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<\/a><\/p>\nWith more competition, tighter budgets, and higher customer expectations, customer service teams can’t afford to deliver inconsistent or poor experiences. Reliable, high-quality support plays a major role in both retention<\/a> and acquisition, and 99% of consumers say<\/a> that customer service impacts their buying decisions.<\/p>\n This article will cover how to build and operationalize a customer service philosophy, including customer service philosophy examples from companies that are doing it right.<\/p>\n Table of Contents<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n A customer service<\/a> philosophy is a guiding set of values that defines how a company approaches serving its customers. It outlines the values, behaviors, and standards teams are expected to follow when interacting with customers. The principles help ensure that a company delivers consistent, empathetic effective service across every touchpoint.<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n A strong customer service philosophy centers on the customer and clearly defines how a company delivers consistent, high-quality support. It emphasizes empathy, responsiveness, and accountability while empowering employees with the tools and authority they need to resolve issues effectively.<\/p>\n By setting clear service standards and prioritizing continuous improvement through feedback and data, a well-defined philosophy helps teams build trust, deliver reliable experiences, and foster long-term customer loyalty.<\/p>\n Customer centricity is the foundation of a strong customer service philosophy because it ensures that every decision, process, and interaction is shaped around the customer\u2019s needs. A customer-centric approach prioritizes understanding customer goals, pain points, and expectations over simply focusing on internal policies or procedures.<\/p>\n This means listening closely to feedback, using data to anticipate needs, and designing support experiences that are easy to use. In practice, customer centricity empowers support teams to advocate for the customer, even when it requires change. A strong philosophy encourages agents to personalize interactions, take ownership, and focus on long-term relationship building.<\/p>\n My CX Perspective:<\/strong> I\u2019ve worked at many companies in my career, and it\u2019s easy to spot which ones are truly customer-centric and which ones are not. Customer centricity doesn\u2019t necessarily mean \u201cthe customer is always right<\/a>\u201d, but I like to think it does<\/em> mean that the customer always comes first.<\/p>\n Sometimes, that means having tough conversations with your customers to help them succeed, or helping them find workarounds for issues that can\u2019t be easily solved. In my experience, when customer centricity is embedded in a service philosophy, it creates trust, loyalty, and consistency, helping customers feel valued and supported.<\/p>\n Consistency plays a big role in a strong customer service philosophy because it helps build trust with customers. People want to know they\u2019ll get the same level of help no matter how they reach out or who they end up talking to. Whether it\u2019s email, chat, or phone, customers want consistent experiences so they\u2019re not left feeling frustrated or confused.<\/p>\n A consistent approach provides support teams with clear guidelines on topics such as tone, response times, and how issues should be handled, making it easier to deliver reliable service. Over time, that consistency helps customers feel confident that they\u2019ll be taken care of every time they need support.<\/p>\n Tool tip:<\/strong> Having the right customer service software makes delivering consistent customer experiences easy. When customer reps are using multiple systems or data is in silos, it\u2019s nearly impossible to ensure that each team member is delivering a consistent, reliable solution to customers.<\/p>\n HubSpot\u2019s Service Hub<\/a> allows customer service teams to have a unified system for viewing customer data, creating a ticketing help desk<\/a>, and delivering omnichannel messaging to customers. When integrated with your CRM<\/a>, Service Hub gives your support reps a full view of each customer\u2019s history, ensuring all context and information is in one unified system.<\/p>\n Proactivity should be included in any client service philosophy because it shifts support from reactive to proactive, meaning support teams should anticipate needs before they occur and step in early. That might look like flagging a potential issue before it becomes a problem or checking in after a key milestone to make sure everything\u2019s on track.<\/p>\n Proactivity can also look like regularly analyzing ticket data to identify content gaps and create (or update) knowledge base<\/a> articles. When teams take a proactive approach, customers feel looked after, which builds trust and shows customers that the company understands their needs and cares about their success.<\/p>\n Of high-growth organizations<\/a>, 63% are focusing on proactivity by engaging with customers at each step in their journey to enhance their experience.<\/p>\n Over time, a proactive mindset reduces repeat issues, lowers ticket volume, and creates a smoother overall experience. At its core, proactivity in customer service is about being one step ahead and making support feel thoughtful rather than transactional.<\/p>\n My CX Perspective:<\/strong> It\u2019s not lost on me that proactive measures can be difficult to implement in customer support. With an influx of support tickets and tight SLA\u2019s, it can feel overwhelming to try to think about anything other than what\u2019s in front of you. However, this is a great area for CX managers to invest time and resources.