What Is Customer Service? Definition & Best Practices

John Iwuozor is a freelance writer with expertise in the technology field. He has written for a host of top tech companies, the likes of Technologyadvice, Tripwire amongst others. He's an avid chess lover and loves exploring new domains.

John Iwuozor Contributor

John Iwuozor is a freelance writer with expertise in the technology field. He has written for a host of top tech companies, the likes of Technologyadvice, Tripwire amongst others. He's an avid chess lover and loves exploring new domains.

Written By John Iwuozor Contributor

John Iwuozor is a freelance writer with expertise in the technology field. He has written for a host of top tech companies, the likes of Technologyadvice, Tripwire amongst others. He's an avid chess lover and loves exploring new domains.

John Iwuozor Contributor

John Iwuozor is a freelance writer with expertise in the technology field. He has written for a host of top tech companies, the likes of Technologyadvice, Tripwire amongst others. He's an avid chess lover and loves exploring new domains.

Contributor Kiran Aditham Deputy Editor

With 20 years of experience, Kiran Aditham has navigated the field in editorial and writing, from working with major pubs like Adweek, AdAge and PSFK to now working at Forbes Advisor.

Kiran Aditham Deputy Editor

With 20 years of experience, Kiran Aditham has navigated the field in editorial and writing, from working with major pubs like Adweek, AdAge and PSFK to now working at Forbes Advisor.

Kiran Aditham Deputy Editor

With 20 years of experience, Kiran Aditham has navigated the field in editorial and writing, from working with major pubs like Adweek, AdAge and PSFK to now working at Forbes Advisor.

Kiran Aditham Deputy Editor

With 20 years of experience, Kiran Aditham has navigated the field in editorial and writing, from working with major pubs like Adweek, AdAge and PSFK to now working at Forbes Advisor.

Updated: Jun 13, 2024, 6:52am

Editorial Note: We earn a commission from partner links on Forbes Advisor. Commissions do not affect our editors' opinions or evaluations.

What Is Customer Service? Definition & Best Practices

Getty

Table of Contents

For businesses today, having a great product isn’t enough. You have to market it well, drive sales and retain customers. However, poor customer service can make this an uphill battle. Customers don’t want to wait for ages, get passed around or deal with unresponsive staff. This can only frustrate, dissatisfy and potentially drive them to competitors, which is why understanding customer service and how to provide it is vital to business success. In this article, we’ll dive into what customer service is and what best practices can ensure that it’s up to par.

What Is the Definition of Customer Service?

Customer service refers to support and assistance given before, during and after customers purchase a product or service. It includes a wide range of activities such as:

Customer service can be provided through various channels such as phone, email, live chat, social media and in-person interactions.

How Does Customer Service Work?

When customers purchase a particular product or patronize a service, there’s every tendency that they’ll face a problem or get confused at some point. To resolve their issues, they reach out to agents known as Customer Support Representatives to make complaints, ask questions or request things. These representatives ensure that answers and support are provided promptly.

Representatives need to have a working and vast knowledge of the product and must be able to meet expectations. An uninformed representative could only worsen the relationship between the customer and the company.

Was this article helpful?

Share your feedback Send feedback to the editorial team Thank You for your feedback! Something went wrong. Please try again later. Buying Guides Comparisons

More from

What Is SNMP? Simple Network Management Protocol Explained

What Is SNMP? Simple Network Management Protocol Explained

By AJ Dellinger

What Is A Single-Member LLC? Definition, Pros And Cons

What Is A Single-Member LLC? Definition, Pros And Cons

By Evan Tarver

What Is Penetration Testing? Definition & Best Practices

What Is Penetration Testing? Definition & Best Practices

By Juliana Kenny

What Is Network Access Control (NAC)?

What Is Network Access Control (NAC)?

By Leeron Hoory

What Is Network Segmentation?

What Is Network Segmentation?

By Leeron Hoory

How To Start A Business In Louisiana (2024 Guide)

How To Start A Business In Louisiana (2024 Guide)

By Jacqueline Nguyen, Esq.

Information provided on Forbes Advisor is for educational purposes only. Your financial situation is unique and the products and services we review may not be right for your circumstances. We do not offer financial advice, advisory or brokerage services, nor do we recommend or advise individuals or to buy or sell particular stocks or securities. Performance information may have changed since the time of publication. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Forbes Advisor adheres to strict editorial integrity standards. To the best of our knowledge, all content is accurate as of the date posted, though offers contained herein may no longer be available. The opinions expressed are the author’s alone and have not been provided, approved, or otherwise endorsed by our partners.

Contributor

John Iwuozor is a freelance writer with expertise in the technology field. He has written for a host of top tech companies, the likes of Technologyadvice, Tripwire amongst others. He's an avid chess lover and loves exploring new domains.

© 2024 Forbes Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Are you sure you want to rest your choices?

The Forbes Advisor editorial team is independent and objective. To help support our reporting work, and to continue our ability to provide this content for free to our readers, we receive compensation from the companies that advertise on the Forbes Advisor site. This compensation comes from two main sources. First, we provide paid placements to advertisers to present their offers. The compensation we receive for those placements affects how and where advertisers’ offers appear on the site. This site does not include all companies or products available within the market. Second, we also include links to advertisers’ offers in some of our articles; these “affiliate links” may generate income for our site when you click on them. The compensation we receive from advertisers does not influence the recommendations or advice our editorial team provides in our articles or otherwise impact any of the editorial content on Forbes Advisor. While we work hard to provide accurate and up to date information that we think you will find relevant, Forbes Advisor does not and cannot guarantee that any information provided is complete and makes no representations or warranties in connection thereto, nor to the accuracy or applicability thereof. Here is a list of our partners who offer products that we have affiliate links for.