Top 5 Dos and Don'ts of Customer Support

So why do some people know to ask questions like this, and create a memorable experience for their customer?

Often it's a personality trait. The ability to empathise, sympathise if necessary, and connect with the real person on the other end of the line are learnable skills, but are easier to master by those with a natural ability to care and connect.

"Fake it until you make it" is a real thing. It absolutely can work, and I have seen it work.
I once had a team member who struggled to care about what the customer really needed.

"Why should I care? The customer makes a lot more money than me, anyway." is the type of attitude I've seen on many occasions.

So, why should they care?

At the end of the day, as much as many of us do not like to say it, the customer does (to an extent) pay your salary and mine.

We've all heard, at some point, a customer saying "I pay your wage."

There's truth to it. Customers, collectively, do indeed pay our wage.

What if this isn't the type of motivation you require?

Many of us are motivated by career possibilities, and others by the desire to care. Everybody has their reason for caring. Maybe you have children and you need to support them. That right there is your motivation to care and progress.

The point is that if you find you're having a hard time caring about the issues being presented to you, then consider your motivation. Why are you here in the first place? Where do you want to be in a year?

When you care, one way or another, you'll find yourself asking the right questions. You may also find yourself taking ownership. We'll touch on that later.

Being authentic doesn't mean you need to let the customer in on all of your personal traits, Maybe in real life you're known to be sarcastic or dark humoured, These types of traits can be left at the door during a customer support interaction.

Rather this is about letting certain aspects of your personality shine through during your interaction. The key word here is certain. 

Are you known to be a little witty, and cheerful? Great. Read the room and show that side of yourself where appropriate.

This means not only reflecting the company's values but also introducing your own personality in a way that resonates positively with the customer. Authenticity breeds trust and fosters rapport, leading to more meaningful interactions.

One would imagine this should go without saying, but to my surprise I discovered there are many people in Customer Support who can lack a filter and control of their tone. I have personally seen this over live chats, emails and heard it in phone calls.

Watch your tone.

While researching a way to tackle this behaviour in the past, I came across a YouTube video where the host said something along the lines of "...pretend you're speaking with your grandmother...".

The intention behind this is to recognise your tone. When you're speaking to your grandmother or another loved one, you're going to be naturally friendly and caring. When talking with customers, we should be using a soft professional tone which reads as being helpful and kind. Ideally we should be speaking to customers exactly how we would like for them to speak to us. Or, if you wish, imagine you’re talking to your grandmother or another loved one - what is your tone? Chances are you’re unlikely to be condescending, rude, or blunt.

I won't lie. It gets very stressful when you're working on two or three chats at the same time, where each of those chats contains a complex issue, and your slack notifications are popping. 

As someone who, admittedly, battles to maintain my composure during a stressful situation, it can often be easier said than done to remain calm when you're feeling stressed and you're experiencing sensory overload due to the notification sounds hopping. 

With that being said, being calm is key to handling those tougher interactions. I can't tell you how many times, while working as a Customer Support agent I was threatened by customers who wanted to report me to the FBI and the BBB (I had never even heard of this one at the time) because I was following company procedure and ensuring we stuck to our anti-fraud guidelines. 

When working Customer Support, it often feels like you're the punching bag. You're working on the front-lines, after all. You're the face/voice of the company while interacting with customers.

As a result, customers will, from time to time, take their frustrations out on you. It's an unfortunate reality of working in Customer Support, but it's not entirely unique to Customer Support. We see it in retail, hospitality, and even medical care. Pretty much any public-facing job will involve a customer airing their grievances and venting their frustrations in your direction at some point. 

The most important takeaway here is this: do not take it personally. 

The customer is angry at the company and its' policies or services. Unless you did something wrong, the customer is not actually angry with you as you've done nothing wrong. You're merely the messenger. 

Reminding yourself of this can really help to make a difference and ensure you don't give in to the temptation of having the last word. More on this later. 

This is one of my favourite aspects of Customer Support. The ability to flex ones own detective skills in an effort to find the root cause of a customers issue, and in-turn a resolution.

This is where we also put some previous talking points in to action:

• be curious
• be patient

And now, think outside the box. I'm going to cheat a little by adding a bonus point - take ownership.

When we combine these three skills, we have the makings of a talented Customer Support agent who gets things done.

It's common for a customer to come seeking help with little understanding of the issue at-hand. The customer may lack technical expertise or the vocabulary to confidently and comfortably explain what kind of issue they're facing. This can create a sense of friction, especially when there's also a language barrier introduced.

For this reason we must remain patient. Oftentimes I found it helpful to try, mentally, putting myself in the customers shoes. This thinking allows me to better connect and empathise with the customer, resulting in the building of a greater sense of trust.

