Customer Service of the Year 2026
Customer Service with a Human Touch and a Forward-Looking Approach
Tonerpartner has been awarded the “Customer Service of the Year 2026” seal in the Toner Mail Order category, securing first place in its category on its very first participation. With a result that ranks among the top 10 of all award-winning companies, Tonerpartner impressively demonstrates how continuous development and a clear focus on service can go hand in hand.
The company performed particularly strongly in telephone customer service: with only three unanswered calls and an outstanding score of 96 points for its IVR system (participant average: 73 points), Tonerpartner set a clear benchmark. Behind this success is a team that sees customer service not merely as support, but as an investment in sustainable customer relationships – driven by commitment, empathy and the ambition to continuously improve.
In our conversation with Heinke Oppermann, Senior CRM Manager, she explains why the company deliberately chose to enter the competition while undergoing a period of change, the role that team spirit and continuous improvement play, and how Tonerpartner intends to shape the customer service of the future.
“For us, customer service is far more than simply handling enquiries – it is a key success factor for our company.”
Heinke Oppermann
Senior CRM Manager
“For us, customer service is far more than simply handling enquiries”
Ms Oppermann, you only recently took over responsibility for the customer service team. What are your current goals and priorities – and why?
When I took over responsibility for customer service in April 2025, it was clear to me from the very beginning that we share a great deal of responsibility – for our customers, but equally for our team and the way we work together every day. I have high expectations of our work and ask a lot of the team because I am convinced that there is enormous potential within our customer service organisation. At the same time, our employees are particularly important to me. It is essential that everyone enjoys their work, that we stand together as a team, support one another and grow together.
During the first few months, I was already able to optimise various processes through some initial quick wins. The introduction of consistent and comprehensive reporting across customer service provided us with a clear foundation for regularly evaluating our results, making developments visible and systematically improving our quality.
The Tonerpartner team has shown what is possible when people stick together, enjoy their work and support one another.
One of my key objectives is to ensure that our customers can reliably reach us across all three communication channels and receive professional and excellent customer service at all times.
My focus is on developing customer service sustainably – with strong processes, motivated employees and high standards of service excellence. For us, customer service is far more than simply handling enquiries – it is a key success factor for our company.
“The competition provided us with an objective assessment of where we stand”
You decided to take part in the competition despite ongoing changes within your customer service organisation. Why was this the right time?
I deliberately decided to participate in the competition despite ongoing optimisation measures and the introduction of automation within customer service. Precisely because we are currently in a phase of further development, I saw this as a valuable opportunity to have our current position assessed objectively.
Over the past few months, we have already initiated several important changes. For example, we introduced automation within our email channel to enable tickets to be processed more quickly and efficiently. Our chatbot also went live with its first automated use cases – although only shortly before the competition began.
Although the email automation solutions had already been in use for some time, we were also aware that there was still room for improvement and that not all use cases were yet covered perfectly. That is precisely why we also viewed the competition as a kind of audit: an external assessment of our current position that would help us understand where we are already performing very well and where further improvements are needed.
At the same time, it was particularly important to me to show our employees just how strong they already are as a team. The competition was intended to give them confidence and demonstrate that the work they do every day is already at a very high level – and that they have no reason to shy away from presenting themselves in a setting like this. For me, taking part was therefore not simply about entering a competition; it was a valuable impetus for further development and a positive signal to the entire team.
“Taking part gave our team a great deal of confidence”
You are a young team. How did participating in the competition affect your team spirit and the way you work together?
Participating in the competition gave our employees a great deal of confidence and showed us where we currently stand as a customer service organisation. For many of them, it was the first time they had taken part in a competition of this kind, and over the course of the weeks there was naturally some uncertainty about what the outcome might mean for us.
That made the moment when we were finally able to present the results all the more rewarding. Everyone was relieved and proud at the same time because it became clear just how much is already working extremely well and what a strong performance the team delivers every single day.
It was also particularly valuable to see how this shared experience brought us closer together as a team. It was something we went through together – and something none of us would want to have missed. For those who were even able to attend the award ceremony in person, it will remain a unique and unforgettable experience.
“The mystery tests provide valuable insights for our continued development”
Which finding from the mystery tests was particularly significant for you – and how are you using it to further develop your customer service?
The results of the mystery tests and the subsequent audit were extremely valuable to us. In particular, the tests of the individual communication channels, together with the comprehensive analysis and detailed evaluation, gave us deep insight into the current quality of our service. The feedback is so thorough and well-founded that we can take a great deal from it for both our day-to-day work and the continued development of customer service.
It was also very encouraging for us to see that our chatbot – which had only gone live shortly before the competition began – performed significantly better than we had initially expected. Some of the areas for improvement that were identified were already known to us and reinforced and confirmed the direction of our ongoing action plan.
In addition, we received many valuable insights regarding employee coaching. It was particularly helpful to identify the areas in which we should provide targeted further training and where we can further improve our customer communication. We were given specific areas to focus on, some of which we were already aware of or had previously only suspected. The results clearly confirmed these points and made them tangible, enabling us to work on them systematically and continue improving the quality of our service.
“Our goal is modern customer service that is efficient while remaining human”
What is your vision for customer service at Tonerpartner over the next three years – and what steps will you take to achieve it?
Customer service will remain a key success factor and a decisive competitive advantage for Tonerpartner over the next three years. In an increasingly competitive market, it is above all excellent service that builds trust, strengthens customer loyalty and enables us to differentiate ourselves sustainably from our competitors.
We will continue to consistently expand our use of AI and automation. In particular, the introduction of AI into telephone customer service will be an important step this year in further improving both our availability and efficiency.
However, the customer service of the future is about more than technology alone. The major challenge will be creating the right interaction between AI, automation and people. Technology should provide support and reduce workloads – but it is our customer service employees who ultimately create a service experience that is truly excellent, empathetic and customer-focused.
The customer will continue to be at the heart of everything we do. Even if AI may support telephone interactions in the future, personal contact and genuine human connection will remain an important part of our service philosophy. Our goal is modern customer service that is efficient – while remaining human.
Conclusion
By winning the “Customer Service of the Year 2026” seal, Tonerpartner demonstrates that excellent customer service is built on continuous development, a strong team and a clear commitment to service excellence. The combination of modern technology and personal interaction creates a customer experience that delivers lasting value.