As an acknowledgement to the growing importance of customer service as a driver of brand loyalty, Frost & Sullivan has announced the 2016 Customer Service Excellence Recognition program. The program is designed as a way to bring attention to organizations that have proven themselves as leaders in the customer service sector.
"Best-in-class brands continue to raise the bar for highly personalized and effortless customer experiences in these areas. These experiences help cement long-term customer relationships and build greater brand loyalty and advocacy," stated Frost & Sullivan Global Program Director – Customer Engagement Stephen Loynd. "As a result, these companies are able to attract, retain and grow more customers than their competitors, while keeping service costs lower."
The awards will be given in several categories, indicative of five key areas that Frost & Sullivan have noted as key drivers of customer experience.
- Omnichannel Customer Experience: Companies that are able to communicate via the customer’s preferred channel begin the interaction with an inherent advantage over those that cannot.
- Mobile Customer Care: As the mobile platform continues to gain momentum, more customers are becoming receptive to the idea of customer service over the channel.
- Web Customer Experience: Sites like Overstock and Amazon have revolutionized the way customers look at online customer service, and the awards will recognize companies that are continuing the trend of bringing the brick & mortar experience online.
- Social Media Customer Experience: Social media is a valuable method of communicating with customers through a 2-way dialog, which lends itself perfectly for customer service scenarios.
- Customer Engagement Analytics: Knowing the customer is half the battle in providing customer experience that is above and beyond the norm, and data analytics is the key to this kind of personalized information.
Companies in each category will be judged first by completing a questionnaire application, providing information about how the organization is committed to differentiating its customer experience. From there, a panel of judges will review entries and determine the winners.