13 Examples of Good Customer Service and What You Can Learn From Them (2023)

Give your best example of good customer service and what it taught you?

To help you offer the best customer service, we asked customer service managers and business leaders this question for their best examples and insights. From 24/7 customer support to going above and beyond expectations, there are several examples of great customer service that may serve as your template for delivering the best service to your customers.

Here are 13 examples these leaders cited as their best customer services experience and lessons:

• 24/7 Customer Support
• Imbibe Empathy into Your Approach
• Take Ownership of Mistakes
• Follow-up and Ensure Repair in Each Customer Relationship
• Respond to Public Criticism With Solutions
• Personalize Video Messages.
• Invest in a System that Reduces the time Customers Wait on Calls
• Listen and Give the Customer Center Stage.
• Provide all the information the Customer Needs
• De-Escalate Tensions With Angry Customers.
• Provide Education On the Products
• Bend the Rules Sometimes
• Go Above and Beyond Expectations

24/7 Customer Support

One example of good customer service is having support available 24/7. For instance, you may have customers who only get to do focused work on their side business over the weekends. If you don’t have customer support available these days and they need help, it’s not going to be a pleasant experience for them. They’ll have to wait for you to be available on the next business day, but by then, they might have suffered losses (time and money).

Good customer service is thinking about what your customers need. It doesn’t mean that you have to work 24/7 yourself, but you need to establish a system that would allow your business to address customer concerns outside of regular office hours.

Stephen Light, Nolah Mattress

Imbibe Empathy into Your Approach

The one thing that sets a stellar customer experience aside from the rest is heartfelt empathy. Letting the customer know you feel their pain and are dedicated to coming up with the best solution instantly puts their mind at ease and more inclined to hear you out. You’re more likely to develop a strong bond towards the brand and remember their efforts long after the interaction is over. After careful reflection and identifying this common theme, we were able to implement the same approach within our customer service experience.

Harry Morton, Lower Street

Take Ownership of Mistakes

Good customer service is not just highlighting the positive aspects of the business and the products you offer. It also encompasses taking ownership of your mistakes that have caused significant trouble to the customers. When you encounter people complaining about your business, ensure you look into the situation and take proper actions. If your company is at fault, do not hesitate to apologize and correct the mistake or compensate the customers for the inconvenience.

As a business owner, taking ownership has taught me to set aside my ego and admit that our business is not perfect. Through this, I have overcome many customer complaints and retained loyalty, as sincerely talking to people to fix their issues works better than starting an argument and being defensive.

Jake Smith, Absolute Reg

Follow-up and Ensure Repair in Each Customer Relationship

Great customer service means committing to a customer relationship with intentions to follow up and ensure repair. When our teams receive a call from a disappointed customer unsatisfied with one of our products, we must repair the customer relationship with as many follow-ups as needed. Commitment to every customer relationship separates good customer service performance from terrific performance. Each unsatisfied customer represents an opportunity to strengthen and reinforce customer loyalty with a business.

I ran our customer service department by myself for several months after launch to stress the importance of this strategy, following up and gathering feedback obsessively. Customers expect more personalized, high-quality management of their issues from the companies they support, so businesses must always put their best foot forward.

Zach Goldstein, Public Rec

Respond to Public Criticism With Solutions

My favorite example of great customer service is any time companies respond to criticism on public platforms. Many modern businesses have a customer service and marketing team that runs their social media. When disgruntled customers reach out on these platforms, many companies reply publicly and constructively. It brands them as businesses that are dependable and courteous to their customers. These companies almost always have large followings on social media and can even be a “trending topic” due to their discussions with customers.

This has taught me that providing great customer service can be advantageous for the customer and the business involved.

David Aylor, David Aylor Law Offices

Personalize Video Messages

My best example of good customer service was a personalized video message that I received after making a first-time purchase. This was quite a large transaction, and took quite a bit of research and deliberation on my part before I finally committed. Not a day afterwards, I received a video message in my inbox from the founder of the company.

He addressed me by name, gave me more details about the company, and reminded me of the many successes that some of their past customers have been enjoying. Before signing off, he wished me well and kept the line of communication open in case I needed additional help or support. This message completely caught me off guard. It completely took care of any feelings of buyer’s remorse that I could have been feeling, and replaced them with unwavering confidence that I made the right choice. It must have taken no more than two or three minutes to film that video, but it stuck with me so well that I’ve been a repeat client of theirs for years since.

