It can be difficult to keep your customer service up to date. It’s changing daily, and there’s always
some new aspect someone is promoting as the popular new norm. In his article, “7 Trends in Customer Service Expectations,” Bob Lucas has listed expectations he gathered from research, workshops and customers.

1. Availability

There are so many companies nowadays that promise to be available around the clock 365 days a year. In fact, it’s so common that customers expect it from everyone. Your clients have the mentality that you will be available when they need you. As a result, you need to be at the top of your game when it comes to returning your clients’ emails and calls in a timely manner. If you don’t, well, I said it was a common thing to find now, didn’t I?

2. Effectiveness

The promises you make to your clients set the stage for the service your clients will come to expect from you. The catch is that if you say you’ll do something, you have to do it. At the end of the day, the solutions you promise your clients are good, but all they really want is for your service to be effective. Offer what your clients need and what you can feasibly provide. Don’t lose their trust and their business with empty promises.

3. Knowledge

Another common expectation is that little to nothing will go wrong. More than half of the sales pitches clients hear contain guarantees of the fool-​proofness of what they’re purchasing. Now, we’re all human, and the expectation of minimal errors goes hand-​in-​hand with the expectation that, even if things go wrong, you’ll have the knowledge to correct the problem quickly and smoothly. That’s one of the keys to living up to your clients’ expectations: you have to be as prepared as possible to correct any problem that may arise. Also, if you keep that mindset, it’s very likely that you’ll catch potential problems as soon as possible and put a stop to them before they become noticeable in the first place.

4. Courtesy

The key to handling problems and disasters is to be courteous. Your clients will expect apologies and thorough solutions with explanations of why the problem occurred and why it will not happen again. They do not want your excuses. The problem occurred. Own it. Fix it. Make sure it doesn’t happen again.