Article • 9 min read
16 crucial customer service objectives for 2025
Customer service objectives align agents with department goals to provide the best service. Create effective objectives with advice from industry leaders.
By Hannah Wren, Staff Writer
Last updated March 20, 2025
Businesses typically don’t deliver good customer service by accident. Excellent service—and, by extension, an outstanding customer experience (CX)—manifests from a culmination of careful planning, team development, process improvements, and a keen eye on customer needs.
Customer service objectives can help you balance all of those moving parts and provide an excellent CX at every touchpoint. Below, we’ve highlighted some of the most important to start with—and what some industry experts have to say about them.
More in this guide:
- What is the objective of customer service?
- Benefits of customer service objectives
- 16 important customer service objectives for businesses
- Importance of strong customer service resume objectives
- How to write a customer service resume objective
- Frequently asked questions
- Achieve your customer service objectives with Zendesk
What is the objective of customer service?
The primary objective of customer service is to create customer satisfaction and build long-term relationships.
When organizations delight their customers in every interaction, they will retain more business—while those that don’t prioritize customer service are doomed to falling profits. According to Zendesk Benchmark data, 73 percent of consumers will switch to a competitor after multiple bad experiences, and more than half will switch after just one.
Great customer service can make buyers loyal to your brand, products, and services for years to come.
Benefits of customer service objectives
Establishing clear, effective customer service objectives can bring a wealth of benefits to your business. A few of the most impactful include:
- Improved customer satisfaction: Businesses that achieve their customer service objectives are more likely to provide an outstanding CX and address customer needs effectively—leading to increased satisfaction and loyalty.
- Increased customer retention: Happy customers typically remain customers long-term. In fact, according to Zendesk Benchmark data, 3 in 4 consumers will spend more with businesses that provide a good CX.
- Enhanced brand reputation: Consumers love to share their experiences—both good and bad. Teams that consistently exceed customer expectations build a positive brand reputation, attract new customers, and strengthen their position in the market.
- Improved insights: Setting goals and tracking progress can provide teams with valuable insight into areas for improvement. This information can help boost customer service strategies and facilitate product improvements.
That said, to achieve these benefits, you need to focus on the right objectives that will have the most tangible impact on your operations.
16 important customer service objectives for businesses
Now that we’ve covered why customer service objectives are important, here are 16 you can hone in on to improve your CX.
1. Become a customer advocate
Customer advocacy is a dual-edged sword that can help every area of your business. For support teams, customer advocacy means always seeking to go above and beyond to build and nurture customer relationships. This could involve offering proactive service or ensuring every customer is completely satisfied before closing a support ticket.
When organizations achieve this, they create customer advocates—enthusiastic brand promoters who recommend their products to friends and family.
“Your first obligation when you talk about customer service is being a brand ambassador. Customer service representatives are the public face of the company. They’re the front echelon.
As an agent, you’re the person whose interaction with the customer or client is going to make or break that relationship. The company, product, or leadership may be great. But if that one experience wasn’t great when the customer reached out at 2 a.m. when everything was on fire, that’s going to taint their entire relationship with the brand.
I guide my team toward giving the best service possible. Sometimes, we’re not delivering good news. But the objective is to do that with compassion and empathy and in a way that we give the customer constructive next steps to move forward.”
-Dr. Jonathan Brummel, senior principal customer experience manager at Zendesk
2. Trust AI to improve efficiency
AI is transforming the CX, giving businesses opportunities to improve efficiency and offer enhanced support. In fact, per the Zendesk Customer Experience Trends Report 2025, 81 percent of consumers believe AI has become part of modern customer service.
You can start your AI journey by embracing AI agents—advanced chatbots that can autonomously handle even the most complex customer requests from start to finish. They can resolve basic technical issues like password resets, process refunds, and surface relevant help center articles, and if the problem is too complex, they can route the support ticket to the most qualified human agent with the full context of the situation.