<\/p>\n Automation is your best friend here, and CS leaders can look to automate things like follow\/up check-in emails, system notifications (i.e., outages or maintenance), automated onboarding or product milestone emails, or even tailored knowledge base article recommendations.<\/p>\n I\u2019m a big fan of software tools that will craft follow-up emails for you after a customer interaction, so all you have to do is review\/edit and hit \u201csend\u201d.<\/p>\n Empathy is what makes customer service feel human, and it\u2019s what customers want most<\/a> from their interactions with service agents. Leading with empathy means trying to understand how a customer feels in the moment, especially when they are frustrated. By responding empathetically, customers know that their support rep isn\u2019t just trying to close the ticket.<\/p>\n In a strong customer service philosophy, empathy means listening first, validating the customer\u2019s experience, and then solving the problem with their perspective in mind. Empathetic service builds trust with customers, strengthens relationships, and makes customers far more likely to stick with a brand, even when things go wrong.<\/p>\n CX Perspective:<\/strong> Empathy is the true differentiator for companies<\/strong><\/p>\n While speed and responsiveness are, of course, important, the future of great human-led CX experiences will be built on empathetic interactions. Why do I think this?<\/p>\n A recurring theme from my research on AI and automation is that when customers are frustrated, they want to talk to a human<\/a>. Industry leaders recognize the value<\/a> in human reps\u2019 ability to empathize and diffuse situations. Instead of moving to a fully automated model, we\u2019re seeing more companies adopt a \u201chybrid\u201d<\/a> approach that uses AI to augment the work of support reps.<\/p>\n In fact, just last year Klarna<\/a> reversed its decision to replace much of its staff with AI Agents after seeing a sharp decline in service quality and customer satisfaction, stating, \u201cpeople like to speak with people\u201d.<\/p>\n Klarna re-invested in human service agents and clarified they\u2019re not backing away from leveraging AI, instead stating they are \u201dcombining scalable AI with high-quality human support\u201d – aka, the hybrid model.<\/p>\n What this tells me is that companies with truly empathetic customer service reps will continue to stand out in the CX space, because, as epicenter writes here<\/a>, \u201cOnly humans can genuinely empathize and deescalate. You can\u2019t code empathy\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n Responsiveness and communication are essential concepts for keeping customers informed, supported, and confident in a brand. When customers reach out, they want to know that their request has been received and understand what will happen next. Quick acknowledgments and clear updates help reduce frustration, even if the issue takes time to resolve, and are a pillar of common customer courtesy<\/a>.<\/p>\n A strong customer care philosophy emphasizes setting clear expectations and following through. This includes responding promptly, explaining next steps clearly, and proactively communicating any delays or changes.<\/p>\n Effective communication combines speed with clarity and consistency across channels, helping customers feel informed and supported, and leaving them with a positive impression of the company\u2019s service.<\/p>\n Tool tip:<\/strong> Looking for ways to improve your support team\u2019s responsiveness and communication? HubSpot’s Help Desk<\/a> software automates key communications for customer support reps, escalates high-priority issues and notifies reps when a customer hasn\u2019t responded.<\/p>\n Support teams can automatically send follow\u2011up emails when a ticket is created or reaches a certain stage and trigger customer satisfaction (CSAT) surveys after a case closes without manual effort.<\/p>\n Accountability is an important part of any customer service philosophy because it ensures that teams take ownership of customer issues and follow through on commitments. When support reps and customer service leaders are accountable, customers can trust that their concerns will be addressed thoroughly and reliably, rather than getting lost or passed around.<\/p>\n Accountability means clearly defining responsibilities, tracking progress on issues, and holding teams responsible for outcomes. Whether that\u2019s resolving a ticket, following up after an interaction, or improving recurring pain points, teams should hold themselves (and each other) accountable.<\/p>\n Accountability also involves learning from mistakes and using feedback to prevent similar issues in the future. By embedding accountability into a service philosophy, companies create a culture where internal teams are encouraged to accept feedback, learn from their mistakes, and take pride in owning the solution.<\/p>\n This sort of culture naturally enhances the customer experience, as customers feel confident that their customer support rep is invested in solving their issue and will own the process until it reaches resolution.<\/p>\n Accountability is important, but to drive real impact, employees need the right tools and the authority to resolve issues effectively. If customer service reps are forced to rely on clunky processes, siloed data or lengthy approvals from upper management, their case progress gets delayed, and the customer is left waiting for a resolution.<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n In order to create a customer service philosophy, customer service leaders should start by defining the goals and vision of the philosophy. From there, gather stakeholder input, outline the key principles, document the philosophy, and identify the necessary tools and resources needed to implement the philosophy.<\/p>\n Once the philosophy is created and approved, it\u2019s time to train and empower the customer service team and begin to measure and optimize the philosophy.