In the spirit of the season, we wanted to talk a little bit about customer service during this time of year—everything from what you write on social media or say to customers over the phone, in email blasts and in person. The holidays can be stressful, and the wrong choice of words can make them feel mistreated, sending your customers straight to the loudest platforms they can to disrupt your business’ holiday season. Avoid these phrases this holiday season.
“Well, legally…” The word “legally” can incite even the friendliest customer to burn you in effigy on your social media platforms. This wording typically follows some type of complaint regarding a policy or service charge: “Well, by law we’re allowed to (insert the customer complaint here)…” Unless a customer specifically questions the legality of a policy or charge, stay away from the term “legally.” In the mind of the customer, you are either showing them that A: You are a protected business in the eyes of the law, and the commoner who tries to complain shall be smited by the law; or B: You are able to maximize a loophole in the law, and the idea of complaining about it should be brought forth to a congressman, not to the company. Neither of these is positive.
“It’s against our policy…” Policies are supposed to be internal ways of doing things. Your customer is not trying to work for your company, and doesn’t need to know the policy. This is another device, similar to the legal one, which reduces the amount of accountability of the individual making the statement, and pushes the accountability onto a nameless entity. It shows a lack of concern for the individual, and should be removed from your response playbook. If a customer service representative doesn’t know the reason for the policy, the issue should probably be advanced to someone higher up the management ladder.
“We’re sorry to hear that, we wish to help you as soon as we can.” Although you speak for the company, unless you are royalty, don’t say “we”. The customer service representative needs to take personal responsibility, and the term “We” can be viewed as hiding behind the company and shirking responsibility. This gets hard on social media, when you are replying for a company. There are alternatives, and all of them make you less robotic sounding. Sometimes, something simple like, “That’s not good, let me get on that now ” is helpful. Additionally, don’t over apologize, or repeat apologies. It makes you start to sound disingenuous.
“We’d like to help you. Can you call us/send us a private message?” You can ask this one time, but that’s it. Many times, irate customers have already tried to go the phone route. If they want to call, they will. If, however, they want to publicly flame you on a social media site, be prepared to handle it for a small period of time. .The way to get people offline, or at least point out that the conversation needs to go offline, is by hinting about the type of information they need to provide you to fix the problem. So for example, say, “Obviously, you shouldn’t post your account number online. Can you call me (even if you aren’t the one fielding the call) at 800-555-OOPS?” Also, make sure that whoever is receiving that phone call is aware of what the customer’s complaint is beforehand. There is nothing worse for a customer than starting a complaint all over again with someone different in a different medium.
Are there any customer service responses that can move you from a slightly annoyed customer to a full-fledged raving brand assassin? Tell us in the comments below.
