During Customer Service Week, a business thanks its customers, recognises its staff and invites feedback. The following Monday, a customer calls for an update on a delayed order and gets transferred back to the person who took the original complaint. The customer has to explain the problem again.
That second call reveals what the campaign cannot fix on its own. The customer’s experience depends on who owns the issue, what that person can do and whether the business keeps its promises when nobody is celebrating customer service.
Give the campaign a practical purpose
Customer Service Week can surface recurring problems and recognise employees who handle them well. Use the attention it creates to review real cases and pick an operating change that can continue after the campaign ends.
If customers keep chasing for updates, examine what happens after the first call. Can staff see the status of an order? Is someone responsible for getting an answer from dispatch? Does the customer know when they will hear back? The answers show where to start.
Make ownership clear at each handover
Every open issue needs a named owner, an agreed next step and a time for the next update. A colleague in another department can carry out the action while the case owner keeps the customer informed. When ownership changes, the receiving employee should acknowledge the transfer and have access to the history.
Give staff clear authority to handle routine cases. Define which remedies they can offer, which decisions require approval and where to escalate when a deadline is at risk. Review repeated exceptions with the team that can change the underlying process.
Pay attention to what managers reward
If staff are judged mainly on how quickly they end calls, a difficult case can move from desk to desk while each employee meets their individual target. If the team closes a case as soon as it sends a reply, unresolved problems disappear from the open queue.
Review a sample of closed cases alongside the performance report. Check what the customer requested, what the team delivered and whether the customer had to make contact again. Recognise staff who resolve issues and colleagues who remove the cause of repeat complaints.
A delayed delivery exposes the handover gap
In this hypothetical example, a hardware supplier uses Customer Service Week to promote a feedback line. Customers use it to report delivery delays. The service desk acknowledges each message, then forwards it to dispatch. Dispatch adjusts routes but rarely tells the service desk what changed. Customers call sales for answers, and sales gives estimates without access to the latest schedule.
The supplier assigns a service owner to each delayed order. Dispatch records a revised window when it can confirm one and flags orders that need a decision. The service owner contacts the customer at the agreed time, even if the final delivery window is still pending. The case closes once the team verifies delivery or another agreed remedy.
The manager reviews whether promised updates are being kept and whether customers still have to chase the same order. If updates improve while delivery delays persist, dispatch investigates scheduling separately. The team can then distinguish better communication from better fulfilment.
Indicators to review after the campaign
First meaningful response time. Measure the elapsed time from receipt to a reply that addresses the issue or gives a clear next step. Track automatic acknowledgements separately.
Promised updates kept. Divide updates sent by the agreed time by all updates due in the period. Preserve the original deadline when a team reschedules it.
Overdue open cases. Count cases past their agreed resolution deadline and group them by how long they have been overdue. Review the oldest cases with their owners.
Repeat contact rate. Measure the share of cases where customers contact the business again about the same unresolved issue within a defined period. Link contacts across phone, messaging and email to the original case.
Verified resolution rate. Review the share of sampled closed cases backed by evidence of the agreed outcome, such as proof of delivery, a completed correction or confirmation from the customer.
Recurring issue rate. Track repeated issues by cause and compare them with relevant activity, such as delivery complaints per order delivered. This helps distinguish a process problem from an increase in transaction volume.
Use a baseline from comparable weeks and keep reviewing the same measures after the event. A spike in reports during the campaign may reflect easier reporting. Look at repeat contacts, overdue cases and verified outcomes to see how the service itself is changing.
M&J Consultants can help your team map customer handovers, clarify service responsibilities and build reporting that shows where customers still have to chase. Enquire for a tailored quote.