<\/p>\n The first step of creating a customer service philosophy is to clarify the purpose or vision of the philosophy and the goals of service. Customer service leaders should ask themselves what \u201cexcellent service<\/a>\u201d looks like for their customers, what outcomes they want to achieve, and how these goals align with the broader mission. This step ensures that the philosophy has a clear direction and is tied to the company\u2019s overall strategy.<\/p>\n To ensure this philosophy is not \u201ccreated in a vacuum,\u201d it\u2019s important for customer service leaders to get stakeholder input. Frontline support agents will have valuable firsthand knowledge of customer pain points and expectations. Engaging other departments like sales, marketing, customer success, and even product teams also helps create a holistic understanding of customer touchpoints.<\/p>\n Direct customer feedback should also be considered in this process. Collecting customer feedback through surveys, interviews, or support tickets gives CX leaders direct insight into what customers value most and where improvements are needed.<\/p>\n Customer service teams can gather customer feedback, analyze feedback trends and increase customer satisfaction with HubSpot\u2019s Service Hub – Customer Feedback Tool<\/a>.<\/p>\n After gathering input, customer experience leaders need to identify the core principles that will guide their service. These principles should address elements like customer-centricity, consistency, empathy, responsiveness, proactivity, accountability, and continuous improvement.<\/p>\n When these pillars are formally established, every decision, interaction, and process across the support organization can be aligned to these principles, ensuring consistency across the company.<\/p>\n Now that the guiding principles are defined, customer service leaders will need to document the philosophy. This step is essential because a clear and concise guide helps outline expectations and behaviors. Include practical examples of each principle in the documentation so that employees understand how to apply them to their daily work.<\/p>\n Once documented, make the document available to the entire team. This ensures that everyone can easily reference it, and everyone is aligned around the same guiding principles. CX leaders may even want to get leadership-level input or alignment one last time before moving into the final stages of building their philosophy.<\/p>\n A new customer service philosophy likely requires new tools, resources or processes. By identifying which tools and processes are needed to achieve the philosophy, support operation managers ensure that the philosophy can become actionable.<\/p>\n Technology like CRM systems<\/a>, shared inboxes, ticketing platforms, knowledge bases, and workflow automation can reinforce consistency, provide agents with the information they need, and streamline repetitive tasks. Standardized workflows and escalation paths help teams act in accordance with the philosophy in every interaction.<\/p>\n HubSpot\u2019s Service Hub allows service teams to build knowledge bases for self-service, create a ticketing helpdesk<\/a>, and align customer data across systems.<\/p>\n Pro tip:<\/strong> When companies integrate tools and resources such as help desk software<\/a>, a knowledge base platform<\/a>, and automation and AI<\/a> across their service experience, they make it easy for their service agents to deliver on common customer service philosophy values such as customer centricity, empathy, consistency, and responsive communication.<\/p>\n Once the philosophy is in place, it\u2019s time for CS leaders to train their teams on it. This step is critical to putting the philosophy into practice. Support agents should receive guidance on how to embody the principles in their work and be given the authority to make decisions that reflect them. Use real-life scenarios for each guiding principle so that support reps understand how to act on each one.<\/p>\n Consider hosting workshops, coaching sessions, or training academy courses for teams to understand and practice the new philosophy. Role-playing common scenarios can be especially helpful here. Be sure to recognize reps that exhibit behaviors that align with the philosophy to reinforce learning and encourage adoption across the team.<\/p>\n Once a customer service leader has fully launched their new customer service philosophy, it\u2019s time to measure the impact and start optimizing it. Like most important initiatives, this likely won\u2019t be a set-it-and-forget-it project.<\/p>\n By measuring and refining the philosophy, service teams ensure that it remains effective over time. Tracking metrics like CSAT, NPS, first response time, and resolution rates offers CS leaders quantitative insight, while qualitative feedback from customers and employees will highlight areas for improvement.<\/p>\n By regularly reviewing and improving the philosophy, companies can evolve alongside customer expectations in real time.<\/p>\n Looking for an easy way to report on key metrics? HubSpot\u2019s Service Hub<\/a> lets customer service leaders measure rep performance, easily view CSAT scores, and monitor how customers are interacting with their support agents.<\/p>\n By following these foundational steps listed above, customer service leaders can build a customer service philosophy that is actionable, aligns to their business needs, and delights their customers. Now let\u2019s look at a few examples of customer philosophy statements in the real world.<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n A great customer service philosophy is centered around the customer, authentic to the brand, and specific enough to be actioned on. Below are three great examples of customer service philosophies from brands of all sizes.<\/p>\n Chewy.com<\/a> is an online e-commerce brand offering a variety of products and services designed for pet owners. Their mission statement<\/a> says Chewy aims to be \u201cthe most trusted and convenient destination for pet parents and partners, everywhere\u201d.