Betfair, UK-based online betting exchange, is one innovative online idea that everyone can learn from. Launched five years ago by Andrew Black and Edward Wray, Betfair allows punters to set their own odds and bet against each other.

The high volume of transactions and payments mean that technology is central to the company’s business and success. But recently, Silicon.com reported that Betfair is now serving two billion page impressions.

I believe even with the most modern technology, Betfair won’t grow this much if they suck in customer service. Two of Betfair’s executives were interviewed and asked about their customer service strategy.

Interview with Mark Davies is Director of Communications of Betfair:

E-consultancy: Customer retention is a big challenge for all kinds of companies – what is Betfair doing to try and ensure that customers stay loyal? Do you plan to use online tools to improve customer service in the future?

MD: Retention is a key process at Betfair. As we are in a position of taking no risk in an event, we are very supportive of our customers’ success and much of our communication is driven by a desire to educate and improve their betting experiences, as demonstrated by our monthly newsletter INPLAY.

We are fortunate to have great personal relationships with many of our customers from our start up days, and we get a lot of feedback and suggestions from them. Ultimately, customer loyalty is driven by having the best product and the best customer service. We invest a great deal of money to ensure we have both.

The McCue Interview with Betfair COO, David Yu:

“I think the secret of my success here has been hiring people who are smarter than me, who know their areas a lot better than I do and you hire them and they just get on with it, and it’s really easy. All I do is walk around and try not to bother them.”

In reality he says it is the “softer skills” that have been the biggest change he has noticed in his new role.

“It was harder than I thought,” he says. “It’s much harder to provide a great customer service than I would have ever realised. It’s much more art than science in some of these other areas and not just about the facts but about how you are conveying them. It’s the softer skills in dealing with other groups.”

Apparently, Betfair executives know how to take care of both internal and external customers. If they maintain this stand and continuously improve on it, then they couldn’t go wrong.