13 tips how to improve your customer support

Summary

This educational video, produced by the Provide Support Live Chat Team, draws on their extensive experience in customer service solutions to deliver 13 actionable tips for enhancing live chat support. Covering crucial elements like greeting, handling multiple customers, and addressing mistakes, the video offers practical examples to guide live chat operators. It emphasizes a thoughtful, professional approach to interactions, suggesting ways to acknowledge issues, transfer calls, and wrap up interactions positively.

Highlights

• Use balanced greetings to set a positive tone for the chat. 🎤
• Clarify customer questions to ensure clear communication. 💬
• Admit when you don't know something and take action to find answers. 🤷
• Transfer chats only when absolutely necessary and explain the reason. 👥
• Dealing with complaints requires empathy and a commitment to resolving issues. 😇

Key Takeaways

• Your greeting sets the tone for the chat. Be professional yet friendly! 👋
• Actively listen and clarify questions to minimize confusion. 🔍
• When you don’t know, offer to find out – honesty with action wins trust! 🤔
• If needed, transfer calls wisely and explain why to the customer. 🔄
• Handle angry customers by acknowledging their feelings and committing to solutions. 😅

Overview

The Provide Support Live Chat Team has compiled its extensive expertise into a helpful video, offering 13 tips dedicated to refining customer support through live chat. This comprehensive guide begins with the importance of a balanced greeting, setting the tone for all subsequent interactions. A friendly yet professional opening ensures customers feel valued from the outset.

One of the key discussions involves managing misunderstandings and ensuring clarity throughout conversations. By actively listening and verifying information, support agents can reduce confusion and ensure they meet customer needs more efficiently. The video illustrates various ways to phrase clarifications without seeming invasive or indifferent.