<\/p>\n Chewy recognizes that owning a pet is a deeply personal experience, and they lean into this with their customer service philosophy by choosing values that align with empathy and reliability. Chewy lists their number one principle as \u201ccustomers first\u201d, stating they aim to provide an \u201cexceptional, memorable and reliable experience\u201d. Chewy also focuses on trust-building, transparency and open communication – all traits that are components of a customer-first mindset.<\/p>\n Source<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Chewy also focuses on driving accountability, leading with empathy, and practicing quick decision-making, which helps support reps create quality and consistent experiences. These principles ensure teams act transparently, follow through on commitments, and prioritize quality execution \u2014 all critical components of dependable service.<\/p>\n My CX perspective: <\/strong>Chewy is excelling at creating empathetic, customer-first interactions. They\u2019ve gone viral countless times for leading with unparalleled empathy in how they support customers, including refunding customers for unused food when a pet passes away (and sometimes even going as far as sending flowers<\/a> or hand-written letters as a condolence.) Chewy recognizes that its entire brand is built on an emotive experience and leans into this heavily to build customer trust and loyalty, with its CEO publicly stating<\/a>, \u201cgood experience builds loyalty\u201d.<\/p>\n Ace Hardware\u2019s customer service philosophy has landed them in the #1 spot on Forbes\u2019s Best Customer Service<\/a> list two years in a row in their respective category. Ace Hardware\u2019s mission is to \u201cbe the best, most helpful hardware store on the planet\u201d. Their customer service philosophy centers around 3 major principles – making the customer experience trustworthy, convenient and reliable for their customers.<\/p>\n Source<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Ace Hardware built an actionable customer service philosophy that empowers employees to deliver on its core pillars of trust, convenience, and reliable quality. As a result, customers consistently rate the brand highly for staff helpfulness, speed, service quality, and effective problem resolution, which are all clear indicators of a strong, service-driven customer experience.<\/p>\n Source<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n At its core, Ace Hardware states that \u201cit exists to help others\u201d. They recognize that customers can get what they need at an online retailer or a big box store, but they differentiate themselves by focusing on building relationships with their customers – something they know that shoppers won\u2019t get at a big box retailer.<\/p>\n My CX Perspective:<\/strong> I\u2019m a big fan of Ace Hardware\u2019s brand traits – when you look at them (helpful, inclusive, friendly, etc), they all tie back to building relationships, which is a pillar of their customer service philosophy. When companies emphasize these characteristics in their employees and prioritize them in their customer service philosophy, they build connections with their customers, which has been proven<\/a> to generate loyal and repeat customers.<\/p>\n Tecovas flipped the western boot industry upside down, launching a premium product at an affordable price point through a direct-to-consumer model. With 54 stores across the US, Tecovas\u2019 goal as a brand was to get \u201cboots on people\u2019s feet\u201d, so they set out to differentiate the experience of shopping for boots. To do this, the company created unique retail store concepts and they focused on delivering what they coined as \u201cRadical Hospitality\u201d, which eventually became one of their core values.<\/p>\n Tecovas has made shopping for boots in their stores a unique experience, and they leaned into hospitality in a way that\u2019s very on brand. Shoppers are greeted by a friendly store employee who is knowledgeable in the product and visitors are offered a cold drink to enjoy while they\u2019re shopping. Tecovas also offers complimentary services in stores like shoe shine booths and free branding and stitching.<\/p>\n Tecovas\u2019 company principles start out with the \u201cgolden rule\u201d, and include terminology and imagery that\u2019s true to the brand and the market they\u2019re in. When asked about \u201cradical hospitality\u201d, CEO David Lafitte says<\/a> it\u2019s a concept that\u2019s practiced from the top down, and it\u2019s not just a gesture, but it\u2019s something they talk about constantly in the company.<\/p>\n The company spends a lot of time training its employees not just on the product, but also on how to deliver on its value of radical hospitality in everyday customer interactions. By choosing a guiding principle for their customer service philosophy that aligns with their brand and industry,<\/p>\n Tecovas has fostered a \u201cdelight and surprise\u201d mentality among its staff in how they interact with customers every day.<\/p>\n A CX moment I love:<\/strong> In this podcast<\/a>, Tecovas CEO David Lafitte talks about a time where employees practiced an impressive case of \u201cradical hospitality.\u201d When the brand had to push back the grand opening of their Detroit store, two customers who had driven down for the opening from Canada were deeply disappointed.<\/p>\n When Tecovas wanted to give them some swag from the grand opening but couldn\u2019t work out the shipping to Canada, two Tecovas employees jumped in their car and drove to deliver the swag in person to the Canadian customers.<\/p>\n While this example is definitely going above and beyond, it\u2019s a great testament to a brand that has succeeded at turning their customer service philosophy of delivering \u201cradical hospitality\u201d into everyday interactions between their employees and customers.