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How to Exceed Customer Expectations

Paweł Hałabuda

10 min read

Jun 12, 2024

When customers interact with a company, they have preconceived notions about how that interaction will unfold, influenced by previous experiences, word of mouth, and marketing promises. These expectations are customers' standards and assumptions about the service they will receive.

If you were to buy a product or service again, would you rather choose the store that treated you well or the one that gave you a poor shopping experience? For most of us, how we feel about the entire buying process is important.

Or perhaps you’re buying from a vendor for the first time. Do you look up their reviews online before making a purchase? I bet you wouldn’t trust someone with a bad reputation, either.

That’s how important it is to meet and exceed customer expectations in customer service. In this article, I will introduce you to techniques and tools to help you succeed in winning your customers' hearts (and wallets).

What are customer expectations?

We can identify different types of customer expectations: explicit, implicit, static, dynamic, interpersonal, technological, situational, perceived, cultural, and emotional. 

Seems like a lot, right? Let’s take a closer look at each of them.

Explicit and implicit expectations

Explicit expectations are clearly defined and articulated by the customer. They are the specific promises made by a company, such as product features, delivery times, and service standards.

The expectations that are not directly stated but are assumed by customers are implicit. They are based on past experiences, industry standards, or common sense. When you go to a restaurant, you expect it to be clean and the staff to be courteous.

Static and dynamic expectations

Static expectations remain consistent over time and stay the same. For example, a customer expects a product to work as described each time they use it.

Dynamic expectations evolve over time due to changing trends, technology advancements, and improved offerings by competitors. It’s become natural to expect new features or better performance as technology progresses.

Interpersonal expectations

These relate to the interaction between the customer and company representatives. Customers expect polite, helpful, and respectful treatment from employees. As emotions drive the buying process, how we feel about it can be the most important factor. You can have a great product or service, but if your employees fail to meet the interpersonal expectations of your clients, they will go to your competitors.

Technological expectations

We’ve become so used to some aspects of technology that we take many things for granted. Seamless online experiences, mobile-friendly interfaces, and accessibility features shouldn’t concern your customers. When they do, the friction they experience will most likely cause them to abandon the buying process completely.

Situational expectations

Situational expectations are influenced by specific circumstances or contexts, such as expecting quick service during lunch hours at a fast-food restaurant or expecting a personalized shopping experience during the holiday season. The best way to meet those expectations is to create a marketing calendar and plan ahead for fixed events such as Valentine’s Day or Black Friday.

Perceived and cultural expectations

Marketing, word-of-mouth, reviews, and reputation have the power to shape customers’ perceptions. When you buy Apple or Nike products, for example, you already have developed expectations of their customer service, product quality, etc. Failing to meet those expectations can damage brand reputation. 

Similarly, cultural expectations are influenced by norms and values, which can vary widely across regions and demographics. Understanding these helps businesses effectively cater to a diverse customer base.

Emotional expectations

These relate to how customers expect to feel when interacting with a company or using its products and services. Positive emotions like trust, excitement, and satisfaction are key to meeting these expectations. Emotional expectations are similar to cultural and perceived assumptions, as they are often shaped by marketing or social norms.

The impact of customer expectations on customer satisfaction and loyalty

I’ve already touched on this a bit, but you can’t underestimate the impact customer experience has on building a satisfied and loyal customer base.

Consistently meeting customer expectations demonstrates reliability and builds trust. When customers find that their explicit and implicit expectations are fulfilled, they feel content and valued. This fulfillment leads to a positive perception of the brand and its offerings. Conversely, dissatisfaction arises when expectations are unmet, which can harm your company's reputation.

Customer satisfaction is closely linked to how well a business understands and anticipates customer needs. Static expectations, such as product reliability and service consistency, form the baseline for satisfaction. Dynamic expectations, influenced by evolving trends and technological advancements, require businesses to continuously adapt and innovate to maintain satisfaction levels.

Exceeding customer expectations can further enhance customer loyalty. When customers receive more than they anticipated, they are more likely to develop an emotional connection with the brand, increasing their likelihood of returning and recommending the company to others. This emotional connection is a powerful driver of customer loyalty and can significantly impact customer retention.

Step 1: Meeting basic expectations

One of the most fundamental aspects of meeting customer expectations is ensuring timely responses to customer inquiries. Nowadays, customers expect quick and efficient support. Any delay in response time can lead to frustration and a perception of poor customer service. Your company must prioritize prompt responses to demonstrate commitment to good customer service and effectively manage customer service expectations.

To provide real-time communication with customers, you can use tools like LiveChat. Our platform uses automated messages and offers AI-driven assistance to ensure that customers receive immediate attention, even when human agents are unavailable. 

Reducing wait times is one of the surefire ways to improve customer experience.

Providing accurate and relevant information

Customers expect to receive clear, concise, and correct information that addresses their needs and concerns. Misinformation or incomplete answers can lead to frustration and distrust, negatively impacting customer satisfaction and loyalty.

LiveChat's knowledge base integration allows agents to quickly access and share accurate information, ensuring customers receive the most relevant and up-to-date answers. Leverage this feature to effectively manage customer expectations and deliver a superior customer service experience.

Offering multiple communication channels

In an omnichannel environment, customers expect to interact with companies through their preferred communication channels: phone, email, chat, social media, or messaging apps. Your business might need multiple ways to provide a seamless customer experience.

