customer-support

We have all been there.

The customer support agent said something bad on the phone while trying to solve your problem. Bad enough to break your spirit. Something inside you died then.You hung up on them. You lost all your hopes and dreams of spending the day stress free.As a customer support agent, there's just certain things you literally NEVER say to someone.But what about the "silent killers"? The phrases that have petty or passive aggressive undertones?Here's the commonly-said phrases that make us facepalm. Use them sparingly or literally never.

Hold on, let me check

You know the old saying: time is money.When a customer reaches out to you, they expect you to solve their problem as soon as possible. Putting them on hold means you don’t care about them.We previously talked about the impact of a negative customer experience. If done right, customer support will make your business thrive.We recommend you keep the conversation going while checking on billing options or whatever else your customer needs.

Sorry

How on earth is saying sorry against customer support best practices you ask?Picture this.You totally messed up with a customer. They are super angry. Do you think a simple sorry would be enough?In a previous post, we emphasized that apologies should be actionable.That means, you should be sorry for the bad experience, not the product, while providing tangible solutions.

No problem

No problem.We say that to a friend when we help them out or when a relative apologizes, the situations are endless. In business, things are totally different.Let's suppose you are reaching out to customer support. You are seeking help with something for the product.. Yet, you heard no problem.Do you feel like a trouble maker?According to a survey done by Telephone doctor, “a surprisingly large number of people found “No problem” offensive. They felt “No problem” was a really big problem“Instead, customer support heroes should opt in for a better alternative.:Try "Sure, always happy to help".

It's policy

Policies are the backbone of your business.When done right, policies will allow your customer support team to forge sustainable relationships with your customers. Thus your business will grow exponentially.That doesn’t mean they should be blocking your team from fulfilling your customers wishes and requests.Don’t worry, you shouldn’t bend the knee to every single request. Just don’t use the policy card as an excuse to let your customers miss out on quite the experience.Last year, I wanted to buy one of Udacity's Nano Degrees courses. And since I didn’t have the means , I reached out to their customer support and well, the results were astonishing.

"Hi Azzen,Thank you for your email! We understand that many of our deserving students are unable to afford our programs and we are taking affordability into account as we continue to develop a better learning experience for students worldwide.Please know that we make some of our course materials available for free through the 'Start Free Course' button on the left-hand side of any course overview page. You can find links to each course in a Nanodegree program in the Syllabus section of the program overview page.Udacity does not directly offer any scholarships or financial aid at this time, but we are happy to be able to offer you a 10% discount to use towards any eligible Nanodegree program. This coupon will expire in March 2018.If this is not enough of a discount, I'd encourage you to research independent scholarship opportunities in your area. Also, keep an eye on our social media presence and be sure you're getting our newsletters- we do provide promotional discount offers from time to time!I hope this answers your concern and enables you to learn with Udacity. Please let me know if I can help you with anything else!Happy learning" SethStudent Support Manager

To be honest

We are back to the classics.We use "to be honest" whenever we want to come clean about something, and that shouldn’t be a problem, right? Well, that’s only the tip of iceberg. Especially in support.According to research, you should stop saying "to be honest", because it keeps your interlocutor guard up.Any natural response to that would be like: Were you lying before?The point is: be simple and go straight to the point.

You made a mistake

We all make mistakes. It’s part of human nature. And trust me in support, things get out of hands sometimes. It’s totally common for a customer to come at you with a problem to discover later that he was at fault.“You made a mistake.”Such a simple phrase, yet its consequences are disastrous. Great support is customer centric. That means the customer is always right. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying you should keep up with every irrelevant piece of info. But rather It’s about the approach.Ask questions. Because that will enable you to gather data and look at the full picture.

There’s Nothing I Can Do

It’s called customer support for a reason. Yet you have nothing you can do?Ensuring your product is on the right track 24/7 365 is tough. Sometimes an unexpected bug ruins everything and when that happens, unsatisfied, if not angry, customers will show up. You are their super hero, you should have the fix even if it means getting creative.Even if there is truly nothing you can do, be empathetic. Your customer is frustrated. Here you should apologize for the frustration and inform them that the team is currently fixing the issue.At the end of the day, customer support is about human interactions. Even though there are best practices, it’s all up to you to infuse your database with samples. Situations may vary and there is no clear fix to all the pains.That’s why at Veamly, we are committed to helping you prioritize your customer support tickets.Sign up for the demo right now.