Tips to deal with irate customer
Many customer service agents are still working hard to master the art of handling customers. Delivering a satisfactory customer experience can help retain your customers and make your business thrive. However, it’s not as easy as it sounds. Especially with customers who start ranting the moment you pick up the call. If customers are left worried, and unsatisfied with your service, it can affect your business and future customer base altogether. According to studies, US companies lose over $62 billion annually due to poor customer support. Here is a guide for customer service representatives to understand the types of irate customers and how to handle them.
Types of irate customers
Every customer is right, but every customer is not easy. Identifying the type of customer, you are dealing with the foremost step to professionally handling them.
Here are the common types of customers that you may encounter:
1. Indefinite customers
When it comes to customers not being firm in their decision, the business should acknowledge and avoid pushing them into making a decision. Instead, help them by offering possible solutions for their needs or facts that could further support what they are thinking about.
2. Aggressive customers
Customers who are aggrieved after a bad customer experience with you will become angry and seek prioritisation of their needs. You should stay calm, avoid engaging in arguments with them, try to see if there is another solution or alternative for them, and offer other alternatives instead of focusing on arguing about the issue at hand.
3. Critical customers
Critical customers can be a major challenge for businesses, as it is hard to please critical customers. It is advised to remain patient and attentive in the face of such criticism and not take anything personally. You can use clarifying statements, weaving in new information or ideas about your product being criticised by these customers; this will help them feel like they are not alone.
Tips to deal with irate customers
In order to create a relationship with your customer, you have to approach each encounter uniquely. You need to change your mindset and look at every interaction as an opportunity for building rapport. If you play your cards right, it will be likely that the person will become a returning customer who won’t churn from their current service provider either. With tips and tactics below in mind, you are more than prepared for any situation that comes up.
1. Promote active listening
You should not be afraid of listening to angry customers. Giving them your full attention and understanding their problem is the first step towards resolving the issue or calming them down. Active listening helps you to understand better what went wrong, think about potential solutions that might work for both parties, and provide a solution that they will find feasible. In this way, active learning skills help in managing various situations as well as improving customer relations.
2. Be empathetic
“Put yourself in your customer’s shoes”
By showing empathy, you can understand the source of their frustration. You can identify with some of the instances they have encountered and be empathetic with them. When you use empathy correctly, it becomes possible for you to calm them down in a more meaningful way by acknowledging what is being said without actually physically nodding your head or saying anything aloud.
3. Never take things personally
At times, when customers get frustrated with a customer service representative, they will start speaking harsh words. It is best not to respond in such situations and just continue as if it didn’t happen – this way the situation does not escalate into something negative.
4. Acknowledge & take action quickly
Asking the right questions and responding promptly is something that is important to any customer support team. When someone reaches out to you with their issues, they want a quick response. If customers feel like they are being heard and valued by your company, it will have positive impacts on them-they’ll tell others about how satisfied they are.
Dealing with angry customers is the most challenging task of the business. If you are successful at turning their bad experience into a good one, then you are going to earn a customer for life.
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5.Create a community forum: Create a space where customers can come to ask questions, share knowledge, and discuss topics of common interest. Community forums help take the weight off your customer service team as users can provide their expertise and learn information from one another. This means fewer tickets coming in the queue for you guys! Consumers seem to like community forums as well. 88% of respondents said that these spaces had improved their experience with the company.