How to Set & Meet Measurable Customer Service Targets

Goal setting is the foundation of a successful business. When you build Customer Service Targets for the support team, every member across all levels of an organization will have a clear idea of where they are heading to and also have the roadmap to get there. However, please note that you should avoid dreaming too big as it can create a lot of opportunities to fall short. Always remember that setting the right targets is important for achieving the best work environment, but this task is not as easy as it seems. 

Do you know that it costs a business up to 15 times more for bringing the same profitability level to the new customer as the old one? Keeping this in mind, one thing is for sure i.e., good consumer service is synonymous to good business. Customers need the reason for choosing your company over others in the market, so to offer them this reason, you should consistently improve the way to manage customer service. Now that you know the relevance of goal-setting and that it must be associated to your company objectives, the question is – how to define realistic goals that will encourage the service representative as well as will contribute to the business success? The idea is to begin by examining and recognizing the challenges faced by the service agents and the effect these challenges have on your company.

Some of the most common challenges that are faced by the department of customer service include – 

Clients asking questions that agents are not able to answer
Consumers having to explain their problems again and again as they are passed from 1 agent to another Clients had to expend a lot of effort for resolving a query
Consumer’s calls being put on hold while they are waiting to be connected to an agent
A pleasing and pacifying demanding or angry customer can prove to be specifically challenging
Agents not being able to understand customer problems. Consumers are not always capable of conveying their issues’ technical details which leads to frustration, repetition, and confusion
Identifying and understanding customer expectations. The service agents should be extremely aware of what do a consumer expect from the bought services or products as well as the customer service. 

More than 55% of the customers favor the balance of service and price, and won’t accept low levels of service in the exchange for an inexpensive deal. So, knowing the business objectives and having identified these issues as well as challenges faced by the service agents of your company will make you able to sketching realistic goals for the team. 

Now, let us take a look at how you can set and meet measurable consumer service goals without any hassle – 

• Know where you wish to go – Before setting your consumer service targets, you are required to determine the right direction. Ponder about what success looks like to you in 1 or 5 years from now. Is there anything that is acting as a roadblock to your path of getting there?

Brainstorm huge areas and ideas that are necessary to you as an individual and as a team. According to recent reports, enhancing rates of customer retention by only 5% will increase the profit from about 25%-95%. So, consider what are those skills which you wish to level up? What are your desired opportunities to explore? Instead of keeping a limitation on the thoughts to “achievable” or “realistic” ideas, it is time for you to think long term and big. Later on, one can break down the targets into more realistic timeframes. 

• Coordinate target-setting along with the rest of your company –Typically, consumer service goals focus particularly on consumer satisfaction, referrals, and retention, instead of just the large business and marketing goals that are set by the other teams. But, it does not necessarily mean that your targets cannot combine with the rest of your organization. Synchronizing goals along with the other teams mean that the business will continue to pursue a single vision and mission.If you have large customer basis try CRM software to manage your customer service effectively.

Along with this, measuring your success will become easier if you are capable of doing so with the other teams. Say in case one of your aims is to enhance client retention by 10%, you will have the tactics for accomplishing the same. Also at the same time, your social team could be setting the goal for increasing social media followers, and their strategy includes posting more deals and promotions on social media. 

Maybe, by examining results along with your social team, you can have a look in case increase in the consumer retention is also taking place due to the boost in promotions on the platform of social media for the current customers. 

One of the major reasons behind the significance of good consumer service is because, by 2020, consumer experience will overtake product and price as a main differentiator between the competitors. Moreover, by comparing tactics, results, and goals with an entire organization, great conclusions can be made about what tactics, executed by other teams or your team will help you meet your particular targets. Also, it will make the customer service agents feel more encouraged if they have an idea that their work might have an effect on not only their team but on the whole company. 

• Set your client service targets aligned with inherent motivation –People are encouraged either by internal (intrinsic) rewards such as purpose and meaning or external (extrinsic) rewards that includes money. Setting targets that are attached to innate encouragement is almost always better. The employees will be more motivated, likely to become successful, and happier. 

When you set the goal, everyone in your team must understand the reason behind it, how it impacts the business’s bottom line, and what is measured by setting that target. For instance, do not only set a target for the consumer representatives to enhance ticket close rate by 5%, define how it will affect the company as a whole. Moreover, organizations which offer an exceptional consumer service experience witness the growth of their revenues from 4%-8%.

• Determine clear strategies to achieve the targets – When it comes to tactics, you must employ consistent and clear ones that assist the team meets its goals. Tactics are those actionable steps that are taken towards achieving the final goal. Say in case your target of enhancing consumer retention by 10% remains, you could have various tactics, including – 

1. Writing as well as scheduling more “we miss you” and thank you notes. This can be done easily with an effective scheduling solution.
2. Increasing employee training in social media and live chat customer service
3. Providing the new weekly newsletter filled with helpful tips and original content

These mini targets that the team of your company can achieve will help them accomplish the ultimate goal of enhancing consumer retention, provided that everything goes as planned. As per the research, those businesses which deploy the thoughtfully crafted consumer service program get the benefit of a 92% client retention rate. These strategies can be divided between several individuals on your team. Your end goal will look a lot less intimidating if it has small-scale tactics for working up to it. In addition to this, it will provide your team with tangible methods for contributing to the final result. 