Additionally, the video addresses common challenges such as handling multiple chats and dealing with irate customers. By applying empathy and promising resolutions, agents can maintain positivity and professionalism under pressure. The guide assures viewers that even tackling awkward scenarios, like admitting faults or saying no, can be managed gracefully with the right strategies.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Provide Support This chapter introduces the 'Provide Support' team, a company specializing in customer service solutions since 2003. They share insights and strategies for effective online communication in customer service, particularly for live chat operators. The chapter emphasizes the importance of personal touch in customer interactions and provides examples of responses to enhance service quality.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Guidelines for Live Chat Conversations The chapter titled 'Guidelines for Live Chat Conversations' provides comprehensive guidance for customer service agents on effectively managing live chat interactions. Key areas covered include initiating a chat with a customer, strategies for asking for more information or ensuring clarity on the customer's issue, and appropriate ways to admit when you don't know the answer. The text also instructs on the processes for transferring chats, placing customers on hold, acknowledging mistakes, and declining requests. Additionally, it addresses following up with customers, managing complaints and irate customers, and fulfilling promises made during the chat.
• 01:00 - 02:00: Starting a Chat The chapter explores the fundamentals of starting a chat in customer service, emphasizing the importance of a proper greeting. It addresses challenges like handling multiple clients at once, managing incorrect chat contacts, and effectively concluding a chat. Proper greetings, while basic, are crucial for setting a positive tone, and the chapter warns against greetings that are either too brief and informal or excessively verbose.
• 02:30 - 03:30: Asking for More Information or Verifying Understanding The chapter emphasizes the importance of balancing professionalism and friendliness in customer interactions. It advises against being too formal, as this can come across as disrespectful and unconcerned. Instead, greetings should be both professional and personal. For example, using a greeting like 'Hello John, thank you for calling provide support, how may I help you?' or a more personal one like 'Hello John, how are you doing?' These types of greetings can have a positive impact as many customers may be pleasantly surprised by a friendly and personal approach.
• 03:30 - 04:30: How to Say 'I Don't Know' In the chapter titled 'How to Say I Don't Know', the focus is on communication strategies for customer support representatives. It emphasizes initiating conversations with customers in a manner that sets a friendly tone while maintaining professionalism. The chapter suggests that starting with a query about the customer's well-being can make interactions feel less formal and more personalized, helping to develop a rapport. The goal is to create a genuine connection by showing empathy, either by expressing happiness for the customer's well-being or offering sympathy and assistance if the customer is not doing well. This approach helps in facilitating a more effective dialogue.
• 04:30 - 05:30: How to Transfer The chapter titled 'How to Transfer' provides guidance on initiating a chat with a customer who presents a problem. It suggests starting with a greeting and expressing willingness to help. If the customer's name is not given, the representative should ask for it to show attentiveness. Additionally, it emphasizes spelling the name correctly and seeking more information for better understanding of the situation.
• 05:30 - 06:30: How to Put on Hold The chapter "How to Put on Hold" emphasizes the importance of understanding the customer's issue before attempting to address it. It suggests ways to politely ask for clarification, ensuring clear communication prior to offering instructions or solutions.
• 06:30 - 07:30: How to Admit Fault This chapter focuses on the importance of admitting a lack of knowledge in customer service settings. Instead of directly saying 'I don't know,' the chapter suggests using more polite and constructive phrases. Suggested responses include expressing the need to find out more information, apologizing for not having the information readily available, and asking the customer for a moment to verify the details. The emphasis is on maintaining a professional and helpful tone while acknowledging uncertainty.
• 07:30 - 09:00: How to Say No The chapter focuses on effective ways to decline requests or offers in a professional setting. It highlights the importance of clarity and politeness when saying no. Examples include promising to follow up after checking with other departments, acknowledging the limitations of one's expertise, and offering alternatives like connecting the person with someone who can assist better. It stresses minimizing the need for transfers, as customers generally dislike being transferred too much.
• 09:00 - 10:00: How to Follow Up The chapter titled 'How to Follow Up' emphasizes the importance of proactive customer service. It advises attempting to resolve issues independently before transferring calls to different departments. It is crucial to inform customers about the reason and the specific person they are being transferred to, using examples like 'I'm going to connect you with Steve from the shipping department.' When transferring, you should also notify the recipient by providing them with the customer's name and context of their query.
• 10:00 - 11:30: Handling Complaints and Angry Customers The chapter discusses strategies for handling complaints and angry customers, primarily focusing on the use of hold during a call. It emphasizes the importance of requesting the customer's permission to put them on hold while checking issues, and the necessity of thanking them both before and after the hold.
• 11:30 - 12:30: How to Deliver on a Promise The chapter 'How to Deliver on a Promise' provides guidance on how to handle customer interactions effectively. It emphasizes the importance of offering customers the option to receive follow-up communication, such as a call or email, instead of waiting on hold if an issue requires additional time to resolve. The chapter also highlights the importance of communicating transparently with customers, especially when needing to run tests or gather additional information to address their issues.
• 12:30 - 14:30: Handling Several Clients Simultaneously The chapter titled "Handling Several Clients Simultaneously" provides guidance on managing multiple customers at the same time. Key aspects include acknowledging and apologizing for any inconvenience caused by absence, directly addressing mistakes whether personal or by the team, and providing solutions to problems. Clear communication and accountability are emphasized as vital to maintaining customer satisfaction.
• 14:30 - 17:00: Treating Wrong Chat Contacts In the chapter titled "Treating Wrong Chat Contacts," the discussion centers around addressing mistakes made in communication, particularly when contacting the wrong person via chat or email. An example provided involves apologizing for sending an invoice to an incorrect email address and subsequently rectifying the mistake by resending it to the correct recipient and compensating for the oversight by extending a subscription period. The chapter also covers effective communication strategies such as the 'compliment sandwich' approach, which is recommended for delivering negative responses politely and effectively.
• 17:00 - 21:00: Wrapping Up the Call The chapter 'Wrapping Up the Call' discusses the technique of using positive statements to cushion negative information during customer interactions. This approach involves making two positive statements around a negative one to ease the impact on the customer. An example provided is when a customer requests to speak to a team member who is unavailable. Instead of simply stating the unavailability, you express empathy and offer assistance in another way, thereby mitigating the disappointment caused by the unavailability.
• 21:00 - 22:30: Conclusion and Final Tips This chapter focuses on strategies for effective communication in customer service scenarios, particularly when handling refusal or limitation situations without causing customer dissatisfaction. Practical examples are provided to illustrate how apologies and offers of alternative solutions can be strategically used to maintain a positive relationship with customers. The importance of offering additional help and maintaining a polite, helpful attitude is emphasized as a way to navigate through potentially negative interactions.

