Summary
OKRs can be utilized in all aspects of your business — and that includes customer service. Here, we detail how businesses use OKRs to adress their customers’ needs and provide examples of customer service OKRs.
In the age of instant digital feedback, nothing can make or break a company like customer support. Knowing how to handle people — whether they are sharing kudos, complaints, or negative feedback — is how good companies become great. In fact, engaging with customers in quirky ways can be an antidote to trolls and increase brand loyalty — like Superhuman’s Twitter account.
Alternatively, research shows that people believe negative reviews more than positive ones online because there are less negative than positive reviews. Being on top of all customer communication is key.
Outside of online complaints, other customer support teams are focusing on order taking, refund processing, customer retention, and expert guidance services like white-glove delivery. But no matter the focus, the question is the same: How can any company build a streamlined, service-oriented goal system that not only delights customers, but retains them and draws new ones?
Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) are great for setting any kind of goals — and customer service is no exception. From increasing the number of feedback items and praise to lowering negative feedback per quarter to helping with expedited, same-day shipping, OKRs can be used to make sure that customer relations stay on track and head in a positive direction.
Objectives are the goals and intents you want your customer service team to accomplish. Key Results are the time-bound, measurable milestones that fall under them. A company should have 2-3 Objectives that each fit on one line. with 3-5 Key Results per Objective.
If you’re looking for some real-world examples of customer service OKRs that show how to do things like decrease the number of complaints or increase positive feedback items, take a look at these:
Customer service OKR examples
In John Doerr’s Measure What Matters, the start up Zume Pizza, uses OKRs to take on pizza industry giants like Domino’s, Pizza Hut, and Papa John’s. By using robots to make pizzas, Zume is able to free its people to handle things like customer relations. This is one of their OKRs:
This OKR is time-based, measurable, and also fits under Zume Pizza’s mission statement, their company’s “why.” As Alex Garden, co-founder and co-CEO says about Zume, “Zume’s founding principles — our mission — are two things… The first is: Serving food to people is a sacred trust. And the second: Every American has a right to delicious, affordable, healthy food.”
Trust and customer support go hand-in-hand.
Others customer service OKR examples might go something like this:
Best yet, having transparent OKRs can improve satisfaction with support team work. By setting clear Objectives, every team member knows exactly what is expected of them and their communications. From phone interviews to support tickets and answering whatever question are created, OKRs are great for setting audacious, customer success service goals that can ultimately help the sales team, too.
Where can I get more information?
Are you a customer support manager or rep? Let us know if you found these examples of customer service OKRs helpful, and be sure to check out our FAQs, Resources, and Stories.
Or, if you’re looking for an OKR coach, check this out.
If you’re interested in starting our OKRs 101 course, click here.