• Publicize as well as Track – “Out of sight and then out of mind” must never apply to your customer service goals. Never forget that 84% of companies which work on the improvement of their consumer experience report a major revenue boost. Keeping progress and goals in front of your face also helps in keeping them on the top of your mind. Different methods will prove to be more effective for different people. 

1. Digital Dashboards – In case you are metric-driven, try to keep your entire target progress into the up-to-date dashboard. You can use Salesforce, Trello, Zendesk, or even Geckoboard for designing the cross-platform target tracking great dashboard. Keep your dashboard on the screen into your office, or you can also bookmark the same. 
2. Gauges or Thermometers – In case everyone’s location is the same, tactile tracking methods can also be utilized. Draw the thermometer on the whiteboard and have the agents color in the progress. Add the post-it note for each new task achieved. But if the team is partially remote, it does not work as you will leave some of the team out of tracking. 
3. Post-it notes – In case all you want is the mantra for keeping focused, post the note on your system monitor so that you are regularly reminded of that target. 

• Motivate your team beyond the comfort zone – There is no denying the fact that you need your targets to be achievable all the time. But, achievable does not necessarily mean easy. Unobtainable might be making the target of increasing consumer retention by 60% within a month. Simple is maintaining customer retention. Challenging and attainable is increasing client retention by 5%. 

The team will feel bored and monotonous if they are consistently performing a similar task regularly. Boredom can mostly lead to incompetence, enhanced employee turnover, and laziness. Remove these aspects by offering your employees some brand new goals for working towards every quarter, month, or any other preferred time frames. 

The significance of customer service lies in the fact that 79% of the consumers state that they wish brands for demonstrating that they value them before considering the purchase. Challenging your team often improves their productivity and also helps remind them that their work does matter to you. But, ensure the fact that they can look up to their seniors anytime they need support. An individual must not feel that he should manage the project’s weight on his own, rather, every person can support each other by working as the team and use his powers for collaborating as a whole. 

• Review often – Things change instantly in companies. Rather than dreaming of a single huge goal for an entire year, categorize the target time frames into months or quarters. You will be capable of adapting your Clientele service targets to the environment’s existent requirements, rather than being left following an unimportant goal (or the one that you have attained months ago). 

With the help of weekly check-ins, you can refine goals as well as drive progress. Keeping the goals center and front in 1-on-1s will assist focus on the interactions. Reviewing often does a great job in helping you adjust to change. This also helps in driving more customers to your business as 77% of the customers would suggest the company to their friend after having a positive experience with them. 

Always keep it in mind that the mentality of “done” is an exact opposite of mentality of the high-performance growth teams. Change is difficult, constant and not adapting to it is fatal. Targets are not engraved in stone as they are conveniently adaptable and changeable. In case a goal is not working anymore, time to update it! Purpose of the goals is to keep moving ahead in the right direction. 

• Meet daily and discuss changes – Only because you set the goal at a certain point of time does not mean that you need to stick to the same. Maybe that target made sense in the beginning. For example, the 6% increase could make sense while starting because consumer retention has always gone through fluctuation around this percentage, give or take 3%. But, when you progress through the tactics, you feel that your performance is better than what you expected. Probably, you can even reach an 8% enhance within the timeline. 

Hence, it is significant to meet daily with the team for getting their feedback. Investigate what is working and what is not. In case it appears that you are moving ahead in the right direction, feel free to raise the bar. However, in case you feel like that the team is drowning a little, perhaps it is best for lowering the target a bit. Maybe, even, you will feel there is another more urgent target. Always remember that 70% of the unhappy consumers are ready to forgive and buy with the company again in case their issue is resolved. Work on the more critical one and put the previous one aside for a while. 

• Celebrate Success – You did it! Rather than directly moving on to your next target, take some time for celebrating your success. In case you have reached the team target, celebrate target. You can celebrate hitting your consumer service targets with the support team by going to a memorable Five-star meal together. Along with it being a nice reward for everybody working together, this is also the best team bonding experience. 

The fact that in terms of deciding the place to buy, over 60% of people rate the quality of consumer experience as more relevant than the price is enough to state the importance of achieving customer service goals. In case you handle individuals, consider offering the small raise for attained goals. They have enhanced their skills as well as offered more value to your team, they have the right to be compensated for it. 

Once you are done with the celebration and confetti has fallen, now move onto determining the next target. The incremental, constant modification will make a huge distinction in growing as well as scaling the support team. 

One of the major points to keep in mind is that the target setting is less about a target and more about the growth. After setting a target, for instance, to increase representative satisfaction (the goal for a manager), you should figure out what needs to happen for achieving the desired result. Among all the age groups, Millenials care more about better consumer care and are ready to spend 21% extra for getting it. 

Well, the bottom line is to never abandon the targets prematurely. By inspecting challenges faced by your client service personnel as well as defining achievable goals that are aligned with your company objectives, your staff will feel more encouraged and your consumer service quality will get better. Target-setting can be as adaptable as you want it to be. Consider that a lot of change can offer the team whiplash, so keep the things set for the most part. Pay attention to what the team is describing you. As long as your team feels the good balance of success, as well as a challenge as the progress, is stable, you can attain results that not only your company but you will also be proud of. 

Consumers do not stick around in terms of sub-par service, however, the opposite is also true at the same time. By modifying the service level you provide your customers with, you will be capable of ensuring the fact that they make the most of their experience, leave with a happy smile on their face and then share the experience with others as well.