Countdown to NCSW 2023
Don’t miss the opportunity to get involved in National Customer Service Week – a week-long celebration of customer service, taking place 2-6 October 2023. Reflect on how you serve your customers, recognise your team’s achievements and show your commitment to service excellence.
National Customer Service Week 2023
This year’s National Customer Service Week (NCSW) runs from Monday 2 to Friday 6 October 2023. We celebrate customer service in our organisations with a series of themes, and prepared activities for each day, in addition to some helpful resources. Don’t forget to check out last year’s NCSW round-up for some of the highlights!
National Customer Service Week is a week-long opportunity to raise awareness of customer service and the vital role it plays in successful business practice and the growth of the UK economy.
NCSW 2023 themes include:
- Monday: The Future of AI 🤖
- Tuesday: Service with Respect Day 💚
- Wednesday: Customer Service as a Profession 🎓
- Thursday: Driving Sustainable Growth 📈
- Friday: Service Recognition Day 🏆
We will be sharing resources and activities for each day of the week shortly and we look forward to seeing what you get up to this year.
Monday 3rd October – The Human-Tech interface:
We started National Customer Service Week by discussing the human-tech interface. We presented an overview of the technologies that have transformed the customer experience landscape and explored the balance between human and technology.
- Breakthrough Research: wondering which technologies and applications will be most important for customer experience, or how best to achieve optimal blend of human and technology-based experiences? Our latest research report, “A Connected World“, examines the role of technology in shaping the future of customer experience, and our Breakthrough Research on The Heart of Artificial Intelligence.
- Head to Head interviews: watch business leaders, such as Gareth Turpin, CMO at Virgin Media O2, or Amie Chapple, Executive Officer at Capita Experience discuss the impact of technology in their customer service strategy.
- Academy Training: sign up to our next Customer Journey Mapping workshop (dates TBC shortly) to reflect on how the customer experience you provide meets your organisation’s goals and which touch points should be digital and which require a human. We will discuss the importance of customer journey mapping and the impact of customer insight, and review various journey types, from operations to service and complaints.
- Run a customer satisfaction survey: optimised digital channels provide customers with enjoyable and fulfilling interactions, which leads to increased customer service satisfaction. Run a customer satisfaction survey this week and focus on asking the right website survey questions and collecting powerful insights to improve your digital customer experience.
- Customer Focus Magazine: our long-running publication aims to provide insight and inspiration to our members and subscribers. Read our latest issue on the digital/human interface and our “People have realised the importance of connectivity” article (Issue 34).
- CEO Blog and CEO Statement: staying current on trends and new data in your field is key. If you’re eager to learn more about the human-tech interface, check out the following articles: “Technology: how smart do we want it to be?”, More to do for technology to truly enhance customer service, Technology is driving exciting customer opportunities – but trust is still the key, Digital technology brings colour and can enhance the service experience, Will technology be at the heart of service in a post-Covid world?
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Please remember to follow us and tag us in your social media posts along with the hashtag #NCSW2022 #tech
Tuesday 4th October – Service with Respect Day
Tuesday was Service with Respect Day: we asked you to support our vital campaign and celebrate the recent change in legislation to protect all customer-facing workers from hostility and abuse. Logos, social cards and other free resources to show your support are available here.
- Support the campaign: join us in supporting the campaign if you haven’t already and spread the word to friends and family!
- Service with Respect Merchandise: get your Service with Respect pack to display your commitment and support your people against hostility and abuse.
- Raising awareness: run a survey or hold a meeting with your customer-facing workers to openly discuss challenging customer interactions and encourage them to report incidents in the future
- Support your frontline people: we have a range of workshops and courses designed to help your people deal with challenging situations and customer vulnerability with confidence
- New legislation now in effect: find out more about the new legislation that came into force on 28th June, display the campaign logo on your website and download our campaign resources, including social cards, pre-recorded phone scripts, email copy etc.
- CEO Blogs & Statements: check out some of our articles on the importance of this campaign and some of the achievements accomplished so far.
Share your posts on Linkedin and Twitter
Please remember to follow us and tag us in your social media posts along with the hashtags #NCSW2022 #servicewithrespect
Wednesday 5th October – The Professionalisation of Service: Skills & Capabilities
On Wednesday, we discussed the professionalisation of service. We assessed the evolution of customer service as a profession with defined skills, standards and a career development pathway, and identified key areas to develop and sharpen up service skills.
- Head to Head: join our live Head to Head, where Jo Causon will be in
conversation with Shirley Fell, Chief Operating Officer at Cirencester Friendly Society on the professionalisation of service and the key skills required to succeed. - Upcoming Breakthrough Research: our upcoming Breakthrough Research on the Professionalisation of Service will cover key skills requirements in an evolving environment, effective recruitment, training and development and employee retention.
- Academy Workshops: take part in some of our Academy workshops, including our popular “Handling Complaints Effectively“ – which helps organisations train their staff to retain talent and improve their service.
- Watch this video: we walk you through our course structure and how we help students improve their skills, competences and effectiveness through the course. Watch it here: Everything you need to know about Management Qualifications
- Success stories: our members tell all – find out how our Management and Professional Qualifications have helped them consistently grow their customer base, increase employee and customer satisfaction, reduce complaints handling and increase employee retention.
