Gone are the days when customer service meant dialing up a 1-800-number found on the back on a bottle of shampoo. Human interaction was minimal, and the distance between the customer and the business was significant. But in recent years, the demand for excellent customer service has come into the forefront. 

A survey of 1,000 U.S. customers found that 58% responded yes when asked “Is customer service more important than price?” In this same survey, 58% of consumers also indicated they would pay more if they knew they would receive great customer service. 

This demand has catapulted the prominence of customer service centers, or physical spaces where clients can actively engage with a company’s offerings. Thanks to their ability to showcase products, actively engage with customers, and build relationships through personal experiences, customer service centers have become extremely influential components of a corporation’s livelihood. 

The MasterCard Method

Composed of 7 locations across the globe, MasterCard Experience Centers have everything from virtual reality content and data visualizations to co-creation workshops. Emphasizing collaboration between the customer and the brand, the locations also serve as a showcase for new products the company comes out with.

“Through storytelling, taking you through journeys of our stakeholders like small business owners, farmers, the digital-enabled consumer, we are actually here to co-create and define what the future of payment and the future of commerce can look like,” Tobias Puehse, Mastercard’s Vice President of Innovation Management, Asia Pacific, explains in a video example of the Singapore location. 

While most people would assume that a credit card company doesn’t have the typical storefront to highlight their achievements and product base, MasterCard Experience Centers have essentially become a surefire means to engage with customers despite not selling a traditional over-the-counter product. 

The Style of Starbucks

Starbucks takes customer experience centers to a unique place by integrating tourism into the fold. For instance, coffee lovers who find themselves traveling to Seattle often visit the company’s Roastery, which “combines the art and craft of coffee in an immersive and thoughtfully designed environment.” 

The coffee empire also reveals the stories behind their brand at their “Coffee Experience Centers” like the one in Bali, Indonesia. There, the company  “showcases how the roasting process elevates the unique quality and diverse flavor profiles of Indonesian coffees.” 

By allowing customers to actively test their product in new and exciting ways, they’re increasing their customer base, and building brand loyalty. 

The Excellence of Apple

Whether you need a new charger or you’ve spilled a cup of coffee on your MacBook, it’s likely you head to the Apple store on a regular basis. Apple stores are an incredibly interesting example of customer experience centers because most people probably don’t even think of them as being one.  

The stores have a strong educational aspect, such as coding workshops and classes that teach people how to use their products, which are very clearly all for sale. Yet they’re incredibly common, with over 500 locations in contrast to MasterCard’s 7. Apple stores are such an essential component of our lives that we don’t even realize how omnipresent they actually are.   

In the past, Apple worked to turn every store into a “town square.” Their seamless customer experience has been written about endlessly. Still, the company continues to push boundaries. In the present day, they continue to evolve the customer experience with February’s reveal of Apple Vision Pro. 

Described as “a revolutionary spatial computer that transforms how people work, collaborate, connect, relive memories, and enjoy entertainment,” customers could only try out the product through guided demo experiences alongside team members in Apple stores. By introducing the product in tandem with an in-person customer service experience, Apple deepens the customer relationship and creates engagement around the Apple Vision Pro product launch.  

While customer service has changed significantly in recent years, it has also provided a variety of different pathways to engage with the community. Brands that truly want to stand out understand how essential it is to have a customer experience center to take engagement to the next level. 

CECs boost sales, build strong relationships with customers, and anticipate their needs. They possess the power to increase customer retention, and ultimately curate brand loyalty. As these three unique brands have demonstrated, customer experience centers demonstrate how to immerse the public into the magic of a brand’s creation.