In a recent post, I introduced “ACES” an an acronym for the elements of great customer service (and, by the way, customer experience is NOT disappearing). Based on feedback to that post (thanks Justin), I’ve decided to specifically add “responsiveness” to the mix, instead of considering responsiveness within other items (which is what I was doing in ACES). So there’s now an “R’ in the new and improved acronym “CARES“ which stands for:

• Communication (clearly communicate the process and set expectations)
• Accountability (take responsibility for fixing the problem or getting an answer)
• Responsiveness (don’t make the customer wait for your communication or a solution)
• Empathy (acknowledge the impact that the situation has on the customer)
• Solution (at the end of the day, make sure to solve the issue or answer the question)

The bottom line: Your customers should think that your company CARES.

This blog post was originally published by Temkin Group prior to its acquisition by Qualtrics in October 2018.