Apple's Unique Approach to Customer Service: Four Ways To Make Your Customers Feel Special

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When it comes to customer service, many brands struggle to stand out from the crowd. Everyone responds quickly, offers self-help tools and has a way for customers to get in touch with them online. This is great, of course, but all of these things are so commonplace that they’ve almost become a standard minimum expectation of any company operating today. To really set your customer service apart from the rest of the pack, you need to find ways to make your customers feel special—because they are. If you want people to keep coming back again and again, you need to go above and beyond with your customer service. In this blog post, we’ll give you four tips on how you can make your customers feel special when interacting with your brand.

Be responsive

This may seem obvious, but if you’re not responding to customer messages in a timely manner, it’s unlikely you’ll be making them feel special in any way. Making sure you have the correct information so you can respond quickly and efficiently is essential, but so is being able to respond no matter what time of day it is. Many businesses have a 24/7 expectation for support, but this can be hard to manage—especially if you’re a smaller company that may have only a handful of employees. If possible, try to have someone available at all hours to respond to questions and concerns, even if you don’t have a 24/7 support option. This can go a long way toward making customers feel special.

Offer self-help tools

While most companies offer some type of self-help tool, few of them take it to the level that Apple does. Take a look at their support website, and you’ll see that they have how-to guides for almost everything—from setting up your Apple Watch to troubleshooting an iMac. While it may seem like overkill, these how-to guides can go a long way in making the customer feel like they’re getting a personalized experience, even if they’re on the website.

Be transparent

Another way that you can make your customers feel special is by being totally transparent about your company, your policies and your products. No one likes to be kept in the dark about things that can affect them. You don’t have to disclose your entire business plan, but being transparent about your policies, including return and exchange policies, can go a long way toward making customers feel as though they know what they’re getting themselves into when they purchase from you. Similarly, being transparent about your product—how it’s made, who it’s made by, etc.—can make customers feel like they’re getting a truly authentic, quality product that isn’t made in some mysterious factory by nameless, faceless employees.

Give your customers a way to reach you

Last but not least, it’s important to have a way for customers to reach you—and to make them aware of it. Even if you have the most responsive, helpful support team in the world, you’re still going to have some customers who have specific questions or concerns that only you can answer. Being available through both phone and email can make a big difference for customers, especially if you have a dedicated team for each method of communication. Having an email address that isn’t info@yourcompany.com makes it feel more personal and can help customers feel that they’re getting a one-on-one experience when they send you an email. The same is true for phone numbers—having a dedicated number can make customers feel like they’re being directed right to the right person when they call.

Conclusion

The most important takeaway from this post is that your customers want to feel special. They want to know they’re valued and they’re appreciated—and they want to know you’ve put in the effort to make them feel that way. Making your customers feel special doesn’t have to be difficult or time-consuming, it just requires effort from your team and dedication to providing customers with great customer service.