“Be clear with how you are using AI. Use AI as a tool to help make your team’s role easier and more efficient, not as a looming threat to their employment. Help them to understand exactly where in their workflow it is helping, and ask them to contribute ideas to where it can relieve their pain points. What we as leaders may think is useful may be inconsequential to those on the ground.”
-Naomi Rankin, global customer care manager at Lush
3. Build customer loyalty
Customer loyalty is the cornerstone of sustainable business growth. Loyal customers make repeat purchases, refer new customers, engage with your business on social channels, and provide feedback on how your business can improve products or services.
Building customer loyalty means more than just providing a good product or service; it requires fostering genuine relationships and creating a positive, consistent experience. In the long term, become hyper-focused on your CX to improve interactions in every touchpoint. In the short term, consider investing in loyalty programs to entice consumers to see the value of your product and the quality of your service.
“Customer service is customer loyalty. We want them to stay on our side and for them to know we are doing our best so that they are enabled to do their best. In the very beginning, we had lots of ‘software islands’ and it was not possible to see how the customer was doing. But now we have one system for everything,”
-Thomas Otten, head of customer service at Orgadata
4. Customize communication styles
Customers are unique—they have different likes, motivations, and preferences. Strive to fully understand your customers and use that information to tailor your communication styles.
For example, your main customer profile may want to communicate with your team via email—in this case, you should prioritize thoughtful and informative messages that don’t require a lot of back-and-forth. If you’re not sure where to start, approach every interaction with empathy, active listening, and a genuine desire to help. Doing so will help your support agents understand each customer and communicate with them most effectively.
“It is very beneficial to have different communication styles—it allows you to understand different learning styles and intake styles of information. Some folks are very analytical, [and] some need to have high-level overviews. The key is that you learn from others the best way to share information and how to [inquire] and set discovery questions. This skill is something that will also help with how you approach the discovery and listening to your customer engagements.”
-Peter Neels, senior director of customer experience innovation and strategy at Zendesk
5. Deliver fast, effective resolutions
Consumers expect quick and efficient solutions to their problems—and a slow customer support experience can lead to frustration, customer dissatisfaction, and lost business. Per Zendesk Benchmark data, 73 percent of consumers will switch to a competitor after multiple bad experiences.
Delivering fast, effective resolutions demonstrates respect for the customer’s time and shows that you value their business. You can do this by hitting on a few of our tips below—like empowering your team with the right tools and engaging in employee training.
“Using information in Zendesk, we create articles so agents can solve more tickets in one touch. We also turn that content into an FAQ, which is available online 24/7, empowering more people to self-solve without contacting support.”
-David Schroeder, senior manager of services support at Unity
6. Align support goals with business priorities
Customer support affects every aspect of your operations, and it’s crucial to align your support goals with broader business priorities. Take time to understand your strategic objectives, and ensure that your CX efforts can help you achieve them.
For example, if the goal is increasing customer retention, the support team should focus on resolving issues quickly and effectively, proactively addressing customer concerns, and building strong relationships.
“I can now start doing what workforce management professionals are supposed to do–planning, looking to the future, and strategically positioning the business so we can continue to grow and meet our goals.”
-Nicole Edwards, workforce management analyst at Taskrabbit
7. Improve customer satisfaction
The primary goal of customer service is to foster customer satisfaction—so improving the latter should be a fundamental objective for any business. Happy customers are more likely to build relationships, establish customer loyalty, and develop brand advocacy. Improving customer satisfaction is a broad goal that ties into every other tip on our list—but you can start by resolving issues promptly and delivering an outstanding CX whenever possible.
“Sometimes the rep could have given a better response, but other times we uncover a problem elsewhere in the company. In one case, the ‘bad’ [customer satisfaction rating] helped us determine that we needed to pack a particular item in a larger box to prevent damage. That’s incredibly helpful information to have.”
