Premier Customer Care: How to Build a High-Touch, High-ROI Program

Premier customer care is a differentiated, contract-backed service tier that guarantees faster response, deeper expertise, and proactive management for high-value accounts. Unlike standard support, premier care includes explicit service levels, dedicated roles, and outcome-based reporting that ties directly to revenue protection, expansion, and operational savings. Done well, it becomes a revenue line with margins comparable to professional services while reducing churn.

As of 2024, executive buyers expect clear time-to-value: median willingness to pay increases 15–25% when providers guarantee response and resolution times, publish real-time status, and include executive business reviews. Premier care programs typically target 95–98% SLA attainment, 20–40% faster time-to-resolution compared to baseline, and a 2–6 point lift in NPS within 2 quarters of rollout.

Service Design and SLAs

Define the channels, hours, and scope explicitly. For enterprise customers, a follow-the-sun model offering 24/7/365 coverage for critical issues (P1) and 16/5 coverage for non-critical (P3–P4) is standard. Offer named contacts, a priority queue, and proactive case creation when monitoring detects anomalies. Document inclusions (break/fix, configuration guidance) and exclusions (custom code, third-party products) to avoid scope creep.

Set measurable SLAs by priority. Typical targets: P1 initial response in 15 minutes, mitigation in 1 hour, and resolution or stable workaround within 4 hours. P2 initial response in 1 hour, resolution within 1 business day. P3 in 4 business hours, resolution in 3 business days. P4 in 1 business day, resolution in 5 business days. Specify the clock (calendar vs. business hours), escalation timelines (e.g., engage on-call engineer at 30 minutes for P1), and credits if SLAs are missed (e.g., 5–10% monthly fee credit capped at one month).

Team Structure and Staffing

A premier care pod commonly includes a Technical Account Manager (1 per 10–25 accounts), senior support engineers (1 per 100–150 cases/month), an escalation manager (shared across pods), and access to product specialists. For 24/7 P1 coverage with a 15-minute response SLA, plan for 5.0–5.5 FTE per always-on seat to cover shifts, weekends, PTO, and training. Target engineer occupancy at 70–80% to preserve capacity for P1 surges and proactive work.

Invest in onboarding and ongoing training: 40–60 hours of product deep dives, 8–12 hours of incident management drills per quarter, and certification paths for new releases. Maintain a readiness scorecard that tracks skill coverage by module and region. Pair this with a shadow-on-call program so new engineers reach competence in 6–8 weeks rather than 12–16.

Tooling and Data

Use an omnichannel platform that unifies email, chat, voice, and in-product messaging into a single case record connected to your CRM. Integrate monitoring and telemetry to enable proactive case creation (e.g., alert-based tickets with logs attached). Ensure your knowledge base supports versioning, release tags, and snippet reuse to cut handling time by 10–20%.

Automation should be assistive, not obstructive. Aim for 20–40% virtual agent containment on low-complexity requests without reducing CSAT. Deploy agent-assist summarization to cut wrap-up time by 30–50 seconds per case and auto-suggest KB content to reduce diagnostic time. Align tooling to compliance requirements: retain audit logs for 12–24 months, enforce role-based access, and maintain SOC 2 Type II/ISO 27001 controls for data handling.

Metrics That Matter

Dashboards must separate volume (leading indicators) from outcomes (lagging indicators). Track by segment, product, and region. Publish a monthly executive summary to each premier account with trends and planned improvements. Tie results to business outcomes like uptime, deployment velocity, and user adoption.

• Speed: First Response Time (P1 median < 10 minutes; P2 median < 45 minutes), Time to Mitigation (P1 median < 60 minutes), Average Handle Time segmented by channel.
• Quality: First Contact Resolution (target 60–75% for supported scopes), Defect Reopen Rate (< 5%), Knowledge Article Deflection (15–25%).
• Experience: CSAT (4.6–4.8/5), NPS (account-level +2 to +6 points within 6 months), Effort Score (target 80th percentile).
• Reliability: SLA Attainment (≥ 97%), Backlog Age (P1 = 0, P2 median < 1 day), On-Call Page Acceptance (< 60 seconds).
• Cost and Value: Cost per Case, Cost to Serve per $1 of ARR, Expansion/Churn deltas attributable to premier (target 15–30% lower churn vs. non-premier peers).

Pricing and Packaging

Common models price premier care at 15–25% of annual contract value (ACV) with a minimum commitment. For SaaS with ACV under $250,000, a flat annual fee of $15,000–$50,000 is typical. For upper mid-market ($250,000–$1M ACV), fees run $50,000–$150,000. Enterprise and regulated industries often warrant $150,000–$300,000+ based on scope (e.g., named TAM, quarterly on-sites, custom runbooks).