- CEO Blog and CEO Statements: check out some of our articles on the importance of training and upskilling your workforce, such as “Bridging the customer service skills gap for prosperity”, “Resilience in the new environment”, “Developing and investing in people is key to retaining them”, “Continually upskilling our workforce is essential for our future as a service nation” or “This National Careers Week, let’s celebrate the service profession”.
- Customer Focus Magazine: read our articles “Setting the right standards” (Issue 31), “Building customer service success” (Issue 31), Why future service winners have to be innovators” (Issue 28), “Employing empathy in customer service” (Issue 27), “The bottom lines of communication” (Issue 26) and “Servicing the workplace” (Issue 13).
- ServiceFocus Training: our research shows that developing customer service skills, and behaviour increases customer satisfaction, leading to better financial performance. See our ServiceFocus suite of training courses to develop, refresh, improve your team’s service skills.
Share your posts on Linkedin and Twitter
Please remember to follow us and tag us in your social media posts along with the hashtags #NCSW2022 #skills #capabilities
Thursday 6th October – Effective Strategy and Leadership
On Thursday, we discussed effective strategy and leadership skills. Great customer service starts at the top, and leaders should set their teams up for success by providing them with the environment, tools, and knowledge they need to provide excellent service.
- Annual Conference 2023: attend our Annual Conference 2023 to hear from industry leaders and gain insight on the key trends and challenges affecting the customer experience world. We will discuss key themes such as sustainability, skills and success. Book your place!
- Reshape your customer service strategy: benchmark your organisation against the latest UK Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI) Measure your customer satisfaction, identify your strengths and areas for development, and benchmark your performance with other organisations either in or outside your sector – find out more here.
- Measure your employee engagement: Assess your employees’ view of how your strategy, culture and processes enable your organisation to deliver world class customer service. Members can survey their staff by using our redesigned employee engagement tool, ServCheck.
- The ROI of Customer Service: calculate the ROI of excellent customer service by compiling evidence of improvements in service delivery – for example improved efficiencies, cost savings, extra sales, increased employee engagement, improved customer retention and recommendation. Here is a guide you might find useful.
- Head to Head: we’ve had the privilege of welcoming leaders from a range of industries to share the challenges they have been facing over the last year and the lessons they are taking forward with them – check out our Head to Head interview series for tips on effective strategy and leadership.
- Leadership roundtable: host a Senior Executives lunch session or roundtable to voice ideas, thoughts, and challenges. Ask them for their own thoughts about what the organisation needs to do to increase customer service and how that could affect the organisation’s reputation, trust levels with customers, customer retention, sales, profitability and success.
- Customer Focus Magazine: read our articles “Meeting business leaders around the table” (Issue 25), “Building Customer Service Success” (Issue 31) and “Why future service winners have to be innovators” (Issue 28).
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Please remember to follow us and tag us in your social media posts along with the hashtag #NCSW2022 #strategy #leadership
Friday 7th October – Customer Service Recognition Day
Given everything that has happened in the last year, it is more important than ever to recognise the individuals and teams that have gone above and beyond. Friday was all about celebrating those people that have succeeded through adversity and made a significant impact on your customers.
- Wall of fame: ask your colleagues to vote for their Customer Service Hero in the organisation and share your winner on Twitter from 8am to 4pm on 7th October using the hashtag #cshero. Remember to give an example of their achievements, and we will then pick an overall winner for the day – Good luck!
- UK Customer Satisfaction Awards: start preparing for the Institute’s Customer Satisfaction Awards 2023 – Have a look at the Award categories, download the Awards Criteria and check out our Top Tips for your awards submissions. Deadline: Fri 14 Oct, 2022.
- Thank you letters: have other departments write hand-written letters to your team. If the colleagues from other departments are physically present, have them deliver it in person for the best impact. If you randomly pair people up, it’s also a great way for people to meet a new colleague!
- Remember your remote teams: show your remote workers that Customer Service Week is about them, too. Surprise them and send rewards to their homes as a gesture of gratitude for their hard work.
- Team day out: organise a day out. Such events involve team building and bonding themselves as well as being great fun. It’s the perfect opportunity for some valuable employee recognition!
- CEO Speech: motivate with a personal address from your CEO, President, or Division Head on the importance of service. Share the speech with in-house and remote staff via video conferencing.
- Document the celebration: from simple photo backdrops to photo booths and selfie frames, everyone loves to snap a reminder of the celebration. Share your photos internally on your communication platform or social media channels for a day to remember!
- External Recognition: consider taking the celebration outside of the company. Let your customers know about some of the people “behind the scenes” who deliver the service and support they need.
Share your posts on Linkedin and Twitter
Please remember to follow us and tag us in your social media posts along with the hashtags #NCSW2022 #csheroes #recognition
In 2022, we once again celebrated customer service during the first week of October with a series of themes. Thanks to everyone who shared their activities with us!
We have collated some of the highlights below. We are sorry if you have not been featured, we had too many submissions to include them all.
We hope you enjoyed the week and we look forward to seeing your efforts in 2023!
Share your posts on Linkedin and Twitter
Please remember to follow us and tag us in your social media posts with the hashtag #NCSW2022
NCSW Merchandise: highlight your involvement
