25 Customer Service Interview Questions & Answers

This is a wonderful example of going above and beyond to help someone out. Be sure to include the result in your answer as well :) I have provided an example below, using the STAR framework (Situation, Task, Action, Result).

"(Situation) When I was working at ___, a student required assistance in submitting her thesis onto Turnitin, as it would not upload into the system. (Task) Her thesis was due (give a timeframe), so I knew there was some urgency. (Action) As I was very busy, I asked her to come and see me after 4:30 pm, when I finished work. This way, I could help her after hours to upload the thesis. (Result) As a result, we were able to troubleshoot her issue with Turnitin, and she was able to submit her thesis on time. I am fully committed to providing first-class customer service to all internal and external stakeholders regardless of when the assistance is required."

Very well-rounded answer with a lot of great descriptive words. Well done!

Good effort, but your response doesn't address the question. A customer engagement strategy is the company's plan for improving customer satisfaction by increasing the opportunities for positive interactions with them. This can mean soliciting feedback, communicating new features or product enhancements, cross-selling, etc. This question wants to know which means of engaging with customers you enjoy the most.

Excellent response; this example truly highlights your interpersonal skills and ability to provide exceptional customer service.

Excellent response! This clearly highlights your customer service experience across multiple settings.

Great example! Expand on this response by sharing how this customer service was a memorable, positive experience. Illustrate what you did to express your thankfulness for the stand-out service.

"I booked the airfare and my lodging for an international trip to the Dominican Republic. I contacted the hotel directly for some additional information that wasn’t available online. When they picked up the phone, they already knew who I was and confirmed my reservation and wanted to answer any questions I had. I asked them a few questions, and they answered them readily, and said they would put any and all brochures they had on the subject matter I was inquiring about. They then asked me if I had arranged for transportation from the airport to the hotel. I told them I had not. They then arranged for a shuttle to pick me up from the airport to deliver me to the resort. I was utterly amazed at the service I received. I expressed my gratitude over the phone, and tipped them nicely in person."

This is a strong answer. You can improve it by sharing the skills or techniques you would use to de-escalate the situation.

Although it's important to respond honestly, make sure to downplay the negatives and emphasize the positives. See below for another way you can respond here.

"All of my customer service experience to date has been acquired on the job. Although I haven't yet received any formal customer service training, my real-life experience as the Department Coordinator for the School of Education has helped me to develop exceptional customer service skills. My philosophy is to treat and respect others as I would like to be treated and respected myself. I'm open to one day taking an online or in-person course on customer service as I am continually seeking to improve my skills in this area."

Excellent response! Not only does your example prove that you'll go above and beyond to make a customer happy, but it also shows that you won't flout company rules. You struck the perfect balance here with your answer. Great job!

Another great example. Providing stories in your answers helps to make them memorable to the interviewer. Good job! Your example shows that you always try your best to meet the requests of customers but that you recognize that sometimes a request might not be possible to fulfill. So you offer the best alternative possible. Nice!

Wonderful answer! Consider sharing what your prior role was and why calling daily was not ideal.

"In my last position, I had several challenging customers who called in nearly every day. At first, this challenged the patience of our staff. We did a fine job at remaining level-headed, helpful, and positive. However, I shifted my perspective, and realized the only thing that was tripping us up was our frustration. These customers had no idea what our daily pressures were, and their phone calls at that busy hour were no more of an interruption than a micro break. So, I shifted my perspective and tried to make those predictable phone calls more fun for me and the customer. I knew all of them by name, and would start each phone call I received with warm greetings and fun banter. After we had a friendly laugh, I jump in and write a list of all the products they were inquiring to see if we had on the shelf that day to set aside. So I developed systems to address these customer’s needs, was warm and friendly, and made it clear I looked forward to talking to them again. A fun micro-break. They felt appreciated and well served. A win-win."

Strong response! Think about improving your answer by sharing what empathy and kindness look like in the context of this customer-facing role. Talk about specific skills or techniques you rely on to diffuse the situation.

The interviewer will appreciate that you look inward for a solution, also asking for customer feedback. This is a great answer!

Great! This does sound like a really nice aspect of working in higher education. You do a good job of explaining why you like being around people (diversity of thought and backgrounds). You might also mention that you enjoy learning from these other perspectives and that this enriches your life.

Good answer! Demonstrating that you can consistently remain calm and explaining why that's important is a wonderful way to answer.

Ok, great. This is a nuanced answer that gives more than is asked for, so great job. I've elaborated on some of your points to drive home the nuance of your answer.

"That’s a tricky situation. I think it is important to go into these situations with an open mind, and to a certain degree, you need to trust the intentions of your loyal customer base. So this question poses the question, how do you know if your customer is lying to you to get a refund or a free product? One should always be paying attention to a person’s body language, ask leading questions, pay attention to their choice of words, and take note of anything that raises a red flag. But still, if all you have to go off of is suspicion, you should never insinuate or accuse a customer of lying or trying to take advantage. That person is still a potential customer who, at face value, is loyal to our brand. So, if I had my suspicions, and all I had to go off of was suspicion, I’d pull my manager aside, tell them my suspicions, and ask them how they’d address the situation, and if they wanted me to continue handling it. Especially in such sensitive situations, it’s always important to respect the chain of command."

Great, so a positive outlook is key. What other "tools" do you utilize or are necessary to provide good service?

Great. If you don't have a specific skill, the best approach is to talk about your willingness to learn and provide an example of how you learned other, similar tools.

You're correct! Working in customer service often means collaborating with a customer to resolve an issue, while customer support often focuses on fixing a technical problem.

Rather than suggesting that a negative review would be about your personality or work ethic, I would focus more on the fact that you would use a negative review as a learning opportunity. I have reworded for you, below.

"To my knowledge, I have never received a negative review. If I ever received a bad review, I would take the situation as a learning opportunity. I would ask myself where I could improve and apply that review to make myself even better."

Good use of an example. For clarity, you may want to start by making a statement about how you solve this problem and then launch into examples. Combining explanations and examples will help make your answer complete and clear.

The interviewer will be happy to hear that you are continually developing your customer service skills. Did you learn how to locate items on a computer system? Or did you recently memorize the store's planogram? The first part of your response may need further explanation. I have added a revised answer, below.

"The last customer service skill I learned was helping customers to find specific items in-store using our internal product catalog. This skill has enabled me to interact better, listen, and help my customers professionally and efficiently."

A fantastic answer that any interviewer would love to hear :)

Great! Now talk about how you researched and what you found. This is a good opportunity to develop a conversation with the interviewer.

Your answer shows that you are confident in your abilities. It's great that you also promise to remain positive and professional through a tough situation such as customer rejection.