I'm happy to announce our '23 edition of Most Influential People in Customer Service 🎉

A while ago at Klaus, we started discussing the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. The list accurately reflects the evolving landscape of success and innovation, the brightest minds across industries.
We couldn't help but wonder – who would be listed if it featured a Customer Service category?

In my (maybe a bit biased) mind, customer service is the heart and soul of any successful business. It transcends mere transactions, encompassing experiences, relationships, and brand loyalty. Exceptional support transforms a mundane purchase into a memorable journey; the human touch bridges the gap between product and people.

If the architects of outstanding customer service experiences were celebrated alongside their entrepreneurial counterparts, these individuals would represent empathy, communication, and problem-solving. These people are often behind the scenes of the action.

So, we took this matter into our own hands and created a list of the Most Influential People in Customer Service. After collecting nominations from the CX community, we sifted through the long list for those mentioned most and compiled a list of 23 of the most inspiring and influential people in the support space today: support leaders, authors, speakers, mentors, and content creators.

@Grace Cartwright will also be publishing her Q&A sessions with them, so we’re really hoping you can step into September with fresh ideas and a surge of inspiration.

And congrats to everyone listed 💜

Exciting news! ✨

For the third time already, we joined forces with Intercom, Aircall, and Support Driven in creating the Customer Service Quality Benchmark Report.

Our most comprehensive edition yet (we surveyed over 4,000 customer service professionals!) features benchmarks for CSAT, NPS, IQS, FCR, and many other support KPIs – and expert insights on the trends.

We’re thrilled to share this with you and hope you can put these learnings to use in your team.

To a productive 2023!

Wrote on the topic of self-evaluations.

I think it's important to give your employees a chance to highlight their accomplishments and areas where they shine. But it’s also beneficial to provide them with an opportunity to voice areas where they struggle.

Here are some things to consider if you’re thinking about starting customer service self-evaluations: Customer Service Self-evaluation: What, Why, and How?

The cat's out of the bag!

🪄 Our data science team has been working on a brand new feature: the Complexity filter. It lets you zoom in on conversations that are more difficult to resolve than your average ticket—with a single click! 🪄

Some background:
For successful customer support, the more issues are resolved with the first response the better. You’re tuned to know what these typical issues are and how to guide your agents to resolve these questions conclusively with one reply. That’s the goal. But how to get there?

We asked this from our Data Scientists who looked into anonymized user data to understand what makes and breaks First Resolution Rates: Why are some cases easier for agents to handle in one go than others?

And they came up with 🥁 the Complexity Filter. It's a conversation discovery feature that lets you zoom in on conversations that need more attention. Reviewing the more complex tickets allows you to focus on where learning and coaching are most needed.

The Complexity Filter is in beta right now, therefore we will offer it for free for at least a year for all the early testers. Read more about the new feature.

Want to try it out? Let us know and we’ll make it happen.

At Klaus, our commitment to data security goes beyond established protocols and industry compliance – it’s built into the foundation of our platform. We continually invest in security best practices to ensure that your data stays safe. Today, we’re excited to announce that we’ve successfully completed our SOC 2 Type I audit.

“I’m thrilled for Klaus having completed the SOC 2 audit. While security has always been a priority at Klaus, this serves as proof of the impressive team effort made to keep our customers’ data safe,” says Information Security & Compliance Officer at Klaus, Martin Ojala.

What is SOC 2 Type I certification?

SOC 2 is considered the gold standard for security compliance for software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies. SOC 2 requires companies to establish and follow strict information security policies and procedures, encompassing the security, availability, and confidentiality of customer data.

Achieving SOC 2 Type I certification means that our company’s processes and practices meet the required levels of oversight and monitoring so that we can proactively identify and address any unusual activity.

Why does SOC 2 compliance matter?

Klaus helps you to keep a consistent quality throughout your support interactions with customers. Doing that, every party involved has to have an underlying trust in those interactions and the security underpinning them.

The SOC 2 Report demonstrates Klaus’s commitment to meeting the most rigorous security, availability, and confidentiality standards in the industry. It verifies that Klaus’s security controls are in accordance with the AICPA Trust Services Principles and Criteria and that the best practices are built into our way of working, throughout every team – from the technical team to people operations. Security is considered central to everything that we do.

Read more: https://www.klausapp.com/blog/announcing-soc-2-compliance/

👉 Check out these stories of excellent customer service for some wholesome and uplifting content.

Here's a follow-up to the article 5 Steps to a Successful Support QA Calibration Process.

Pros and Cons of 3 Support QA Calibration Strategies

Conversation reviews and agent feedback can have a huge impact on the support team’s performance and productivity. But how do we know that the impact is positive? More specifically, how can we be sure that all reviewers leave unbiased and consistent feedback across the team?

The answer lies in support QA and quality calibrations – a systematic way of comparing different reviewers’ rating styles and patterns with the goal of providing consistent feedback that is fair and helpful to agents, regardless of who the reviewer is.

But before you jump into reviewing your reviewers’ reviews, take a moment to think about which support QA calibration strategy to use for your team. We’ve brought out the three main setups that you can use; choose the one that suits your goals and your team culture the best.

Happy Holidays!

To celebrate the season, here's a cocktail book by Klaus featuring seven a-meow-zing cocktail recipes. Presenting new classics like the Meowtini, Tom & Sherry, and the Schördinger's Spritz. Includes both alcohol and non-alcohol recipes.

Five o'clock, where ya at?