Fraught with friction

Fraught with friction

Brilliant Customer Service

Brilliant Customer Service requires more than a fake smile and ‘Have a nice day’. It demands introspection, innovation, and, more than ever, ease. Think smooth. Friction is now the leading bugbear for customers.

You can be rude, drop the ball, mess up pricing, and still be forgiven. If your interaction is fraught with friction, expect your customers to start searching for a smoother alternative.

Friction comes in many forms:

  • Enter your password. No, not that one.
  • Print this. Don’t worry, we’ll never actually look at it.
  • We need your details for security (only to have to repeat them… twice).
  • Please choose: 8am - 1pm or 1pm - 7pm for your convenient appointment.
  • You need to download the app first.
  • Please speak in your normal voice. What is your postcode? Please repeat your postcode.
  • I’ll be with you in a minute. I’m not authorised to…

Each moment of friction slows a customer down. Slows them down from making a buying or loyalty decision.

Can you afford that as a supplier?

Do you enjoy that as a customer?

What are your tips for removing friction and giving customers a smoother experience?

I’ll send a copy of my best-selling customer service book 5 Star Service on Amazon to our favourite. Please leave your comments below.


Be Brilliant!

PS Last week my newsletter (A Robot Wrote This) asked you to vote for your favourite version. Not saying which was mine and which was the Artificial Intelligence version, of 5 ways to be more confident in 2023.

You can see the results here.

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