Alternative models include per-user add-ons ($5–$15 per user per month for priority channels), per-incident retainers (packs of 10 P1 overrides at $2,500 each), and tiered packages (Premier, Premier Plus with DR testing, etc.). Publish a clear rate card for out-of-scope work (e.g., custom integrations at $250–$350/hour) to prevent ambiguity and preserve margins.

Implementation Roadmap (90 Days)

Launch in phases to reduce risk and gather proof points. Start with a pilot cohort of 10–20 accounts representing varied sizes and use cases. Establish governance: weekly steering committee, daily stand-ups during hypercare, and a single RACI for decisions. Prepare customer-facing collateral: service guide, escalation map, and status page access.

• Days 0–30: Define SLAs, draft legal terms, build runbooks for P1–P4, configure queues and on-call rotations, and train staff. Stand up dashboards and real-time alerting. Select pilot accounts and baseline their metrics.
• Days 31–60: Begin pilot. Conduct incident simulations, tune routing and knowledge gaps, and hold biweekly feedback sessions with pilot customers. Target 95% SLA attainment and identify top 5 drivers of volume and time-to-resolution.
• Days 61–90: Iterate pricing and scope, finalize the rate card, and prepare a go-to-market plan. Publish pilot outcomes (e.g., 32% faster TTR, +0.4 CSAT). Expand to broader cohorts. Establish QBR cadence and executive sponsorship.

Escalations and Incident Management

Standardize severity definitions: P1 (critical outage/data loss), P2 (major degradation/no workaround), P3 (functional limitation/workaround exists), P4 (cosmetic/informational). For P1, initiate a war room within 15 minutes, assign an incident commander, scribe, and comms lead, and provide customer updates every 30 minutes until mitigation, then hourly until resolution. Capture timelines, decisions, and risk in a single incident record.

Post-incident, deliver a written Root Cause Analysis within 3–5 business days, including customer impact window, contributing factors, corrective actions, and prevention items with owners and dates. Track closure of action items in a shared backlog and review progress during monthly service reviews.

Accessibility, Compliance, and Privacy

Ensure all support experiences meet WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility standards: captions on call recordings, alt text in knowledge base images, keyboard navigation for chat, and color-contrast compliance. Provide at least three supported languages for global enterprise tiers, with guaranteed interpreter access for others within 2 business hours.

Implement data minimization and retention controls: redact secrets from logs, mask PII in tickets by default, and set retention for chat and call transcripts (e.g., 13 months unless contracted otherwise). Provide a Data Processing Addendum and document subprocessors. Align with GDPR/CCPA for access, rectification, and deletion requests with a 30-day SLA.

Customer Communication and Reviews

Publish a real-time status page and subscribe premier contacts to incident notifications. Offer an executive hotline for P1 declaration and a separate non-urgent concierge line. Hold Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs) with a standardized agenda: KPI trends, incident reviews, roadmap alignment, and joint success plans with 30-60-90 day actions.

Provide a monthly service report summarizing case volume, top categories, SLA performance, and knowledge opportunities. Add a one-page value summary quantifying hours saved, avoided downtime, and adoption gains. This makes renewals straightforward and justifies upsell to higher tiers when applicable.

Example Contact Profile (Template)

Use a consistent, published contact profile so customers know exactly how to engage. The following is a template you can adapt to your organization; phone numbers and addresses are illustrative.

Premier Care Hotline (sample): +1-555-0130 (P1 only, 24/7). Premier Concierge (sample): +1-555-0168 (non-urgent, 8:00–20:00 local time). Email: [email protected]. Status Page: https://status.example.com. Knowledge Base: https://support.example.com/premier. Mailing Address (sample): 123 Service Avenue, Suite 400, Example City, NY 10001, USA.

Escalation Path (sample): 0–15 minutes: on-call engineer; 15–30 minutes: incident commander; 30–60 minutes: duty manager; 60+ minutes: head of customer care. Update frequency: P1 every 30 minutes, P2 every 2 hours, P3 daily, P4 weekly. RCA delivery: within 5 business days unless otherwise contracted.

What is the 800 number for First Premier?

800-501-6535
You can also call Customer Care at 800-501-6535 during normal business hours.

How do I contact card premium bank account customer service?

If you still need help, you can contact us by calling (844) 227-3602 and using our automated support services. You may also call us to speak with a live agent, Monday – Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. CST. There are no additional costs or fees when using any of our Account Support Services.

How do I contact Premier credit card customer service?

You may request a copy of your credit card agreement by writing to First PREMIER Bank, PO Box 5524, Sioux Falls, SD 57117-5524, or by calling Customer Service at 1-800-987-5521.

Who is a premier customer?

The term “Premier Customer” shall also include any prospective customer of the Company: (a) who contacted Executive, whom Executive contacted, or for whom Executive supervised or assisted with contact, as part of his employment with the Company at any time during the last six (6) months of Executive’s employment with …