There are dozens of books written and published by support-minded folks on customer service, strategy, customer loyalty, persuasive speaking, comprehensive writing, team and time management, and so on. It can take a lifetime to read them all. For the sake of your time and mental health, here is a must-read and worth-to-read list of books that will make a real impact on your career as a customer support specialist.
#1 How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Communication skills are vital for a service agent. This classic self-help book offers timeless advice on building and maintaining positive and fruitful relationships with people in all areas of life. Carnegie's principles, though written in 1937, remain relevant and practical for modern customer service roles.
Why You Should Read This Book
Carnegie’s insights seem to be timeless, they were valuable in 1937 and nowadays, too. Language serves the same purposes, and people want the same things they have always wanted. The techniques presented by the author aren’t duplicitous. They encourage you as a reader to develop a genuine interest in your interlocutors, and be honest and ethical.
This classic book delivers practical techniques to understand customer needs, handle complaints gracefully, and foster long-term loyalty. By applying Carnegie's insights, you can enhance your interpersonal skills, resolve conflicts diplomatically, and ultimately excel in delivering exceptional CX.
#2 Getting Things Done by David Allen
Multitasking, pressure, and stress haunt a customer support specialist daily. After reading “,Getting Things Done,” you can organize your time and tasks and get (almost) everything on time. You may find the writing “dry” in the middle and too “flowery” ending. Thus, it is clear and offers lots of examples.
Mind, you are not perfect, and the amount of work is infinite. The author helps you understand that you’ll never get it all done and gives tips on putting everything in its place and not torturing yourself about things you are not doing.
Why You Should Read This Book
“Getting Things Done” focuses on getting your to-do items out of your short-term memory and into a highly organized system. This approach ensures you can work on tasks sequentially without worrying about losing track of important things.
The less you have in your short-term memory, the better you can concentrate fully on one task at a time. You just need to implement four major steps:
1. Collect incoming stuff
2. Process the stuff
3. Do the stuff
4. Check your system to ensure your tasks and project lists are current.
#3 How to Write Short: Word Craft for Fast Times by Roy Peter Clark
In the digital age full of information flow, a support service agent needs to write clearly and concisely. In this book, Roy Peter Clark explains how to apply measures of quick writing and set your writing on a higher level. Along with describing all hows and whys of short writing, each chapter ends with a sum up and tips on how to use it in practice.
Why You Should Read This Book
Will this book be useful for day-to-day customer service work? It focuses on the crucial skill of writing concisely, which is essential for email and live chat support. You’ll learn how to deliver clear, comprehensive explanations in a brief format.
#4 Customer Experience 3.0: High-Profit Strategies in the Age of Techno Service by John A. Goodman
The author of this book is a highly regarded customer experience expert, so if you have experience in support service or are just starting your career, John A. Goodman's first-hand guidance will be interesting for you. “Customer Experience 3.0” explains an innovative customer experience framework and a step-by-step implementation guide.
“Customer Experience 3.0” offers a practical framework for delivering exceptional customer service. It underscores the importance of setting clear expectations, improving access strategies, and leveraging customer feedback. Backed by extensive research, Goodman demonstrates how businesses can use technology and metrics to boost customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Why You Should Read This Book
Let's give a little background here: you'll read about building flawless service and setting honest customer expectations, learn to set priorities based on clients' feedback, and apply strategy upgrades. Besides, the author shows how to use CRM and helpdesk to collect data and deliver customer satisfaction. “Customer Experience 3.0” teaches you how to benefit from available tools to delight your customers.
#5 The Effortless Experience: Conquering the New Battleground for Customer Loyalty by Matthew Dixon
Loyalty is driven by how well a company delivers on its basic promises and solves day-to-day problems, not on how spectacular its service experience might be.
Matthew Dixon
"The Effortless Experience" argues that companies should shift their focus from exceeding customer expectations to making customer interactions as easy as possible. Through extensive research, the authors demonstrate that going above and beyond in customer service has a minimal impact on customer loyalty.
