Why etiquette matters in customer support and how to get it right
Freshworks Academy has a community of pretty awesome people from multiple spheres of work. This shows in the varied points of view our members bring to light in discussions. We have a fortnightly discussion called a Coffee Chat about a predefined topic. This one deals with email and phone etiquette while providing customer support.
Customer support is a function where gracefulness and courtesy are as important as solving a problem. We asked our community members how they tackle etiquette when it comes to their day-to-day interactions with their customers, especially when they use the phone or email. Here’s what they had to say:
How do you maintain etiquette when you support global customers?
It can be hard enough to effectively talk to customers when you live in the same country and belong to a similar background. Communicating across borders and cultures however can often lead to awkward, if not offensive moments if done incorrectly. The potential to get things wrong is significantly higher. We asked the members of our community what they do when they try to support global customers, and here’s what they suggested:
- Learn about your customer’s culture before you converse with them to avoid gaffes.
- You can use a tool like https://pronouncenames.com/ to ensure you’re getting the name of your client right.
- Avoid jargon or idioms which may confuse people from another culture or language.
- Introduce yourself on the call so the customer also mentions their name.
How do you test for support etiquette while hiring?
Quite often, good support depends on finding the right candidate. Before hiring, you need to find candidates who are good at communication, who are empathetic, and patient. For a complete guide on how you can hire amazing customer support employees, you can refer to this article. Here are a few tips to judge how good a prospective candidate is:
- For emails: Give candidates writing tests with components such as sample scenarios and the candidate’s responses. Also test them for language and communication style.
- For the phone: You can present role plays and conduct in-person interviews to gauge the candidate’s skills.
How do you train your team on support etiquette? How different is your training for email and phone support?
Your employees have to be ready to handle tricky situations without getting flustered. You also need to make sure they have enough knowledge of the kind of issues your team usually faces so they can be ready to gracefully handle the problem. Below are some tips you might find useful while you structure your employee training:
- For email support training: You can show your hires past cases, tickets, and email replies to help them with handling similar tickets in the future. You can also focus on how they write sample replies and judge their skill with vocabulary, delivery, empathy, and clarity.
- For phone support training: You should try and have a mentor listen in during conversations to ensure that your hire can ask for help in a tight spot and get feedback on their performance later. They will also know which areas need improvement.
In general, train your team to show empathy, teach them to listen carefully without interrupting, and focus on providing a solution.
What are your support etiquette pet peeves?
While it might be nice to know what you’re doing right, knowing what not to do is just as important. We asked our community members to talk about their least favorite happenings while they communicate with customer support. The cases they mentioned were varied. One of them spoke about how much they hate needless back and forth conversations while another mentioned their irritation at being put on hold for long periods of time while on the phone, or being transferred back and forth between people.
Here are some things that your customers might not really appreciate.
In emails:
- While being friendly is fine, don’t over do it. Often, when a customer has a pressing issue, they might not appreciate emojis or casual conversation. Understand your customer.
- Don’t use modals like might, could, and maybe, as these make you look indecisive. Make a commitment and stick to it.
- Avoid responses which are automated but passed off as human – often it comes across as impersonal.
On the phone:
- While on a call, don’t put your customer on hold unless you have to, and even then, limit the duration.
- Try to solve their problem yourself – don’t transfer their call to another person unless you have to, and if you absolutely have to transfer the call, tell them why the other person is better qualified to solve their problem.
- Avoid dead air on a call.
- Don’t use filler noises like “um.” Instead, you can say “let me think about this for a moment.”
- Get your customer’s name right and be patient with them.
What are some scenarios in which you think it’s okay to break etiquette?
Sometimes, following etiquette might restrict customer support professionals from providing customers with a great experience, and it might be better to instead relax the formality a little. This is often a difficult call to make, as our community members stressed upon, but one which can have valuable rewards.
- Etiquette, at the end of the day, exists to avoid making customers feel offended or angry. If you are sure that being more casual can make them feel good about your customer service, go for it, but only if that level of trust and rapport exists.
- There is a fine line between being casual and appearing to be careless about your customer’s concerns. Ensure your primary focus is solving your customer’s request.
- Read the customer and how they might react to you before you engage with them – some prefer casual conversations while others prefer formality. For instance, if your customer makes a joke, you can make one in reply. Always be polite and clear though.
Email and phone conversations make up a significant portion of customer support conversations even today. So, it’s important to be informative, friendly, and unerringly polite to your customers to provide them with a phenomenal service experience. Remember, good customer support can keep your existing customers happy and even help you to acquire more, while bad experiences can haunt your company for a long long time.
Want to be a part of awesome discussions like this? Join the Freshworks Academy today – you’ll gain access to our community as well, plus quality courses and content- for free! So, join up today!