-Jen Grim, director of customer service at UncommonGoods
8. Personalize every interaction
Customers don’t want to feel like a random person—they want to feel like you are talking directly to them at every touchpoint. In fact, according to Zendesk Benchmark data, 76 percent of consumers expect personalization.
Treating each customer as an individual and tailoring interactions to their specific needs and preferences can significantly enhance the CX. Start by recommending products based on search or purchase history, sending them personalized discounts based on important dates like birthdays, and empowering support agents to know who they are and what their issue is without the customer having to explain themselves.
“Liberty is all about delivering a personal service. I see AI enhancing that personal service because now our customers will be interacting with a human who’s being put in front of them at the right time with the right information.”
-Ian Hunt, director of customer services at Liberty London
9. Track customer service KPIs
Tracking customer service key performance indicators (KPIs) helps teams fine-tune operations, improve agent productivity, and better understand customer interactions. For example, if your first reply time (FRT) is high, that could show you need to invest in agent training or new technologies, or you may need to hire more support agents. Ultimately, tracking KPIs helps you identify strengths and areas of opportunity to improve your CX and deliver a better experience for your customers.
“We constantly monitor agent efficiency through Zendesk with our custom dashboards. We have decreased our full resolution times and first response times by 90 percent this year.”
-Michael Artemov, support operations manager at Nexters
10. Invest in employee training
Support agents are often the first human contact point of your business, and you need to ensure they can provide an excellent CX. Investing in regular customer service training can improve their skills and ensure they have the necessary knowledge to excel in their roles. Training should cover customer service skills like empathy, efficiency, communication, product knowledge, and time management.
“We saw how our customer service team was working with Zendesk to become more efficient and improve the customer experience, and we decided to bring that magic to our internal employee operations.”
-Monica Obando, senior HR manager at LATAM Airlines
11. Deliver proactive service
Proactive service goes beyond simply reacting to customer inquiries; it anticipates customer needs and addresses potential issues before they arise. This mindset derives from customer orientation and involves putting yourself in the customer’s shoes as often as possible.
You can do this by sending customers an email when their order has been shipped and including a tracking number. You could also alert customers about planned maintenance or product outages to minimize frustration. Delivering proactive service demonstrates that you value your customers’ time and are committed to providing them with the best possible experience.
“For example, even if we want customers to check a certain part of our e-commerce site or product description, there will always be areas that we cannot control. And if we were to change the page structure or appearance of the pages, it would be costly and time-consuming. With Proactive Messaging, however, we can add the descriptions and text with a single click while maintaining the current page structure. What’s more, since it is a feature originally included in Zendesk, there is no extra cost.”
-Tomoko Sasaki, manager of customer success team at FABRIC TOKYO
12. Regularly follow up with customers
Regular follow-up with customers can help ensure their satisfaction while also giving your business insights into areas for improvement. Start by offering a thank you note or follow-up email to your customers, or you could engage in surveys like customer satisfaction (CSAT) or Net Promoter Score (NPS). Regular follow-up can help you improve your customer service processes and build stronger relationships with your customers.
“Previously, we managed technical support by email. We didn’t pick up calls, there was no follow-up, and no monitoring of customer satisfaction or NPS. It was a bit amateurish. We did not know how many customers needed help and what volume of requests needed to be processed. Zendesk was instrumental in the overhaul of our after-sales service.”
-Marie Amiot, director of customer relations at EBP
13. Transform employees into advocates
Transforming employees into advocates means empowering them to not only provide excellent service but also to become enthusiastic champions for your brand. When employees are advocates for your company, they are more likely to go the extra mile for customers and radiate positivity.
Take stock of your employee experience (EX) and ensure you are creating a positive work environment. This can include promoting a positive work-life balance, recognizing employee achievements, and providing career growth opportunities.
“We believe our employees are the number one driver of members being successful in their journey and delivering our business goals. In creating an engaging, fun, and rewarding culture, we have also cultivated an environment of continuous process improvement that has translated to tangible return on investment and value for our clients and company.”