Use LiveChat integrations to manage various channels, including WhatsApp Business, Messenger, and Apple Messages for Business. Our tool hosts multichannel support, ensuring that customers can reach your company through their preferred medium, enhancing convenience and satisfaction.

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Step 2: Exceeding customer expectations

To exceed customer expectations, tailor interactions to meet individual customer needs. In fact, you might have no choice as customers expect personalized service that acknowledges their unique history and preferences with the company.

The good news is that you can leverage customer data to personalize your messages. LiveChat offers access to detailed customer profiles and interaction histories, allowing customer support agents to provide highly individualized responses.

For example, by analyzing previous customer interactions and purchase history, support representatives can make relevant product recommendations, offer personalized discounts, and effectively address specific concerns.

Anticipating customer preferences

Proactive customer service involves anticipating customer needs and addressing potential issues before they become problems. Being prepared to meet different customer demands demonstrates excellent customer service and helps manage customer inquiries.

With LiveChat, your business can monitor customer behavior in real time. Support agents can use the tool to identify patterns and potential pain points to initiate chats with customers who seem to be struggling or have questions. This proactive approach can resolve issues quickly and prevent frustration.

Enhancing customer communication with AI

Speed and efficiency are essential elements of excellent customer service. With AI tools, your team can respond to queries and issues faster than ever before.

Based on user input, LiveChat’s AI Assist refines your messages by expanding, rephrasing, and summarizing your content. It instantly makes detailed information available to customers, eliminating any struggle for the right words. Our AI tools can adapt the tone of messages to match the customer's unique style, whether it be friendly, official, or casual. 

Natural language processing (NLP) allows for mirroring customer communication styles or setting a consistent brand tone, ensuring perfect AI-generated suggestions. Machine learning capabilities help eliminate awkward tones, grammar issues, and spelling mistakes.

Tools and techniques to exceed expectations with LiveChat

Automated messages are a key feature of LiveChat that can help businesses engage visitors automatically. 

When customers land on a website, they often have immediate questions or need assistance. Automated messages can welcome visitors, provide instant support, and guide them through their digital customer journey. 

Multichannel support

Customers expect to communicate with businesses through their preferred channels. LiveChat's multichannel support allows businesses to integrate various communication platforms, such as WhatsApp, Messenger, and Apple Messages.

In-chat product recommendations

Connecting LiveChat with ecommerce platforms allows you to offer in-chat product recommendations. This feature leverages customer data to suggest relevant products during a chat session, providing a personalized shopping experience. 

As customers, we’re used to seeing personalized recommendations based on our browsing history and preferences. Don’t forget to offer this feature on your website.

AI Assist

Speed and quality should go hand in hand when pursuing customer satisfaction. With AI Assist, your support team can provide detailed messages on the spot, reduce reply time, and improve customer communication.

The tool helps agents respond quickly and accurately with instant reply suggestions based on knowledge sources, like privacy policy, terms and conditions, pricing, and help center articles.

Chat summary 

Transferring a conversation with a client from one support agent to another can happen for many reasons. Sometimes it is specialization, like solving complex technical problems. Other times, it can be related to workload management, shift changes, and customer requests. Dealing with a rude customer can also require a chat transfer to help with conflict resolution.

In all of these scenarios, your support team can use LiveChat’s chat summary feature. It uses AI to quickly scan the entire exchange and provide a short list of key takeaways other agents can use to quickly pick up the conversation.

Leveraging data to improve customer service

Analyzing customer feedback and interactions is essential for understanding customer behavior and preferences. You can use customer data to gain valuable insights into what customers expect and how to meet those expectations.

Utilizing LiveChat's reporting tools

LiveChat reports provide detailed insights into customer interactions. You can use them to highlight trends, identify common issues, and measure customer satisfaction levels. 

One valuable metric is the 24-hour distribution, which shows how chat volume spreads across day and night. Identifying peak chat hours within this cycle allows for optimal planning of agents' work schedules, ensuring they can fully focus on customers during high-traffic periods and handle additional tasks during quieter times.

If data indicates that response times are too long, you can invest in additional agent training or leverage more advanced AI tools to enhance efficiency. Our customer service report highlights the importance of efficient response times, where the global average last year was 45 seconds.

When agents struggle to keep up with incoming chats, a queue forms and customers get frustrated. You can avoid that with data-driven team allocation. Use LiveChat reports to ensure proper staffing during shifts and prevent agents from becoming overwhelmed.

Additionally, remind new agents to set chat limits, such as handling no more than three chats simultaneously.

Exceed customer expectations with LiveChat

Exceeding customer expectations is crucial for enhancing customer satisfaction, driving retention, and fostering positive word of mouth.

LiveChat offers a comprehensive suite of tools and features that empower businesses to meet customer service expectations. You can leverage LiveChat to provide personalized, proactive, and efficient customer service.

Over 37,000 satisfied companies have already used LiveChat to meet customer expectations and achieve high levels of satisfaction. An ecommerce company could easily integrate LiveChat with its website and social media platforms to immediately respond to customer inquiries and significantly increase satisfaction and loyalty.

A tech support company could use LiveChat's AI Assist to reduce response times and improve support accuracy. Leveraging AI-driven insights and automated messages would enable faster and more efficient service and enhance the overall customer experience.

Experience the benefits of LiveChat firsthand

Sign up for a free trial today and discover how LiveChat can help you exceed customer expectations, enhance customer satisfaction, and drive business success.

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