Customer service

When terrorists attacked the Indian city of Mumbai in 2008, employees of the Taj Mumbai hotel displayed uncommon valor. They placed the safety of guests...

The notion that companies must go above and beyond in their customer service activities is so entrenched that managers rarely examine it. But a study...

Extensive study of the world’s best service companies reveals the principles on which they’re built.

The quality of customer service is often as important as the quality of the product. A company can evaluate its customer service by performing a customer...

Although reviled in the business press as short-term fads, rewards programs are gaining popularity. Rewards can and do build customer loyalty. Unfortunately,...

A refresher on customer churn rate.

Traditional programs of quality control in the United States have emphasized mainly defensive actions--preventing defects--and even these programs have...

Shoppers once relied on familiar salespeople to help them find exactly what they wanted--and sometimes to suggest additional items they hadn't even thought...

Since its introduction, in 2003, the Net Promoter System, which measures how consistently brands turn customers into advocates, has become the predominant...

Successful companies will engage customers through “omnichannel” retailing: a mashup of digital and physical experiences.

Jill Hoover was looking skyward, marveling at the heart-stopping beauty of Paradise Park-Seattle's newest attraction, its tallest and scariest roller...

In recent years IT professionals have been onshoring service work to low-cost American or European cities. But this can be problematic because of labor...

In 1970, Citibank’s services rated poorly when compared with other banks’. In response, management ordered an overhaul of the services area and brought in managers with experience in manufacturing environments to make the services more efficient. That program succeeded in ensuring new processing efficiency and management control; yet it did not go far enough in […]

In the rush to build Internet businesses, many executives concentrate all their attention on attracting customers rather than retaining them. That’s a mistake. The unique economics of e-business make customer loyalty more important than ever.

The next time a customer service rep says, “The computer won’t let me do that” or “The system tells me what to do,” remember this: Behind every such phrase is a set of processes designed, or at least endorsed, not by computers but by human beings somewhere in the corporate hierarchy. The system may tell […]

Better outcomes, higher satisfaction, and lower costs.

The news from Google this week is that it has launched a ninth version of its Chrome browser, with the biggest change being that it incorporates the “instant” capabilities the company introduced in 2010. As you probably know, Google Instant is the enhancement to Google’s search engine that begins suggesting results even as you type. […]

The former CEO of Circuit City offers advice to his one-time competitor.

Rotterdam Eye Hospital transformed its patients’ experiences.

The case for eschewing the traditional approach to customer satisfaction measurement.