-Michael Pace, vice president of member services at Personify Health
14. Empower your team with the right tools
You could have the world’s best service team, but if they are using outdated technology to assist customers, they aren’t operating as efficiently as they could. Consider investing in tools like customer service software, CRM systems, and AI tools like AI agents. Equipping your team with the right tools can streamline workflows, improve access to information, and enable them to provide faster and more personalized service.
“Being able to empower our agents and help them do their job more efficiently and accurately has been great. AI isn’t about replacing people. It’s about making our lives easier so we can focus on the important parts of our jobs.”
-Paul Morrow, support specialist at Humi
15. Create feedback loops
As we’ve touched on, it’s critical to gather customer feedback—but it’s just as important to use that feedback to improve your processes. Customer feedback loops can enhance your product or service based on user opinions, suggestions, and reviews. One way of doing this is enacting a Voice of the Customer (VoC) program. This gives organizations a centralized method of collecting feedback from sources like surveys, social media posts, and support interactions and using that information to improve the overall business.
“The idea behind Rentman was to build a significantly better product than what already existed by hearing out our users. That’s why we understand the importance of feedback so well.”
-Axel Keicher, customer integration lead at Rentman
16. Study customer journey maps
Customer journey maps are visual representations of the various stages a consumer goes through during their relationship with a business. The customer journey is expansive—it winds from the moment they realize they have a problem to post-purchase interactions. Studying customer journey maps helps organizations understand the CX from the customer’s perspective and further aids customer-centricity and personalization efforts.
“Zendesk has empowered us to bring all customer support efforts together, giving us insight into how we can improve as an organization. It has completely transformed agent efficiency and our visibility of the customer journey.”
-Tim O’Mahony, global customer support director at Deputy
Importance of strong customer service resume objectives
Now that we’ve covered important customer service objectives, let’s take a look at how they can be used to build a strong resume.
Strong customer service resume objectives underscore your skills and experiences that contribute to customer service goals and objectives. Meeting customer service benchmarks involves more than answering phones and emails. It’s an entire world of solutions development, intuition, empathy, brand management, and time management—all the skills that help connect people and create trust.
A customer service resume objective is an opportunity to showcase your understanding of those KPIs as you introduce yourself to the brand and summarize what you bring to the table.
How to write a customer service resume objective
Most resume objectives are only one to three sentences, making it difficult to decide what to include. Here are a few things to focus on:
- Highlight your experience: If you have experience in customer service or a related field—especially longer-term experience—be sure to highlight it in your objective. But this doesn’t mean you need a formal background to break into the industry; what’s important is showing your ability to stick to something.
- Balance technical skills with soft skills: Professionals need a mix of customer service skills, such as technical skills and soft skills. Interpersonal skills often stand out more than mechanical skills.
- Adopt a customer-focused mindset: The primary objective of customer service is customer advocacy, so you need to write a resume objective that shows you’re customer-focused. The best agents do whatever it takes to resolve a customer’s issue and can identify what a customer really needs.
- Do your homework: Research what customer service means to the company you’re applying to. Find out who the business is serving and what it values. Writing a resume objective that resonates with the brand is one way to ensure your application stands out.
If you approach your resume writing with the above in mind, you’ll create a better impression on hiring managers.
Frequently asked questions
Achieve your customer service objectives with Zendesk
Strong customer service objectives can give your team guidance on how best to increase customer satisfaction and build long-term loyalty. While the right goals are a good starting point, you need a CX partner like Zendesk to truly make the most of your customer service efforts. Our customer service software can help you create meaningful customer connections, scale your service offering, stay flexible through change, and hit your most important CX objectives.
Net Promoter, Net Promoter Score, and NPS are trademarks of NICE Satmetrix, Inc., Bain & Company, Inc., and Fred Reichheld.
