Personalization in customer service
– What is it and how to deliver it

Personalized customer service involves tailoring customer interactions and support to meet the individual’s specific needs and preferences. Organizations that adopt personalization in customer service understand a customer’s typically do so through customer data, allowing them to understand the customer and even anticipate their needs.  

The benefits of personalization in customer service are plentiful and impactful. Organizations can increase new business, increase customer satisfaction and loyalty, and drive repeat business. By treating each customer as an individual with distinct needs, personalized customer service can help organizations show they value their customers and foster much stronger relationships with them. 

Brands are increasingly recognizing the importance of personalization in customer service – 83% of marketers believe that personalization is a key differentiator from the competition. And yet, an overwhelming 66% of consumers believe they are still being treated like a ‘generic customer’ with no regard for their individual needs.  

When it comes to the importance of personalized customer service, it’s helpful to segment the benefits to the customer and the benefits to the business. However, every customer benefit is really a business benefit as the better the customer experience, the greater the chance of purchase and repeat purchase. That’s why the importance of personalized customer service can’t be stressed enough.

Benefits to the customer

• Improved customer satisfaction: By addressing individual preferences and needs, personalization in customer service can increase customer satisfaction by making the customer feel more valued, understood, and appreciated.
• More relevance: When personalized customer service provides communication based on the customer’s past behavior, preferences, and needs, the customer experience becomes more relevant, appealing, and helpful.
• Saves time: Personalization in customer service can streamline decision-making and purchase processes, saving customers time by making suggestions that are more likely to match their needs.
• Greater accessibility: Personalized service takes into account the customer’s preferences for communication channels and accessibility needs, ensuring that interactions are conducted in a way that is most comfortable for the customer.

Benefits to the business

Companies that excel at personalization generate 40% more revenue from those activities than average players, according to McKinsey & Co. research. This revenue comes in the form of new business, repeat purchase, and recommendations, highlighting the importance of personalized customer service for every industry.

1. Personalization drives new business

When asked in a survey what matters to them when purchasing for the first time, 72% of consumers said they expect the businesses they buy from to recognize them as individuals and know their interests. Not only this, but 76% said they are more likely to consider purchasing from a brand that provides a personalized service. Thoughtful touchpoints such as checking in post-purchase, sending a how-to video or asking consumers to write a review generate positive brand perceptions were given as examples of important personalized customer service.

2. Personalization drives repeat purchase

The importance of personalization in customer service can be clearly seen in repeat engagement and loyalty over time. 78% of consumers are more likely to make repeat purchases from companies that provide a personalized experience, according to McKinsey & Co.’s personalization survey. This is largely because recurring interactions create more data from which companies can then deliver ever-more relevant experiences.

3. Personalization drives recommendations 

Personalizing customer service doesn’t just generate new and repeat business. It can also help to drive referrals and recommendations too. 78% of consumers say they are more likely to refer friends and family to companies that personalize. This is an invaluable effect because it effectively provides a brand with free marketing and advertising.

Companies that achieve the best results from personalizing customer service don’t see it within a silo. It isn’t just the responsibility of marketing or of analytics. It’s seen as an organizational opportunity that every department should be contributing to.

To give you some inspiration on how you can reap the benefits of personalizing customer service, here are some top personalized customer service examples.

Intelligent live chat solutions

Live chat can empower personalization in customer service by providing agents with a wealth of information about every visitor they speak to. Agents can see where they are located, their purchase history, previous chats, and much more all within the agent dashboard. With this information at hand, customers can receive personalized support that is truly helpful.

Auto-chat translation

With auto-chat translation embedded within live chat, visitors can speak with an agent in their preferred language, and the agents’ messages will be automatically translated back in that chosen language. This provides brands with a great opportunity to show that they value each customer and are open to the world.

Pre-chat surveys

Personalizing customer service doesn’t have to be rocket science. Pre-chat survey is a simple but effective live chat feature that helps customers feel like their needs are understood. By simply filling out a few simple questions at the beginning of a chat, every customer can be routed to the agent, team, or department best suited to help them. This stops customers being passed between agents like an unwanted hot potato.

Omnichannel customer engagement

Omnichannel customer engagement platforms are uniquely positioned to provide customers with the richest personalized experience. These platforms connect every digital channel into one platform and unified inbox. As well as connecting each channel together, the platform also draws all your customer information together so the agent has a wealth of information about the customer, no matter what channel they reach out on. This can be even further improved with the integration of a CRM like Salesforce or other business systems, offering even more information to agents.

Video and audio chat

As we’ve seen, digital interactions like live chat can provide a high degree of personalization in customer service. However, nothing beats face-to-face interaction to bring the personal touch. While in person communication often can’t be achieved in our digital world, brands can speak directly to customers through video and audio chat, embedded within the live chat solution. This demonstrates a company’s commitment to genuine and personalized contact, making the chatting experience more human and increasing trust in the agent.

Conclusion

If you’d like to understand how you can adopt personalized customer service into your operations, get in touch with Comm100. Our Omnichannel customer engagement solution connects every channel into one platform, bringing together a wealth of customer data that allows agents to provide personalized service to each and every customer.