When a customer attempts to explain the issue, thinking outside the box can be key to a resolution.

Customer: The footer on my website is missing. You need to fix it.

Agent: May I ask if there was any work being done on your site which may have resulted in this happening?

The customer will either tell you they were working on their sites content, or they may say something along the lines of "No I didn't touch anything". Whether or not they're being truthful is neither here nor there, and is not a hill anybody should be dying on.

For the sake of this example, we'll assume the customer said "no, I didn't do anything."

So how do we approach such an issue?

We'll start to think to ourselves 'what actions can be taken which could result in the footer going missing? Thinking outside the box means considering all possible scenarios. Maybe the customer accidentally deleted the footer, or perhaps there was a coding error.

Many platforms will offer backups as part of their package, but there are services out there where the onus to make backups falls on the customer. In this example, there are no backups. We can't restore the site to the state it was in an hour ago.

By thinking creatively and taking ownership of the problem, we can often find innovative solutions that satisfy the customer and demonstrate want for delivering unrivalled support. 

The next few points will cover what not to do in a Customer Support setting. One may think these come naturally to everybody, but that's untrue. Some of these skills, such as patience, need to be practiced and don't come naturally to some people like they do with others. For this reason, it's important we highlight the unconscious things we may incorrectly do.

Being blunt is one of the unconscious things I've often seen while reviewing chat logs. Short, snappy answers like "No" without any further elaborating can be read as being rude.

We previously talked about how you would talk to your grandmother. Chances are you're unlikely to be rude or blunt when talking with your grandmother.

Keep that same frame of mind when talking with a customer. Be conscious of ones own unconscious actions.

Let's take a look an example, and think about how you would approach this situation yourself:

Customer: I need help with a refund for my recent purchase.

Agent: Okay. Can you provide me with the order number?

Customer: Sure, it's #123456789.

Agent: Thanks. Let me check the status of your refund.

[Agent checks the order]

Agent: It seems your request doesn't meet the refund criteria outlined in our policy.

Customer: What? But I'm eligible for a refund according to your policy.

Agent: Clearly, there's a misunderstanding. Let me clarify. You're not eligible because the item has been opened and used, which voids the refund.

Customer: This is ridiculous. I demand a refund.

Agent: I understand your frustration, but the policy stands. Is there anything else I can assist you with?

Customer: No, I'll just take my business elsewhere.

Agent: That's your choice. Have a nice day.

This interaction is not as far-fetched as it may seem. I've personally reviewed chat logs with very similar tone and language used by support agents.

Knowing what you know now - ask yourself 'what should that agent have done to ensure a more professional and nicer interaction?'.

Sometimes a little white-lie can be acceptable. 

"Yes, your website looks fantastic"

When should we absolutely not lie in Customer Support?

We should never over-promise or tell customers what they're looking for can be done if it actually can't. 

This one can often come down to poor training or poorer documentation available internally to agents. 

An agent should feel supported and have someone to go to with questions when they're unsure.

There should be structures in place to ensure an agent is doing their job correctly. 
Let's look at the following scenario to get a better understanding of what I'm talking about: 

The customer has a billing question. The agent has reached out to the billing team. The agents' shift ends in 30 minutes. There's a queue for answers in the billing channel.

Customer: I need to step away. Can I ask to email me with a response once the billing team respond to you? 

Agent: Absolutely. Once I hear from the billing team, I'll be in touch. 

The billing team replies with more context gathering questions because the agent hasn't asked the right questions. The agent has already gone offline as their shift has ended. 

Does this sound familiar? If you've worked in a call centre, you're probably too familiar with it. 

What's the problem? 

Well, there's a number of problems here: 

• The agent over-promised and wasn't upfront about the end of their shift and the delays in the billing channel. They should have initiated some sort of hand-over process where they can request a colleague reach out to the customer. Or they could have escalated the ticket to the billing team and informed the customer accordingly. 
• There's no accountability if this is a regular occurrence. The agents manager needs to be working to ensure this doesn't happen. 
• Is there structure in place across the organisation to help prevent tickets getting lost in the noise?
• Is the agent trained in how best to address such questions?
• Could the internal documentation be updated to ensure agents have the autonomy to resolve the question themselves? 

If a customer asks a question, do not just tell them what they want to hear to make life easy for you or the customer (briefly). Be up-front about limitations and offer to provide feedback on the customers' behalf. 

Customers are real people. I know the virtual conversation can help fuel that feeling of being disconnected from the customer. People appreciate honesty, even if in the moment they don't like the answer. 

'I know this answer isn't what you had hoped for. I can appreciate the frustration this can cause. I can see why such a feature would be great to have in situations like this. That's some great feedback. What I'm going to do is submit this feedback to our engineering team as a feature request in hopes that some day they add such a feature."