When the philosophy “The customer is always right” first rose to prominence among department store juggernauts in the early 1900s, companies used it as a way to promote that they prioritized customer needs and fully satisfied customer expectations. 

And while people have used the slogan more flippantly (and, at times, begrudgingly) in the modern era, it still indicates how important and widespread it is for a company to value high levels of customer satisfaction. 

However, it takes more than just a motto to show you’re eager to implement a customer service mindset. Read on to learn more about how to improve customer relationships, strengthen loyalty and retention, grow your audience, and leave a positive impression with every customer interaction.

What is a customer service mindset? 

If your company has a customer service mindset, the customer comes first in any business decision. A customer-centric mindset permeates every part of how you run your brand and informs the methods you use to exceed customer expectations. 

Operating with a customer service mindset means you are not only reactive to customer needs, but also proactive from the onset. It involves establishing excellent service experiences—from quick and seamless issue resolution to demonstrating empathy and kindness—and building rapport at every step of the customer experience to encourage repeat business.

How to build a customer service mindset 

• Define concrete steps to achieve your customer service goals
• Hire the right people
• Invest in employee training
• Use tools thoughtfully
• Collect and listen to customer feedback
• Personalize customer experiences

The specifics of building a customer service mindset may vary from one company to the next, depending on your target audience’s specific needs. However, here are some tried-and-true methods for fostering a more customer-focused organization.

Define concrete steps to achieve your customer service goals

To ensure you have an authentic customer service mindset, build it into the core foundation of your organizational culture. Clearly define and communicate how you’ll go above and beyond for your clientele in your mission statement and business plan, and create steps to implement those values throughout the entire organization.

For example, if you claim that “exceptional service” is part of your customer-first culture at a luxury retail store, you might implement services such as free tailoring and alterations, personal styling consultations, or other comprehensive attention to detail that demonstrates your company goes the extra mile to take care of every customer’s needs. 

Hire the right people 

A dedicated staff of customer service representatives is crucial for handling customer inquiries, resolving customer complaints, and delivering great service. Having a well-staffed team that lives your company values ensures you’re all on the same page. 

It’s not just your customer service team, though; building a customer-oriented culture is important across the board, especially at the highest levels of the company. 

At fashion ecommerce brand Lulus, this means not only hiring the right people with the right attitude, but knowing when it might not be the right fit, says Crystal Landsem, the company’s CEO.

“Hiring people that are going to reinforce the culture, especially among leadership, is really important,” Crystal says on an episode of the Shopify Masters podcast. “We’ve had a couple of folks that have come through that just couldn’t connect, and they tend not to be able to stay because we actually really value and cherish that culture because it’s what makes us successful.”

Invest in employee training 

In addition to hiring the right people, it’s also essential to ensure they receive proper training to handle customer needs as they arise. Create standard templates for common inquiries and problems, and empower your team to solve routine problems on their own, including issuing refunds, providing customers with delivery and product information, and escalating issues that require a higher level of access.

Additionally, soft skill training can help customer service representatives deal with inquiries using tact, kindness, and compassion, and equip them with the talking points and resources to do their job quickly without sacrificing professionalism. 

Training may involve role-playing exercises or reviewing company policies to ensure staffers are taking the correct approach. Continuous training helps ensure the team is up to date on the latest products and protocols in order to best serve customers and deliver positive experiences.

Refining customer care in hypothetical scenarios prepares the team for when real-life encounters occur, including how to greet customers, end emails, properly address concerns, and even answer the phone with proper etiquette.

Use tools thoughtfully

Make sure your team has comprehensive tools to take care of your customers. Customer service agents should have access to customer data integration tools that gather disparate pieces of information across platforms to create a standardized customer profile, as well as inventory tracking and shipping management data that allows them to locate products accurately and efficiently. 

However, Crystal warns that using the right tools doesn’t necessarily mean just implementing state-of-the-art, high-tech tooling for the sake of it. Instead, it means knowing how to use the tools appropriately to best serve a customer. “There are a lot of really sexy software tools out there: things that claim to automate and make your life easier,” Crystal says. “But don’t be drawn into all the allure of these set-it-and-forget-it automation tools.” Instead, it’s important to evaluate your company’s needs to find tools that aggregate information but still allow you to remain connected with your customers.

Collect and listen to customer feedback

Gathering customer feedback and learning from it to make relevant changes is critical to establishing a customer service mindset. This may involve sending customer surveys via email, text, or social media, or conducting user research studies that allow you to collect and synthesize both positive feedback and customer pain points. 

At Lulus, Crystal says the entire leadership team reads customer exit interview surveys daily to better understand their needs and execute appropriately. “It’s not aggregated, it’s not streamlined. It’s just a raw customer feedback data dump that comes into our email every morning,” Crystal says.

Personalize customer experiences 

Personalizing the shopper experience shows that you’re genuinely placing customers front and center. Adding personalized guidance to emails or auto-populating product recommendations on your website based on the shopper’s purchasing history helps create a more resonant customer experience. Lulus, for example, sends handwritten notes with every order to create a truly personalized touch designed to foster stronger relationships with its customers.