Aaron Gray, Agency 101

Invest in a System that Reduces the time Customers Wait on Calls

There are few things that give a customer more cause for frustration than being placed on a lengthy hold when trying to get in touch with your business. While a hold time of a few minutes is reasonable, some companies expect their customers to wait around for potentially hours for an agent to finally get to them. Depending on your business, the time of year and the number of agents you have available, long wait times may be unavoidable.

Many companies have implemented an option for customers to opt for placing their number in a queue and having an agent call them back, allowing the customer to hang up and go about their day. As a business owner, it is baffling to me that all businesses that are plagued with lengthy call wait times haven’t invested in this, as it is easily one of the greatest customer service improvements that a business can make. Even if it requires additional time and effort from your agents, the benefit to your customer base will be tenfold.

Anthony Martin, Choice Mutual

Listen and Give the Customer Center Stage

Early in my career I worked in customer service and was exposed to an array of different issues and problems from customers. I saw the good, the bad, and the ugly side of customers as well as customer service professionals. The best lesson I learned from these experiences was to listen first, listen second, and speak last.

Many times I would witness bad customer service team members not letting a customer finish and cut them off, assuming they understood the entire problem. More times than not this would frustrate the customers and an effective solution could not be provided. Simply because the representative wasn’t patient enough to listen to the full issue. Just by slowing down and giving the customer center stage, a representative can alleviate 90% of the customer’s stress. Listening first, then asking a question to learn more was the key to my success in that role. Taking the extra time is always worth it.

Jeffrey Zhou, Fig Loans

Provide all the Information the Customer Needs

My best example of good customer service involves product knowledge and the ‘FAB’ formula. The ‘FAB’ mnemonic stands for “Features, Advantages, and Benefits,” and is used for an individual product to better remember its key features. For a customer who wanted a custom roof ladder for their campervan, one of our salespeople used the FAB formula to help them decide if an extender was necessary while going through products. We learned that customers prefer to have all the knowledge present in the FAB formula before they decide, and now that is one of our go-to sales techniques.

Kevin Callahan, Flatline Van Co.

De-Escalate Tensions With Angry Customers

My example is dealing with angry customers. Customers can get angry for a variety of reasons, and in all cases, something has gone wrong and you need to be the one to take responsibility for it. You need to be understanding and empathize with them to give reassurance that you’ll do your best to help them.

Listen to them. Don’t interrupt them when they are talking about what went wrong. They may appear aggressive or distressed sometimes in this step, but you need to see beyond their response and actually get to the root of the issue. Do not, however, accept threats or verbal abuse. There is a line of decency that must not be crossed.

Once you have remedied the situation, you must take the steps necessary to reduce any chances of the same situation happening again. Furthermore, call your customer back to ensure their satisfaction after the problem is resolved. This will show that you care about their experience and highly value your partnership.

Debbie Meeuws, Nature’s Arc Organic

Provide Education on Your Products

One of the things I always liked and enjoyed is when the staff tries their best to educate you on certain topics, products, or services that they offer. As an enthusiastic customer, I want to know all the small details and fun stuff about the products I’m buying, so it feels amazing when the staff is committed to educating you about the things. This approach to customer service taught me how important it is to foster and maintain such relationships with customers, and it also helped me transfer this to my retail staff were a lot of our CBD/Hemp oil customers and enthusiasts like to learn more about the products and feel good when the staff is supportive.

Ian Kelly, NuLeaf Naturals

Bend the Rules Sometimes

Company policies are created to guide employees’ actions, but it doesn’t mean you can’t bend the rules and be creative. For me, businesses can deliver excellent customer service when they quit being by the book and start listening to their customers’ demands.

For instance, I have learned that some of our company policies are too ideal that we fail to factor in what people are experiencing in reality. We give financial advice based on our standards without considering that each customer has unique situations and may need different solutions to their problems. Because of this, we have informed our employees that our policies are not absolute. If they have good reasons, we encourage them to be brave enough to bend the rules to deliver exceptional service, ensure customer satisfaction, and boost employee morale.

Adam Garcia, The Stock Dork

Go Above and Beyond Expectations

Good customer service goes above and beyond a client’s expectations. For instance, instead of using pre-set template responses (that are often not great), the customer service rep writes a unique response and includes screenshots with arrows to make it easier for the client to solve their issue. Or, in some situations, it’s also great if they do a quick screen recording.

What I also love is when service reps say “I hope you had a good weekend” on Mondays, or “Enjoy your weekend” on Fridays instead of the usual “Thanks for reaching out” intros.

Deian Isac, Service Provider Pro