7 Customer Service Interview Questions & Answers

Introduction – Customer Service Interview Questions and Answers

Customer service can literally make or break a business. So, it’s important that you know some of the best customer service interview questions and answers in order to help your business to flourish. Here, we’re going to look at 7 key customer service interview questions and answers.

Question 1: What Does Customer Service Mean to You? – Customer Service Interview Questions and Answers

Customer service can literally make or break a business. Therefore, I fully understand how important it is for your business to flourish. To me, customer service means 4 things. These are:

• Outstanding Service.
• Superior Products.
• Making the Customer Feel Valued.
• Rapid Response Times.

Outstanding service means as soon as a customer walks through the door, they are looked after until they leave. This does not mean putting undue pressure on them to make a purchase. Instead, it means looking after them and listening to them. It also involves assisting them through the buying process.

Superior products means making sure the products we sell are the best they can be. It also means that we must resolve any issues quickly if things do go wrong.

Making the customer feel valued is not just about offering them the best prices or deals. It is more about paying attention to what they want, listening to their concerns, and answering any questions. This also requires following up after the purchase has been made to make sure everything is as expected.

Rapid response times means responding to queries or complaints as fast a possible. There are too many businesses out there who take too long to respond to customer queries or complaints. This often leads to negative reviews or comments online.

So, customer service to me is absolutely vital to making sure a business thrives and stays ahead of the competition. If a customer is valued and look after, they will not only come back time and again. They will also tell their friends and family about their positive experience with your company.

Question 2: Can You Describe a Time When You Turned an Unhappy Customer into a Happy One? – Customer Service Interview Questions and Answers

Here’s an example of a scenario that would be suitable for answering this kind of question:

I was working as a customer service assistant in a well-known retail store. One day, a customer came storming over to the customer service desk. He slammed down a box containing one of our products and began shouting quite loudly about how unhappy he was.

Immediately, I started listening to him intently without saying a word. I allowed him to vent and speak his mind. As soon as an opening appeared, I explained to him how sorry I was for the issues he had been experiencing with the product and that I would put right the problem immediately. Then, he began to calm down.

Then, I explained to him that, in his shoes, I would feel exactly the same and therefore I could fully appreciate his concerns. This made him feel valued and listened to.

After this, I went on to explain to him that I could immediately replace the product he had bought. I would just need a few minutes to go into our store room to find the replacement product. Before I went off, I asked him if I could get him a drink whilst he waited.

Once I returned with the new product, I decided to open it up in front of him to make sure the replacement was not damaged like the initial product he had reviewed. Everything was fine and the customer appeared happy.

I then decided to go one step further and I gave him a £20 credit voucher that could be redeemed against any other product in store. I told the customer I wanted to do this for him as he had had the trouble of having to spend time and fuel coming back in to the store to get a replacement.

Then, I apologised once more for the inconvenience and he appeared more than happy with the resolution.

Whenever I come across an upset, dissatisfied or angry customer, I always go that extra mile to resolve the problem as I think it is very important to keep a customer for as long as possible.

Question 3: What Are The Top Three Qualities Everyone Who Works in Customer Service Must Have to Succeed? – Customer Service Interview Questions and Answers

Wow, that’s a great question! I believe the top 3 qualities are commitment, patience and effective communication skills.

Commitment is essential as you need to be committed to the customer. You must be committed to delivering outstanding customer service. In addition, you must be committed to working hard to improve and resolve problems as and when they occur. Also, being committed to becoming a positive role model for the company is important.

Patience is required because working within a customer service role can be challenging, especially if you are dealing with a difficult or unhappy customer. Patience is also required because you have to continually look for ways to improve and develop the customer service experience.

Effective communication skills are absolutely key when working within a customer service role. This means both listening and speaking! How and what you say to a customer, whether in person or via email, can have a significant impact on the customer service experience.

You also have to be a great listener when working in a customer service role and you also have to use appropriate body language when required.