<\/p>\n Now that we\u2019ve looked at 3 unique examples of a customer service philosophy, let\u2019s walk through how to turn the principles of a customer service philosophy into actionable behaviors for support reps.<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n Creating your customer service philosophy is a great first step, but now it\u2019s time to put it into action. Operationalizing a customer service philosophy is about turning principles into repeatable behaviors, processes, and systems that show up in every customer interaction. Below is a list of steps that customer service leaders can take to translate their philosophy into action items.<\/p>\n CX leaders should break each principle in the customer service philosophy into observable actions. Translating each principle into realistic, identifiable actions helps customer support reps understand how to act out those guiding principles within their role.<\/p>\n For example, if empathy is a core principle, define what that looks like in practice, such as acknowledging customer frustration before offering a solution. For customer centricity, teach reps to ask clarifying questions in order to fully understand their customers\u2019 needs before jumping to a solution.<\/p>\n With principles such as responsiveness and communication, reps should learn to quickly respond to customers to acknowledge their request and proactively check in with customers if they\u2019re taking extra time to research an answer.<\/p>\n Pro tip:<\/strong> I suggest creating a list of easy to access phrases, playbooks, or response templates that align to certain principles for reps to use in difficult situations. For example, \u201cI\u2019m so sorry you\u2019re experiencing this. I want to help you find the best solution\u201d <\/em>is a great way to tell a customer, \u201cI know you\u2019re frustrated, and I\u2019m here to help.\u201d<\/p>\n When reps have easy access to common language they can use to diffuse tough situations, they feel more confident in their interactions, and customers also receive a consistent experience no matter who they\u2019re speaking to.<\/p>\n Next, day-to-day workflows will need to be aligned with the new customer service philosophy. CS leaders will need to define how tickets are routed, prioritized, escalated, and resolved in a way that reinforces those principles.<\/p>\n For example, a customer-centric philosophy might require high-impact issues to be fast-tracked, while a consistency-focused philosophy may rely on standardized response templates and SLAs.<\/p>\n HubSpot\u2019s AI Customer Agent Breeze<\/a> can do all of this and more for you. Breeze Customer Agent uses intelligent routing to find the right support rep, escalates conversations when needed, and offers quick resolutions to customers in real-time. Breeze Customer Agent will also generate responses based on information in your knowledge base, or it can be trained to provide standardized responses where needed.<\/p>\n Customer service leaders should choose and configure customer service tools that support their philosophy at scale. A shared inbox<\/a>, CRM, knowledge base, and automation tools help enforce consistency, accountability, and responsiveness.<\/p>\n HubSpot\u2019s Service Hub<\/a> can automate routine service steps like customer acknowledgments, follow-ups, and ticket routing, ensuring customers receive timely and reliable communication without relying on manual effort.<\/p>\n For example, to align with the principle of customer-centricity or empathy, customer service reps could fast-track customers in the queue who have negative sentiment or a history of recent outreach.<\/p>\n Tools like chatbots and AI<\/a> agents help customer service reps deliver responsive, consistent customer support by gathering customer information, summarizing the conversation for the rep, and surfacing relevant resources to resolve the request. In many cases, AI Agents like Breeze Customer Agent<\/a> can resolve customer queries without human intervention, increasing customer satisfaction and reducing support ticket volume for human agents.<\/p>\n Now that customer service leaders are equipped with a new service philosophy, it\u2019s time to train employees on it. Teach both existing employees and new hires not just what to do, but why it matters to the customer. Use real examples, role-playing, and past support scenarios to show how the philosophy applies in practice.<\/p>\n When employees are taught how to apply the philosophy to real scenarios, they retain the information better, and it subsequently becomes part of their everyday workflow. Take time to regularly check in with employees and review a few of their interactions to see how they\u2019re performing against the new philosophy, and offer actionable feedback where necessary.<\/p>\n Operationalizing a philosophy requires trust. Support agents will need to have the authority to make decisions for things like issuing credits, escalating issues, or spending extra time with a customer when it aligns with a service principle.<\/p>\n If accountability or quick action are principles in the new philosophy, this will be especially important. Providing clear guardrails and concrete processes will help reps act confidently and avoid losing time trying to get unnecessary approvals.<\/p>\n At the end of the day, most businesses will still need an approval process for certain customer requests. For those instances, I suggest looking for ways to use automation to expedite that process, such as having reps tag a conversation in a way that it gets automatically escalated or routed in real time to a manager for review.<\/p>\n A conversation tagging system can also help managers later understand why some conversations might have exceeded traditional SLA\u2019s.<\/p>\n Looking for customer service software that can do the heavy lifting for you? HubSpot\u2019s Help Desk software<\/a> offers advanced routing and assignment features that help balance rep workloads, support good response times, and increase customer satisfaction.