13 tips how to improve your customer support Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 [Music] customer service cheat sheet for live chat operators with examples of responses this video is made by provide support live chat team our company has been successfully operating in the market in the field of customer service solutions since 2003 and we've gained tons of knowledge about customer relations we want to share our knowledge with you and bring a personal touch to online communication here are some
• 00:30 - 01:00 guidelines on how a customer service agent can best handle the major key points in a live chat conversation the topics are how to start a chat how to ask for more information or verify your understanding of the question or problem how to say I don't know how to transfer how to put on hold how to admit fault how to say no how to follow up how to handle complaints and angry customers how to deliver on a promise
• 01:00 - 01:30 how to handle several clients simultaneously how to treat those who contacted the wrong chat how to wrap up the call how to start the chat use a proper greeting it may sound very basic but actually not everyone does it right greeting is important as it sets the tone for the whole conversation quite often the service agents fall into one of the two extremes either their greeting is too short and informal or too long and
• 01:30 - 02:00 formal both of which betray the lack of respect and concern for the customer greeting should be professional while remaining friendly and personal at the same time a good example would be hello John thank you for calling provide support how may I help you or you can start with a shorter but more personal greeting hello John how are you doing we like this one as it works really well many customers are actually surprised by this question in a
• 02:00 - 02:30 good way probably because support elsewhere rarely asks them this question it instantly sets the rep on friendly terms with the customer and the conversation becomes less formal and template-based while keeping a business tone after the customer confirms his well being you can move on with perfect I'm really glad to hear that how may I help you today or you can express your sympathy if the customer is not doing well I'm really sorry to hear that is there anything I can do to help you
• 02:30 - 03:00 if the customer starts the chat with a description of his problem you can respond in the following way hello Mary I understand the problem and will be happy to help you let's see what I can do if the customer did not provide his name you can ask for it it will show your concern and attention hello may I have your name please once you have the name make sure to spell it correctly how to ask for more information or verify your understanding of the question or problem
• 03:00 - 03:30 to avoid any confusion and a long chat make sure you understand the customers issue before giving your instructions or offering solutions there are many ways you can ask for clarification politely let me check if I have this right let me see if I have this correct you want me to or you would like for me to if I understand you correctly tell me more about so you are saying that correct
• 03:30 - 04:00 this is what I understand you are telling me how to say I don't know if you don't know the answer to the customers questions be frank about it however avoid using the too straightforward I don't know here's how you can play it out nice that is a good question let me find out for you I'm not sure but let me find out for you I'm sorry I don't have the information on that may I put you on hold for a few minutes I will clarify this with our
• 04:00 - 04:30 manager I'm sorry I don't have the information on that may I have your email or phone number I will find this out with our accounting department and get back to you shortly I'm sorry this question would be out of my expertise but Daniel from the tech support department will be able to help you would you like me to connect you with him to transfer it is no secret that most customers do not enjoy being transferred so if you have to transfer do it only
• 04:30 - 05:00 when it's absolutely necessary otherwise try to find out the information for yourself before transferring inform the customer why and to whom their call is being transferred Jerry I am gonna connect you with Steve from the shipping department he will be able to help you with this problem jerry let me transfer you to the marketing department steve will be able to answer your question it is also important to notify the person to whom you are transferring the chat give them the customer's name and explain the nature of their question or
• 05:00 - 05:30 problem to put on hold if you need some time to investigate the problem ask the customers permission to put them on hold would you mind holding on for a few minutes while I'm checking this with our administrator may I put your call on hold while I'm checking your odor can I put you on hold for a moment on receiving their consent make sure to thank the customer before leaving the chat when you are back thank them again for waiting thank you for waiting or
• 05:30 - 06:00 thank you for holding I have the details of your latest payment let me send it over to you if you feel resolution of their problem is going to take a longer time ask the customer whether they would like you to call or email them back rather than waiting on hold gen-i we'll need to put you on hold for a few minutes to run a few tests and see if i can reproduce the problem would that be okay with you or would you prefer I call or email you back with the details if you have been away for too long and
• 06:00 - 06:30 the customer has been inquiring about your absence make sure to apologize to them I'm sorry to keep you waiting I have managed to reproduce the problem here's what needs to be done to fix it how to admit fault be direct and clear about the fact that you made a mistake if it is your personal mistake say that Rob I'm sorry I made a mistake and gave you the wrong price for this item the correct price is if it is someone else's mistake say that it was our mistake attributing it to the
• 06:30 - 07:00 company rather than to the individual person who is not present in the chat room with you John I'm sorry we made a mistake and sent the invoice to the wrong email address which is why you did not receive it we are going to resend it now to the correct address and add a few more days to your subscription to make up for our error how to say no saying a blank note to the customer may appear quite rude the best approach is to use the compliment sandwich a great tactic which John Riedel beautifully describes