There are also many other qualities needed, such as a caring nature, flexibility, an ability to work under pressure and also being open to continually improving and developing as a customer service representative.

Question 4: What Steps Would You Follow When Dealing With a Customer Complaint? – Customer Service Interview Questions and Answers

I have had to deal with a few customer complaints in my career to date and I believe I am very effective at it. The steps I would follow include:

Customer Complaint Resolution Steps

Step 1 – Listening intently to the customer and their complaint. This involved using effective listening skills, such as demonstrating empathy.

Step 2 – Apologizing if the situation dictates the need to. If we are in the wrong, I will always express how sorry I am for the issue. I will do my utmost to resolve the issue for them as soon as possible.

Step 3 – Taking positive and immediate steps to resolve the issue whilst keeping the customer informed and updated on my progress.

Step 4 – Once I have resolved the issue I would then check to see if they were happy with what I had done. If they were not, I would go the extra mile to resolve the issue.

Step 5 – Once the complaint had been resolved I would apologise once again and then contact the customer a few days later to check that everything was still to their satisfaction.

Finally, if the complaint was as a result of an issue or an error within the business, I would take steps to rectify it so that it does not happen again.

Question 5: Can You Tell Me About a Time When You Had to Work Under Pressure in a Busy Customer Service Environment? – Customer Service Interview Questions and Answers

One Saturday morning in the build-up to Christmas, I received a phone call from my manager asking me if I would come in at short notice. The store had become unexpectedly busy. I immediately said yes and made my way to the store.

Once I arrived I could not believe how busy it was! The store was absolutely packed. So, I set to work straight away serving and helping customers at the Customer Service Desk. At one point during the day, our card payment system began to play up. Customer payments were taking longer to go through. The queues became increasingly longer.

I decided to come up with an innovative way to reduce the customer waiting times and relieve some of the pressure on the team. I went along the queue and asked all customers who wanted to pay by cash to follow me to a different check out desk.

This immediately halved the size of the queue and my manager thanked me for thinking on my feet and coming up with a resolution to the problem.

Once the store had closed at the end of the day, we got together as a team to see if there was a way we could improve the payment system to prevent it from slowing up in the future. That meeting resulted in us making some improvements to the customer service experience within the store.

Question 6: Why Do You Want to Work in Customer Service? – Customer Service Interview Questions and Answers

I am very much a people person who loves going out of their way to make people happy. Therefore, I would not like to be sat in an office working behind a computer. Having already experienced a customer service role, it is one I very much want to work within. I thrive and feel happiest in an environment where delivering outstanding customer service is key. Also, I understand that customer service work can be difficult at times, but I love the challenge this type of role presents and I would not want to work in any other environment.

In addition, I particularly enjoy it when the pressure is on to deliver great customer service; for example, when a customer is not happy and it is down to me to resolve their complaint, or if it is unexpectedly busy and the team has to work exceptionally hard to deliver great service.

I am a conscientious, caring and flexible person who simply enjoys working with people and I believe I can make a positive impact within this role.

Question 7: What Have You Done to be a Better Customer Service Representative? – Customer Service Interview Questions and Answers

I am always looking for ways to improve from a professional perspective. Following the annual appraisals with my line manager, I will always reflect upon my work and performance and look for ways to improve. For example, following my last appraisal I wanted to improve my written communication skills. So, I embarked upon a 3 month distance learning course.

If there is ever a quiet period at work, I always carry out some personal development by reading self-development books and reviewing my work performance from the previous week to make sure I am continually improving and meeting my targets.

Finally, to make sure I am a positive role model for the company, I will often revisit the companies customer service charter to make sure what I am doing at work is in line with this important statement.

Conclusion – Customer Service Interview Questions and Answers

There you have it: an answer to 7 extremely common customer service interview questions. If you’d like more tips and guidance on passing your next interview, head over to www.passmyinterview.com