<\/p>\n Now that the service philosophy is \u201clive\u201d, customer service leaders will need to measure success using metrics that reflect the philosophy. Track indicators like CSAT, NPS, first response time, resolution time, and repeat contact rate, as well as any other metrics that align to the customer service philosophy.<\/p>\n Be sure to pair quantitative data with qualitative feedback from customers<\/a> and reps in order to gain a holistic understanding of whether the philosophy is coming to fruition in real interactions.<\/p>\n I suggest creating dashboards<\/a> to easily track metrics such as CSAT, first response time, resolution time, and more. Set up triggers to notify you or other customer service leaders if a negative CSAT score or a specific keyword comes through in customer interactions.<\/p>\n Based on the collected data and feedback, customer support managers should look for gaps between the philosophy and the actual customer experience.<\/p>\n Identify patterns such as recurring issues, inconsistent experiences, or moments where reps feel blocked from delivering great service. Use these insights to refine workflows, training, or automation. Then, track those improvements to see if the metrics and KPI\u2019s improve over time.<\/p>\n Once the new philosophy and the corresponding workflows are live, it\u2019s time to think about ways to leverage automation in order to scale. Customer service leaders should look to identify areas of opportunity where automation can help maintain consistency without sacrificing quality.<\/p>\n Consider things like automated acknowledgments, proactive updates, self-service options, and standardized workflows. These enhancements ensure every customer receives a reliable experience, even during spikes in volume or outside of normal business hours.<\/p>\n Look for areas where things might be falling through the cracks, such as follow-ups, reminders, or check-ins with customers, and identify if automation could potentially help. Additionally, consider leveraging automation to allow customers to self-service. Create opportunities for customers to \u201cDIY\u201d common tasks, such as requesting a refund label, resetting a password or updating their plan or account.<\/p>\n My CX Perspective:<\/strong> I\u2019m a big fan of how Agentic AI is enhancing customer service. Many AI Agents<\/a> let customers truly solve some of their own problems, like changing their flight or hotel reservations, processing an exchange, scheduling an appointment or even transferring money!<\/p>\n Check out how these companies<\/a> transformed their customer service with agentic AI. HubSpot Breeze AI Customer Agent<\/a> offers 24\/7 personalized customer support, includes multi-lingual capabilities for a global audience, and significantly reduces ticket volume for human agents.<\/p>\n Now that we\u2019ve covered how to operationalize a customer service philosophy, let\u2019s look at a few common pitfalls and how to avoid them.<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n Creating a great customer service philosophy isn\u2019t easy. A great philosophy has to be relevant, actionable, and meaningful to both customers and employees. Along the way, customer service leaders might find that they\u2019ve created a philosophy that\u2019s too vague, too narrow, or not focused on the right things. This happens, and it\u2019s why the \u201cmeasure and iterate\u201d step is so important to the process.<\/p>\n However, it\u2019s best to avoid those mistakes up front if possible. Below are some common pitfalls that customer service leaders run into when creating a service philosophy and how to avoid them from the get-go.<\/p>\n The most common pitfall that companies run into is creating a philosophy that\u2019s too vague, or has principles that are too broad. Every company wants to \u201cdelight their customers\u201d and \u201cprovide world-class service<\/a>\u201d, but service leaders need to identify principles that they can tangibly deliver on. Customer service leaders should aim to be more specific, whether that\u2019s about the customer journey or the principle itself.<\/p>\n In our early customer service philosophy example, Chewy says they aim to be \u201cthe most trusted and convenient destination for pet parents and partners, everywhere\u201d. This type of philosophy is specific in that it focuses on its audience and the principles of convenience and trust. This makes it easier for customer service leaders to tie specific behaviors, actions and workflows to those identified principles.<\/p>\n When principles aren\u2019t tied to specific behaviors, reps may interpret them differently, leading to inconsistent experiences. A strong philosophy should clearly explain how values show up in daily work.<\/p>\n It\u2019s okay to include things like \u201cWe take a customer-centric approach\u201d, but service leaders should identify how <\/em>they\u2019re taking a customer-centric approach. List the corresponding actions and behaviors. For example, a \u201ccustomer-centric approach\u201d might include behaviors such as actively listening to customer needs and asking clarifying questions before jumping in with a solution.<\/p>\n My CX perspective:<\/strong> In my experience, customers quickly see through the fa\u00e7ade when a company claims to be customer-centric but doesn\u2019t deliver on it. Customers quickly notice when a brand says they \u201cput their customers first,\u201d yet they routinely deliver poor experiences.<\/p>\n By outlining clear actions and behaviors that align with the principles, your organization can \u201cpractice what it preaches\u201d and ensure it\u2019s delivering on those principles. Then, by routinely measuring the impact, support managers can quickly tell if their team\u2019s interactions feel customer-centric to the customer.