I’m fed up of AI chatbots replacing customer service | Digital Trends

October 13, 2025October 12, 2025 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

AI is slowly taking over the world, infiltrating every element of our day-to-day lives. There are a ton of useful purposes for AI companions, whether it be image or video generation, or helping speed up boring admin tasks like clearing up your email inbox, and I’ve slowly become obsessed.

While artificial intelligence has made a positive impact in certain areas of my life, there are also some parts of my life which I just don’t want to deal with AI.

Let me paint a picture – something I think almost everyone can relate to. I noticed my electricity bill was increasing one month, and I wasn’t entirely sure why, so I decided to call up my supplier. As the automated voice on the other end starts to speak, telling me to press different buttons to speak to different departments, I followed the instructions and was then met with hold music.

This Coffee and Garden Shop’s Strategies for Winning Customers | Entrepreneur

December 9, 2024 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Nestled in the heart of St. Louis, Missouri, Maypop is a coffee and garden shop known for its cozy charm and abundant greenery. People from all walks of life gather here to reconnect with nature and each other.

Julia Valleroy, Maypop’s administrative coordinator, was once one of those customers seeking a garden escape and a good cup of coffee. Now part of the team, Valleroy says Maypop’s dual business model still provides that warmth and magic for her and many others.

“You really don’t see [anything like Maypop] around here in the Midwest at all,” she says. “How many places can you go where you can get coffee and also buy some flowers for your front porch or a tropical houseplant that you’ve been dreaming of having?”

Turnover Troubles: 5 Mistakes Businesses Make That Drive Customers Away | The Startup Magazine

March 8, 2024March 5, 2024 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Retaining your existing customers is arguably as important as attracting new ones. However, many businesses unintentionally make mistakes that lead to customer turnover. Below, we explore five common mistakes that drive customers away, including how they can be avoided to ensure customer retention and satisfaction.

Poor Customer Service

One of the most significant mistakes businesses make is neglecting the quality of their customer service. All the cute packaging, special touches, and tasteful promotional merchandise in the world won’t do much good if people feel neglected when they reach out to you for assistance.

Customers expect prompt responses, friendly interactions, and one-touch solutions to their problems. When businesses fail to meet these expectations, it can result in frustration and high rates of customer turnover.

To avoid this, invest in training for your staff, equipping them with the skills, tools, and knowledge needed to deliver exceptional customer service. Empower them to resolve issues efficiently and prioritize customer satisfaction at every touchpoint.

How to Combat Declining Sales | business.com

March 1, 2024February 27, 2024 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Marble Slab Creamery has been in business for 40 years and has locations in more than 15 countries worldwide. To reach this level of success, it had to learn how to adapt at the first sign of trouble.

One such instance occurred a few years ago. For roughly five years, Marble Slab Creamery experienced a significant sales decline. The company knew it had to do something to increase business sales. The strategies it implemented are helpful for any business experiencing a downturn.

However, before we look at those strategies, let’s examine why your business’s sales may decline.

11 Tips For Increasing Customer Engagement | The Startup Magazine

February 7, 2024February 6, 2024 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Customer engagement strategies encourage businesses to provide a positive experience that will encourage buyers to return by focusing on how you interact with your customers online and offline. Building an effective customer engagement strategy can create a substantial impact on your business. While well-built strategies can help boost retention and customer experience, negative ones can become counterproductive. Here are some proven tips to increase your business customer engagement. Create an omnichannel experience

Omnichannel experiences require offering a seamless and consistent customer experience across all your platforms. It allows a user to start one interaction and easily switch to another without disruptions. Creating an omnichannel experience is a great way to enhance the customer customer journey, as personalizing your customer service and building good relationships becomes easy. Allowing buyers to engage with your company on multiple fronts can increase repeat transactions. Studies show businesses with this strategy are able to retain 89% of their customers, compared to 33% for brands that lack proper retention strategies.

Six Ways To Go The Extra Mile For Your Customers | Forbes

March 12, 2021March 10, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Average brands deliver exactly what is asked of them. Exceptional brands deliver more. Finding novel and surprising ways to go the extra mile turns sceptics into fanatics and passive bystanders into loyal customers who tell their friends.

Without their clients, businesses wouldn’t exist. Safeguarding your future means putting energy into the extra mile until it’s second nature. Here are six ways to go the extra mile for your customers, with examples from business owners who put their customers first.

3 Ways to Handle an Upset Customer That Actually Make Them More Loyal to Your Brand | Entrepreneur

January 22, 2021January 21, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Being in business and handling all that comes with it to ensure your product’s services are doing what you promise to your customers, you will sometimes encounter unsatisfied customers. How do you currently handle them? How have you set up training or modified it now with the remote ways business is being handled during the pandemic and your adjustments for moving forward? Having an upset customer is not always a bad situation to find yourself in. They may have identified a gap in your process or service that they are looking to provide insight to by voicing their disappointment. When they choose to be vocal about it is a great way to show them the true pedigree of your company and how you handle all circumstances with your customers. An upset customer who has taken the time to speak, call or email you about a problem is looking for an immediate resolution or to see a process change implemented to benefit not only themselves but others in the future as well. One of the best things you can do is listen to them, show empathy and really hear what caused the issue. There are three steps you can take to show empathy in your actions, and then execute on them, although I am sometimes amazed at the level in which some firms show a blantant disregard for the care of their customers when they have issues.

Top 7 Ways to Improve the Live Chat Experience for Your Customers | AllBusiness.com

December 16, 2020December 15, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Consumers today prefer live chat over more traditional channels to handle customer service issues, according to J.D. Power. It’s become a quick and efficient way of resolving problems—or at least, it should be. If your live chat isn’t being handled right, it can lead to frustrated customers who will leave your website and never return. To keep customers happy, here are seven ways to improve your customers’ live chat experience:

Phone Etiquette 101: Please Hold These 10 Tips in Mind | Business News Daily

July 31, 2020July 30, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Customer service over the phone matters a great deal to customer satisfaction and your brand’s professionalism.

Customer service requires etiquette that is often unspoken but always expected by your customers.

Outsourcing management of your phone lines to a call center could free up internal resources and boost the quality of your customer service.

This article is for small business owners who want to improve their customer service over the phone and are considering outsourcing to a call center or answering service.

When You Can’t Control Anything Else, Work On Your Customer Service And Watch Your Bottom Line Grow | Forbes

March 13, 2020March 12, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

So many forces are outside of a business’s control. (This is true in every era, not just now, when things feel particularly out of control.) Yet there is an ingredient of business success that’s within your control to improve, interaction by interaction and inch by inch.

That ingredient is the quality of your engagement with customers: your customer service, customer experience, the quality of your relationship with your customers and of their relationship to your brand and organization.