What Is a Customer Service Self-Evaluation? [+Examples]

At work, a self-evaluation is a personal review of your job performance. While you'll probably receive feedback from a supervisor, most businesses encourage employees to complete their own evaluation so they can reflect on performance without third-party input.

The overall goal is that you'll be able to own your accomplishments, recognize areas for improvement, and create a path for further professional development. Employees in all industries write self-evaluations, including service representatives.

In this post, we'll explain what a self-evaluation looks like for customer service representatives, outline tips for writing one, and give you some examples you can refer to when creating your own.

What is a customer service self-evaluation?

A customer service self-evaluation is a way to intentionally analyze your job performance concerning how you serve your customers. While you may receive a separate review from your boss, a self-evaluation uses your perception and insight, as well as data and customer feedback.

The final result of your evaluation should be a valuable tool for reflection, holding productive conversations with team members and superiors, and a guide for future growth. It's also nice to look back on evaluations to see how much you've grown as you progress through various roles.

Below we'll go over critical considerations to keep in mind when writing your self-evaluation.

Tips For Writing An Effective Customer Service Self-Evaluation

As mentioned above, a self-evaluation is an opportunity to go in-depth in analyzing job performance, both in terms of accomplishments and areas for improvement. An effective evaluation goes beyond just yes or no answers and uses data, examples, and sets actionable goals for the future. Let's go over essential tips for writing a customer service self-evaluation.

1. Use performance data.

A strong self-evaluation uses performance data to support the words you're writing.

Every business collects different data points, but some stats to consider are customer feedback ratings, ticket response time, length of time spent on calls with customers, and general or team benchmarks for comparisons.

2. Use specific statements with supporting examples.

Vague statements don't help you do a true in-depth reflection on your job performance.

While you can undoubtedly detail strengths and weaknesses, they don't mean much as standalone words. For example, saying “I responded to customer inquiries in a timely manner and provided beneficial solutions” demonstrates job performance and achievements, but it doesn't really say much else.

That statement would be even more impactful if you include the data that proves your ability to provide beneficial solutions. A specific statement with supporting examples could look like this: “I responded to customer inquiries within the company-set target of 2 hours. I provided beneficial solutions, and customer feedback surveys showed that I had an average satisfaction rate of 90%.”

3. Explain performance.

Just as it's important to be specific and use examples, it's also essential to explain why you're performing the way you are. Aim to describe how you're able to do what you do on a day-to-day basis.

Continuing with the previous example, you can say that you've reached a satisfaction rate of 90% because you spend time listening to support calls from other successful employees and identifying how they connect with customers. You've worked to incorporate those strategies into your calls, and your satisfaction rate shows that it works.

4. Acknowledge weaknesses and set goals for the future.

Nobody is perfect, and it's important to acknowledge that, especially in self-evaluations. Take ownership of your weaknesses and use your evaluation as an opportunity to begin working on professional development. You can talk about how you hope to improve in certain areas, and set entirely new goals.

Following the specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, timely (SMART) goal structure is worth considering, as it'll help you create a roadmap for meeting your goals.

Self-Evaluation Examples for Customer Service

Once you understand the components of a self-evaluation, it's time to start writing your own.

Below is an example of a customer service self-evaluation that you can refer to throughout your process. It's important to note that this is a basic example, and you likely have business-specific performance metrics that you should include in your own.

“Over the past six months as a customer service representative, I have responded to customer inquiries within the company-wide target of 2 hours. I provided beneficial solutions, and my average satisfaction rating is 90%.

I achieved this result because I spent time learning about our product and what we have to offer, so I can quickly diagnose customer issues and provide actionable solutions. I ask for feedback from my teammates and managers, and I always make sure to implement their advice.

However, my satisfaction rate is lower than the team goal of 95%, so there is still an opportunity for improvement. Despite my ability to provide solutions, I need to spend more time explaining why solutions will work for customers. I'm more familiar with the product than they are, so I should be making sure that they leave our conversations with this understanding.

I want to improve upon this by experimenting with the product on my own, so I know how it works, and having mock calls with my teammates. I hope to work up to the 95% satisfaction rate by the end of Q4.

Although I am still working on improving my satisfaction rate, I also want to gain exposure to new business areas. I am hoping to spend time shadowing my peers in different departments and learning about their day to day tasks, and assisting on various projects.

Since I am still unsure about my career goals, I am hoping that this exposure will help me develop new skills and discover new areas of interest.”

This evaluation uses the four critical areas mentioned above to outline how an employee works to provide their customers with satisfactory experiences:

• Specific statements with supporting evidence: They provided a time period, stated their duties, and provided a percentage of the satisfaction rating they provided to customers as proof.
• Rationalizing job performance: Their result was reached by gaining knowledge of the product, quickly diagnosing customer needs, and providing solutions through the aid of teammates and managers.
• Acknowledging weaknesses: Their satisfaction rate is not as high as it could be, as they need to better explain solutions to customers.
• Creating a plan of action for improvement: They have a plan to shadow peers and have mock calls with teammates, and a goal of gaining exposure through assisting others in different departments and projects.

In case you wanted to see more statements that can cover these four areas, read on for more:

“From tracking my progress over the past 12 months, I exceeded sales targets by 110% in 2021.”

"In the second quarter, I achieved twice as many closed tickets than the previous quarter, tallied up in our management system."

“More than 33% of customers have left my interactions with them feeling informed and satisfied with my information delivery through detailed, positive reviews after our chats ended.”

“I expanded my reach by tackling three more regions than I started with, and worked harder to organically attract clients and meet them where they are.”

“I maintained customer relationships through carefully timed email messaging after the initial time of purchase.”

“My customer satisfaction rating improved from my fastened customer response time since being onboarded into the role.”

"Time management is one of my weaknesses. I delay the more difficult or least appealing tasks until the last minute, which in turn has caused the quality of my work to decline in comparison to how I operated six months ago."

“I have had difficulty learning how to use the new customer management software we implemented this past quarter, and have not been documenting data as accurately because of it.”

“I need to learn how to diffuse arguments more effectively. I still need to know how to pivot and adapt my language to each customer.”

“I will be brushing up on customer service terminology and best practices more in the next quarter to ensure I’m approaching customers in the correct manner.”

“When I find myself in future predicaments, I will actively engage with customers in a more understanding and calmer tone.”

“With the new updates to our management system, I will take extra time to learn how to fully navigate and utilize it to better help customers.”

Your Self-Evaluation Is For Your Personal Development

Overall, your self-evaluation is a way for you to reflect on your performance and understand how you can continue to go above and beyond to provide customers with exceptional service experiences.

You can use your final reflection as a roadmap for the future and also look back on it over time to see how far you've come.