<\/p>\n It can be tempting to \u201cset it and forget it\u201d when it comes to implementing a customer service philosophy, but the first version of the customer service philosophy shouldn\u2019t be considered permanent. As with any new initiative, companies will want to measure and optimize to ensure their philosophy aligns with customers\u2019 realities and improves the customer experience.<\/p>\n Since customer expectations, products, and business goals evolve, any philosophy that doesn\u2019t keep pace quickly becomes outdated. Regular review and reinforcement ensure that it doesn\u2019t become a static document and is instead a living framework.<\/p>\n Pro tip:<\/strong> Lean on tools and resources to do the heavy lifting of measuring and optimizing the philosophy.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a cool example of how this is done: Check out how this connection between HubSpot\u2019s Service Hub<\/a> and GPT empowers service leaders to turn historical ticket data into predictive intelligence. This connector can assist customer service managers with deep research for staffing, flag systemic issues, and surface customer pain points early on.<\/p>\n When customer service managers design the service philosophy, part of the process includes gathering stakeholder input. However, some service leaders fail to get the input of the team members who are actually working with customers day in and day out – the customer service agents.<\/p>\n This oversight can result in principles that sound good on paper but aren\u2019t actually realistic in practice. When customer service agents are involved in the process, it not only makes the philosophy more holistic, it also makes service reps feel heard, which increases buy-in and adoption from the team.<\/p>\n Pro tip:<\/strong> This is a crucial step, as data shows<\/a> that customer service representatives are at risk of burnout due to high job expectations and increasing workloads.<\/p>\n By pulling your frontline teams into the discussion, you can hear directly from them how they want to better serve their customers. This makes them feel their input is truly part of the process, creating a philosophy they are excited about and empowered to deliver on.<\/p>\n When tools, policies, and processes aren\u2019t aligned to a philosophy, the philosophy is destined for failure. Customer service leaders need to ensure that processes and workflows are built to support reps in aligning with the new philosophy, and they can leverage tools and resources to do this.<\/p>\n CS leaders need to ensure there\u2019s alignment between the philosophy and the realistic outcomes that their service reps are driving. For example, a customer-centric philosophy won\u2019t come to fruition if reps are only measured on speed or ticket volume.<\/p>\n When systems and SLAs aren\u2019t aligned with service principles, reps will be forced to choose between aligning to the philosophy (or \u201cdoing the right thing\u201d) and hitting their required metrics.<\/p>\n Finding the right balance between driving efficiency and delivering a great experience can be delicate. While efficiency matters, some teams often lean too heavily into automation, speed, or cost reduction without considering the human experience.<\/p>\n This can lead to robotic interactions or frustrated customers who can\u2019t reach a human when they need one. A good philosophy balances efficiency with empathy and judgment.<\/p>\n My CX Perspective:<\/strong> To strike the right balance, I suggest using automation to help reps be more efficient in their roles, freeing them up to spend a little more time with customers who have more complex or nuanced issues.<\/p>\n Customer service leaders can leverage artificial intelligence software tools<\/a> to summarize conversations for human agents, create suggested responses, quickly surface internal resources, and even complete common tasks.<\/p>\n By leveraging automation to help service reps be more efficient, agents have more bandwidth (and energy) to assist customers with more complex issues that often require relationship building – something bots can\u2019t do on their own.<\/p>\n Check out how Hubspot\u2019s Service Hub connects all customer data on one platform, making it easy for customer support agents to have more in depth, personalized interactions with their customers.<\/p>\n It can feel unnerving to hand over authorization to customer service agents for actions that typically require manager approval. But if reps don\u2019t have the authority to make decisions that align with the philosophy, it loses credibility. Decisions such as issuing refunds, escalating issues, or spending extra time with a customer are areas that customer service leaders should consider giving their reps more autonomy over.<\/p>\n Combining that empowerment with clear guardrails means that those philosophy principles can truly be translated into action. When reps are empowered to fully support customers in the moment, they\u2019re able to deliver an experience that truly aligns with the service philosophy.<\/p>\n My CX Perspective:<\/strong> In the 2024 State of Service report<\/a>, HubSpot found that customers expect their support ticket to be resolved within three hours.<\/strong> That\u2019s a pretty high expectation, and when reps are bogged down with getting approvals or they don\u2019t have the authorization to help the customer themselves, they lose valuable time, leaving customers waiting even longer for resolution.<\/p>\n It can be tempting to focus solely on operational metrics such as ticket handling time, first contact resolution, or ticket volume. However, customer service leaders should also consider qualitative metrics when assessing whether their philosophy is successful.<\/p>\n By including experience-based metrics like CSAT, customer effort, or repeat contact rates, customer service leaders get a full picture of how the philosophy is working. For example, ticket close rates might be increasing, but if the tickets are auto-closing or the customers don\u2019t actually<\/em> feel like they received a resolution, there\u2019s a critical piece missing from that analysis.