How to Develop Challenging (Yet Realistic) Customer Service Goals

Customer service is an indispensable cornerstone of business, but a great interaction doesn't happen by chance. It requires a strategic approach, a clear vision and most importantly, well-defined customer service goals.

One common goal across companies in every industry is customer satisfaction (CSAT). Customer service teams obsess over their scores, yet many operate without a clear understanding of how to actually achieve it. As work transforms to meet modern challenges, there are several key customer service goals along the way that contribute to CSAT, such as faster resolutions and customer effort.

This article provides a framework for goal-setting for your customer service team. Read on to remove the ambiguity out of lofty customer service goals and get the customer service tools to empower your people.

Customer service goals are the specific objectives and targets that a business sets to improve the quality of interactions and experiences it provides to customers. These goals are benchmarks for measuring performance and progress in delivering exceptional service.

While there are lots of ways to approach goal-setting, they often touch on the same ideas. For example, according to the MIT Sloan Management Review, goals should be FAST:

• Frequently discussed
• Ambitious in scope
• Measured by specific metrics and milestones
• Transparent so everyone in the organisation can see them

A goal that falls short in any of these steps is removed because it may not make a significant impact or have undefined outcomes.

A clear methodology helps companies determine appropriate, practical customer service goals. A team working toward clear goals is better equipped to improve the customer experience, customer loyalty and business success.

By documenting customer service goals, the entire customer service team stays focused. It’s easier to make decisions and increases autonomy, which can contribute to higher customer satisfaction.

With measurable customer service goals, each team member sees exactly where they stand and the department’s success rate. Team members stay accountable. The entire team stays motivated to work toward a common purpose and everyone is driven to succeed.

Best of all, the results of your customer service goals can reveal what your customer really wants. What if specific smaller customer service objectives, such as a faster case-resolution time, don’t affect your overall goal of improved CSAT? In that case, you can quickly change course to learn what truly affects your primary goal and what adjustments your team needs to make.

Customer service is all about maintaining and improving relationships. If a customer leaves satisfied after their interaction with an agent, it strengthens your relationship with the customer. They’re likely to do business with your company again and share positive reviews online, on social media or through word of mouth. Keep these tips in mind as you set customer service goals:

The more specific you are about what you want to accomplish, the easier it is to determine how to measure success.

Each customer service objective should be challenging. For your company to grow, you need to push your team to improve continually.

Employees will quickly give up on impossible goals. Make them achievable to keep your team motivated and engaged. Start small and be practical. As your team meets specific benchmarks and smaller goals, update or add larger goals.

Customer service metrics should be quantitative and qualitative. Look beyond profit margins. For example, a customer who hangs up satisfied after a call with an agent may not make another purchase immediately, but their loyalty has likely increased.

Review your metrics regularly against specific milestones to understand your team’s progress. Is your team meeting their goals in a timely manner? Are there opportunities for improvement?

Your customer service agents should feel supported, respected and trusted as they work to reach their goals. Build your customer service teams, train them, equip them with the tools and information they need and give them the authority to fulfil customer needs with minimal management supervision.

Customer service goals can encompass various aspects of the customer experience, including responsiveness, efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction.

For instance, a customer service goal may focus on reducing average response times to customer enquiries, resolving issues on the first contact, increasing customer satisfaction scores or improving customer retention rates. These goals provide a clear direction for customer service teams, guiding their efforts towards meeting and exceeding customer expectations.

Another way you can establish goals is by identifying any current customer service issues. Service department heads commonly cite the following challenges:

• Keeping up with changing customer expectations
• Budgetary constraints
• Ineffective or inefficient processes
• Insufficient tools or technologies
• Underskilled agents

Let’s say your CSAT is down because of too many reopened tickets - you can set an immediate goal for support representatives to complete new product training.

Drill down into your customer service department’s needs, methods and metrics. Talk to your agents and involve them in the goal-setting process. Setting and achieving goals together is an effective way to get to know your department inside and out — from your employees’ and customers’ perspectives.

The metrics for your customer service goals might include:

• Customer satisfaction (CSAT)
• Revenue
• Customer retention
• Customer effort score
• Service level agreement (SLA) performance
• Average response times (ART)
• Case deflection

These metrics are important to track in today’s world of high customer expectations. Our research shows that 61% of customers would rather use self-service to resolve simple issues, while 74% expect to be able to do anything online that they can do in-person or by phone.

Dig into the metrics to better understand causation — not just correlation. After each interaction, a quick survey can focus on the metrics you value and show you where to improve. Revise your metrics as needed to measure success for each customer service goal.

In today's age of quickly-evolving digital solutions and generative AI, it’s important to consider investing in technology to achieve your customer service goals.

Technology is often great for helping orgs increasing efficiency and productivity. Salesforce Service Cloud is one solution that empowers businesses to efficiently handle customer enquiries and issues.

With omni-channel routeing, for instance, you can automatically route cases from any channel-be it email, message or something else-to the right agents based on skill set, availability or capacity. This speediness can help you work towards goals like improving first call resolution (FCR).

Artificial intelligence (AI) can also assist with meeting your customer service goals. By analysing your vast amounts of customer data, AI can give you the valuable insights you need to make specific recommendations - ideal if you have goals around giving customers more personalised service.

By defining clear and actionable customer service goals, organisations can cultivate a customer-centric mindset, drive performance improvement and differentiate themselves in the competitive landscape.

Every agent, every team and every service organisation has room to grow and improve. Make goal-setting part of your plan to transform and stay ahead of your competition.