• 07:00 - 07:30 in his article simple tips on having the hard conversation this tactic is basically about adding two positive statements on either side of a bad one for example if the customer is asking to be connected with a team member who is not available for a chat you would usually say I'm sorry Joan is not available right now may I help you with something first you express empathy that the customers desire cannot be fulfilled at the moment I'm sorry then you make the actual negative statement Joan is not
• 07:30 - 08:00 available after that you complete your response with something positive an offer of help may I help you with something you could extend this to deal with more complicated situations here are a few more examples I'm sorry we cannot lower the price for this item any further but we have a similar product which is priced cheaper because it doesn't have the built in face recognition would you be interested to take a look at it I'm sorry we don't have this feature at
• 08:00 - 08:30 the moment we do intend to add it to our service and we can notify you when it has been done would you like to receive an email update how to follow up if you promise the customer to call or email them back it is desirable that you do that within a 24 hour time frame even if you don't have an answer to their question yet Rob I just wanted to let you know that we are still investigating the problem we don't have a solution yet I will email you as soon as we have found the
• 08:30 - 09:00 bug jerry we haven't been able to complete the transition of your account yet due to a small database issue on our server we are fixing this now and hope to have everything ready for you by tomorrow we will keep you posted if you missed a chat request then have the customers contact information your client will no doubt appreciate it if you follow up with them right away hello Tom I'm sorry we have missed your chat is there anything we can help you with how to handle complaints and angry
• 09:00 - 09:30 customers start by showing sincere sympathy and understanding acknowledge the customer's feelings I am really sorry this has happened let me see if I can find a solution to it I'm really sorry about that tell me what happened I'm sorry you're having this problem let's see if there's anything we can do to help the situation express your willingness to help commit til you find a solution or compromise to deal with the issue I'm sorry you are not happy with our
• 09:30 - 10:00 product or with your purchase let's see what we can do to make things right I'm sorry you didn't receive your purchase on time let me find out what I can do to make it up to you I'm sorry this has happened I understand your frustration and I will do my best to help you how to deliver on a promise sometimes it happens that a customer has been promised something which is impossible to accomplish either through lack of knowledge or misinformation instead of direct denial we could not have promised
• 10:00 - 10:30 anything like that reassure the customer that you are going to verify that which he had been promised and offer him apologies if there was a mistake let me put you on hold for just a few moments and verify this information if I understand you correctly you were promised it appears there's been a mistake let's figure out how we can resolve this how to handle several clients simultaneously when you have to deal with several
• 10:30 - 11:00 clients at the same time do not give the impression that you are rushed if it is necessary take the extra time for yourself by telling the customer that you are going to check the information for him and asking him to hold for a few minutes the customer is not concerned with slower responses or minor delays they are concerned with lack of your attention it is okay to make them wait if you first ask their permission for it jerry let me review your transaction history please bear with me for a few
• 11:00 - 11:30 more minutes if your responses are delayed and the customer inquires about it never tell them you were dealing with other clients the customer should always have the impression that he is the only one you are dealing with at that moment if there are delays attribute them to your checking up the information for the client I'm sorry for the delay on my part I am pulling up your account details please allow me another minute I'll be back with you right away
• 11:30 - 12:00 how to treat those who contacted the wrong chat it is important to treat all colors with respect even if they are not your clients or potential customers most people who are contacting you by Chad have some sort of online presence and if you are rude with them or reluctant to give them a clear answer they can leave false negative comments about your company in online forums or on social media to avoid such situations make sure to come up with a friendly response to such callers
• 12:00 - 12:30 I'm sorry you've reached the wrong company this is we are not affiliated with if they apologized for having reached the wrong chat reassure them everything is okay and in the chat no problem thank you for your call have a good day if they insist that you should still help them don't let yourself be trapped into an endless chat give the user a reason why you cannot help them and close the chat room I'm sorry we would not be the right
• 12:30 - 13:00 company to help you with your question we don't deal in we appreciate your contact have a good day how to wrap up the call ask if you can be any further assistance if any further action is to be taken clarify what was agreed upon Mary is there anything else I might help you with today John is there anything else I can do for you has agreed I will post the note to our billing department regarding your payment and we will follow up with you
• 13:00 - 13:30 on that by tomorrow thank the customer for calling your chat line invite them to chat again and the conversation with a definite goodbye or any other expression which leaves no doubt that the conversation has ended if any other questions arise please feel free to contact us at any time thanks so much for calling goodbye thank you for chatting with us today have a nice day goodbye who should hang up first preferably let
• 13:30 - 14:00 the person calling hang up first if they forget to close the chat room right away keep half a minute pause after your last message and then close the chat room so there you go we hope you find these recommendations useful just a quick final tip you can turn some of these phrases into canned responses in your live chat client and save time to yourself and your operators typing this over thanks for watching we hope this video was helpful if you want to read
• 14:00 - 14:30 more useful tips please visit our blog on provide support com