<\/p>\n Software tools like HubSpot\u2019s Service Hub<\/a> empower customer service leaders to track important service metrics, manage SLA\u2019s, and create priority-based workflows that improve ticket close rates.<\/p>\n My CX perspective:<\/strong> My hot take is that customer feedback should inform how a company designs every customer interaction.<\/em> Gathering and considering customer feedback isn\u2019t just a nice thing to do; it\u2019s been shown to directly improve NPS<\/a>, and 77% of consumers<\/a> view brands more favorably if they seek out and apply customer feedback.<\/p>\n By understanding what customers need, where they\u2019re getting stuck, and how to reduce friction for them, companies build an experience that\u2019s truly customer-centric.<\/p>\n A customer service philosophy is only effective if service teams know how to implement it. Without training, examples, coaching, and ongoing reinforcement, reps won\u2019t know how to apply it in real situations. A philosophy needs to be taught, practiced, and reinforced over time in order for it to stick (and make an impact).<\/p>\n While looking at other service philosophies can be helpful for inspiration, companies that simply try and duplicate someone else\u2019s philosophy are typically setting themselves up to fail. Because every customer base, product, and team is different, every company should have its own philosophy.<\/p>\n The best customer service philosophy is one that feels authentic to a brand, aligns with the brand\u2019s business model, and reflects the actual needs of customers while realistically reflecting the service team\u2019s capabilities.<\/p>\n My CX Perspective:<\/strong> Authenticity matters, and customers tend to notice when brands are disingenuous.<\/p>\n In fact, 86% of consumers<\/a> say authenticity is a major factor when deciding what brands they like and support, and 77% of consumers<\/a> are willing to spend money to support an authentic brand over one that\u2019s not. This makes it especially important to create a customer service philosophy that\u2019s authentic to your brand.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also worth noting that if your customer demographic includes Gen Z, you\u2019d better get the messaging right. Gen Z\u2019ers are especially skeptical consumers<\/a> who seek out brands they consider authentic while being quick to point out brand ploys<\/a> that they aren\u2019t falling for.<\/p>\n Below is a list of recommendations that customer service leaders can use to avoid these mistakes when creating their customer service philosophy.<\/p>\n\n
What is a customer service philosophy?<\/h2>\n
What makes a good customer service philosophy?<\/h2>\n
Customer-centric mindset<\/h3>\n
Consistency<\/h3>\n
Proactivity<\/h3>\n
Empathy<\/h3>\n
Responsiveness and Communication<\/h3>\n
Accountability<\/strong><\/h3>\n
How to create a customer service philosophy your team believes in<\/h2>\n
Define your vision and goals<\/h3>\n
Gather feedback and input<\/h3>\n
Outline key service principles<\/h3>\n
Document your philosophy<\/h3>\n
Identify necessary tools and resources<\/h3>\n
Train and empower the customer service team<\/h3>\n
Measure and optimize<\/h3>\n
Customer service philosophy examples and statements<\/h2>\n
Chewy.com<\/a><\/h3>\n
![\"customer](\"https:\/\/53.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net\/hub\/53\/hubfs\/customer%20service%20philosophy%2c%20Chewy.com%E2%80%99s%20operating%20principles.webp?width=650&height=465&name=customer%20service%20philosophy%2c%20Chewy.com%E2%80%99s%20operating%20principles.webp\")
<\/p>\nAce Hardware Stores<\/a><\/h3>\n
![\"customer](\"https:\/\/53.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net\/hub\/53\/hubfs\/customer%20service%20philosophy%2c%20ace%20hardware%E2%80%99s%20commitment%20to%20customers.webp?width=650&height=557&name=customer%20service%20philosophy%2c%20ace%20hardware%E2%80%99s%20commitment%20to%20customers.webp\")
<\/p>\n![\"customer](\"https:\/\/53.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net\/hub\/53\/hubfs\/customer%20service%20philosophy%2c%20ace%20hardware%E2%80%99s%20commitment%20to%20customers-1.webp?width=650&height=193&name=customer%20service%20philosophy%2c%20ace%20hardware%E2%80%99s%20commitment%20to%20customers-1.webp\")
<\/p>\nTecovas<\/a><\/h3>\n
![\"customer](\"https:\/\/53.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net\/hub\/53\/hubfs\/customer%20service%20example.webp?width=650&height=130&name=customer%20service%20example.webp\")
<\/p>\nHow to operationalize your customer service philosophy<\/h2>\n
Translate Principles into Behaviors<\/h3>\n
Embed the philosophy into support workflows<\/h3>\n
Align tools and technology<\/h3>\n
Train and onboard with the philosophy in mind<\/h3>\n
Empower reps to act on the philosophy<\/h3>\n
Measure progress, gather feedback and iterate<\/h3>\n
Leverage automation to scale and improve<\/h3>\n
Customer service philosophy mistakes to avoid<\/h2>\n
Making the philosophy too vague<\/h3>\n
Treating the philosophy as permanent<\/h3>\n
Excluding front-line teams in philosophy development<\/h3>\n
Misalignment between the philosophy and the processes<\/h3>\n
Prioritizing efficiency while sacrificing experience<\/h3>\n
Not empowering reps to act on the philosophy<\/h3>\n
Not measuring progress holistically<\/h3>\n
Launching the philosophy without training the teams<\/h3>\n
Creating a philosophy that\u2019s inauthentic<\/h3>\n
How to avoid these pitfalls<\/h3>\n
\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/track.hubspot.com\/__ptq.gif?a=53&k=14&r=https%3A%2F%2Fblog.hubspot.com%2Fservice%2Fcustomer-service-philosophy&bu=https%253A%252F%252Fblog.hubspot.com%252Fservice&bvt=rss\")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n