Happy Friday! Here’s our five picks for the best customer service, customer experience and mobile articles of the week, in no particular order.

SMS 999 for Emergencies: New Texting Service for the Differently-abled by Noorhan Barakat

At OneReach, we’re big believers in using text messaging to help others. But helping other extends far beyond customer service—it applies to emergencies as well. That’s why it’s so heartening to see Dubai Police embracing the use of SMS so that disabled citizens can text instead of call for emergencies. Some people may feel more comfortable using text or may not be able to speak in certain situations, making communication via SMS all the more valuable. In his article for Gulf News, Noorhan Barakat goes on to explain how this SMS service can be enhanced with information about citizens.

Brigadier Kamel Butti Al Suwaidi added that Dubai Police has a list of people with disabilities that is tied into the system so the officer in the operations room is aware of the sender’s condition. ‘This new service is in line with Dubai Police’s strategy of providing best services to the public and is also part of its social responsibility,’ he said.

The more you know about your audience and their needs, the better you’ll be able to help them. Dubai embracing their citizens’ need for alternative communication channels is a great example of this.

Read the full article on Gulf News.

Customer Survey Mistakes Almost All Companies Make by Peter Leppik

Surveys are a valuable way to collect customer feedback, learn from it, and use it to improve the rest of your organization. While the goals of surveys may vary (customer satisfaction, customer effort, etc.), all can be used to produce valuable insights that an organization can learn from and iterate upon. However, there are a few mistakes companies want to avoid making when they conduct surveys. According to Peter Leppik, one of those mistakes includes focusing on metrics, not customers.

Many companies focus solely on the metrics and forget the customers behind them. Metrics make sense as a progress marker, but the goal is not to improve metrics but to improve customer experiences.

Numbers are great, but they’ll only get you so far. By treating customers like what they are–people–companies will make sure their customer experience is always on-point.

Read the full article on CustomerThink.

5 Must-Have Components of a Modern Customer Experience by Blake Morgan

More and more companies today are seeking to differentiate on the customer experience—in fact, over 80% of companies want to use CX to stand out from their competition. But companies aren’t the only ones looking for better CX—86% of customers would pay for a better customer experience. And with customer expectations changing and becoming more technology-focused, how can companies make sure they’re providing the best CX possible? In her Forbes article, customer experience expert Blake Morgan suggests using a customer intelligence tool.

Big companies have more pieces of data than there are grains of sand on the earth or stars in the sky. A lot! Through a customer intelligence tool that offers speech tracking, clicks, sentiment and text analytics the company can gain valuable insight into common issues with their products and services.

Any company that wants to differentiate based on customer experience needs to know the kind of experience customers want. Then they’ll be able to provide the best experience possible.

Read the full article on Forbes.

The 5 Biggest, Juiciest Lies of Customer Service by Chris Matyszczyk

What does authentic customer service look like? Is it the ability to talk to a live agent? Is it having someone there to empathize with you? Is it getting your problem solved on the first try by a knowledgeable agent? In reality, it’s all of these things and more. Unfortunately, some companies provide customers with an inauthentic user experience, which can end up losing them business, and some phrases can signal to customers that you’re being insincere. In his Inc. article, Chris Matyszczyk explains how the phrase “We value your business” can rub customers the wrong way.

Why does this one so often come out when a company has just shown you how little it  values your business? It has either behaved negligently or its product has unexpectedly failed and the first thing the customer service rep comes out with (on IM, of course) is to tell you how much it values your business. When it comes to valuing someone you should show it, not say it.

As Matyszczyk says, it means a lot more when a company shows you they care rather than tells you they care. Authentic customer service should mean doing everything in your power to solve the customer’s problem.

Read the full article on Inc.

The 7 Steps of Using Journey Mapping to Optimize CX by Ania Rodriguez

The customer experience doesn’t always start when a customer calls when a customer calls in for customer service. It starts when a customer first interacts with your brand. For some, this might mean tweeting with you on social media, web chatting in with a question about your product, or downloading whitepaper detailing your service. The point is, each customer experience starts at a different place. So how can you anticipate how your customers will interact with your brand? According to customer experience expert Ania Rodriguez, companies should use journey maps.

As UX designers begin mapping customers’ journeys, they should record and visualize the persona’s attributes, attitudes, and emotions through all customer or prospective touchpoints. At each point, the persona’s needs and drivers should be detailed, as should the capabilities to improve each touchpoint and the cumulative omnichannel experience.

By using journey maps, companies can make sure they’re providing customers with the best experience possible, no matter where the experience started.

Read the full article on UX Magazine.

We’ll be taking the next two Fridays off for the holidays but will pick up the Weekly Review in January.

To learn more about providing a great mobile customer experience, download our new whitepaper here. 

Christmas ornament image from Wikipedia. Edited.