Instead, the book focuses on the importance of simplicity and ease in creating a low-effort CX. Moreover, Matthew Dixon introduces the customer effort score (CES) as a critical metric, even for those already using net promoter score (NPS), to measure transactional relationship data.
Why You Should Read This Book
Even the title suggests this is a must-read for anyone in customer service. It offers a transformative approach to building lasting customer loyalty by reducing customer effort. The book provides insights and practical advice on creating a low-effort customer experience.
Besides, the book brings a counterargument to "delighting" customers, overviews the changing nature and expectations of customers, and suggests some tricks for reacting in plain language.
#6 The Customer Support Handbook: How to Create the Ultimate Customer Experience for Your Brand by Sarah Hatter
Generally, when people hear “customer service,” they think about the cubicle farm of a call center or employees who don’t stop typing in live chats where help is the last thing customers will receive. Sarah Hatter wants to remind support managers that what they are doing for a living is a vital part of product or service development, and many customer support specialists consider this book an excellent reference book.
Why You Should Read This Book
“The Customer Support Handbook” presents samples of replies to difficult questions (words and phrases to use in emails are thoroughly explained), tips on language and tone to apply in social media messages, and pieces of advice to handle angry customers. It covers almost everything you can think of about customer support, understanding the challenges you face daily.
#7 Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh
Somebody may say that “Delivering Happiness” is another business memoir. Everyone has a right to a personal opinion. Either way, Zappos' CEO, Tony Hsieh, has a lot of exciting things to say about business development. So, in “Delivering Happiness,” the author shares the lessons learned from his lifetime: the intermediate goals (to get a dream job, to find the right spouse, to earn a lot of money, etc.,) and the ultimate goal is to be happy. And that very happiness comes from your work and personal life in equal parts.
Why You Should Read This Book
“Delivering Happiness” offers practical insights into building a successful and happy workplace. Tony Hsieh's experiences provide valuable lessons on achieving professional and personal fulfillment. If you're interested in fostering a positive company culture and finding happiness in your career and life, "Delivering Happiness" is an essential read.
#8 What Customers Crave: How to Create Relevant and Memorable Experiences at Every Touchpoint by Nicholas Webb
The more you try to make money by focusing on money the less you will make money. The more you focus on delivering exceptional value and building a mission-centered culture, the more money you make.
Nicholas Webb
Knowing what your customers want and delivering it personally can build loyalty and turn them into advocates. But achieving this is more complex than it sounds. Creating memorable experiences at every step is key; Nicholas Webb will show you how.
“What Customers Crave” explains customer service in the digital age, focusing on treating customers based on their preferences, not just demographics like age, race, or beliefs. It shows you that you need more than good products and a competitive price. Understanding what customers like and dislike matters most.
Why You Should Read This Book
Delivering memorable customer experiences is crucial for business success. Webb provides actionable insights and strategies to optimize online and offline interactions, helping you exceed customer expectations and differentiate your brand effectively across all business sectors.
#9 The Amazement Revolution: Seven Customer Service Strategies to Create an Amazing Customer (and Employee) Experience by Shep Hyken
Who understands customer service better than an experienced CX expert? Shep Hyken provides seven practical strategies to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty. These strategies include forming strong customer partnerships, delivering exclusive membership rewards, and fostering a sense of community among customers.
Moreover, it outlines practical methods for differentiating your brand in a competitive market by consistently delivering exceptional service. This book by Shep Hyken is a definitive resource for anyone seeking to revolutionize their customer service practices.
Why You Should Read This Book
“The Amazement Revolution” is your guide to mastering customer service from an expert's perspective. By learning how to exceed expectations and consistently create lasting positive impressions, you'll transform customers into loyal advocates for your brand.
