, companies that prioritize the customer service experience generate 60 percent higher profits than their competition.
5. Boost revenues
   A personalized experience will often have a greater impact on sales than any product, and even help customers feel open to paying higher prices. In fact, 40 percent of U.S. consumers say they spent more on something because of personalized service (Forbes).
6. Create differentiation
   Consumers have seemingly endless choices, so personalization is always a great way to differentiate yourself from the competition. For example, 77 percent of consumers have chosen, recommended, or paid more for a brand that offers personalized service(Forrester).
7. Show customers you care:
   Not surprisingly, 76 percent of consumers believe that customer service is a representation of how valuable they are for businesses (Fivestars). They are, so show them just how much.
8. Generate word-of-mouth:
   Paying close attention to your customers’ needs can also lead to significantly higher word-of-mouth advertising. Notably, 74 percent of consumers identify personalized service as a key influencer in their purchasing decisions(Big Commerce).

In short, treating customers like human beings – each with unique wants, desires and needs – is the key for success that far too many businesses overlook. When customer service gets personal,the benefits are many and the opportunities for growth are endless.