It equips you to confidently tackle customer service challenges and elevate your business's reputation. Whether new to customer service or looking to refine your approach, this book offers invaluable insights to elevate your customer experience strategies.
#10 The Service Culture Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Getting Your Employees Obsessed with Customer Service by Jeff Toister
A strong service culture leads to sustained customer satisfaction.
Jeff Toister
Imagine a workspace culture where CX agents are obsessed with customer service. In this book, Jeff Toister offers a step-by-step manual for creating a customer-focused culture that delights customers and engages employees. The author describes the road trip to foster a customer-centric mindset across all levels of an organization.
The book shares the key elements of a strong service culture. It provides techniques to engage and train employees and steps to make service a core part of the organization's way of life.
Why You Should Read This Book
Gain actionable insights to transform your workplace into one where exceptional customer service is a natural part of daily operations. Whether starting or refining existing practices, this handbook provides practical exercises and proven tools to implement immediately, fostering customer loyalty and organizational success.
#11 Chief Customer Officer 2.0: How to Build Your Customer-Driven Growth Engine by Jeanne Bliss
Leadership can emerge from any corner of your organization, not just from the role of Chief Customer Officer. In her book, Jeanne Bliss outlines a systemic framework to unite the organization behind customer success. The book explores the journey from the early stages, where the CCO is the sole advocate, to the mature stages, where the CCO facilitates alignment across all teams. Through a five-competency process, Bliss delivers clear insights, detailed explanations, and actionable strategies.
Why You Should Read This Book
Jeanne Bliss provides valuable strategies for quickly mobilizing your leadership team and shifting your business focus towards improving customers’ lives, ultimately driving growth. With practical tools and real-world examples, this book integrates these customer-focused competencies into your company’s operations, product development, and strategic planning.
#12 Uncommon Service: How to Win by Putting Customers at the Core of Your Business by Frances Frei and Anne Morriss
To achieve service excellence, you must underperform in strategic ways. This means delivering on the service dimensions your customers value most, and then making it possible—profitable and sustainable—by performing poorly on the dimensions they value least. In other words, you must be bad in the service of good.
Frances Frei
In "Uncommon Service," Frances Frei and Anne Morriss introduce a fresh approach to customer service. Instead of trying to excel in every area, the authors advocate focusing on the aspects your customers value most. They argue it's better to underperform in some areas to shine in customer service and gain a competitive edge. The key takeaways of this book are: 1) employees yearn to serve, 2) customers are willing to contribute, and 3) organizations can undergo transformative change swiftly.
Why You Should Read This Book
“Uncommon Service” urges you to pick your battles and not go after everything. You'll learn to prioritize what truly matters to your customers and deliver outstanding service. The authors explain why perfect service in every aspect isn't attainable or desirable. Instead, they teach you to align your business model with your service strategy. Embrace imperfection to achieve excellence and connect more deeply with your customers.
#13 Hug Your Haters: How to Embrace Complaints and Keep Your Customers by Jay Baer
Negative feedback is essential for growth, and this book offers a strategic approach to turning detractors into advocates.
Jay Baer shows how to improve customer satisfaction and build a customer-focused culture. The book includes practical tips on measuring the impact of your customer service and turning negative experiences into positive outcomes.
Why You Should Read This Book
“Hug Your Haters” will change your perspective on negative feedback and show you how to use it as a powerful tool for growth. Baer offers actionable advice on responding to complaints through social media and other channels.
You’ll learn to build a customer-focused culture, measure service effectiveness, and transform complaints into opportunities for improvement. It's an essential read for customer service professionals, social media managers, marketers, and business owners looking to enhance their approach to customer feedback.
What Book Will You Choose?
In conclusion, many books for customer support specialists offer additional, extended tips, twists, and guidance on providing support and earning loyalty and profits. Hence, this shortlist aims to cover the essential requirements and deliver a cohesive picture of what an outstanding service should be. Once you pick up any of these books, you will learn something valuable and worth sharing with a colleague or friend.
