The customer is king. Treat them like that, and the chances of your success increase by a whopping 70%.
But providing a royalty experience to the customer can be difficult, especially when they just sent a scathing email, shouted on a call, or tweeted a snarky comment for the world to see.
That’s when the cracks begin to show in your customer services and, if not handled at the right time, can lead to lost clients and revenue.
Since managing clients, even the angry ones, is part and parcel of your job, it’s better to equip your team with the right skills.
In this article, we’ll see 10 best practices to level up your customer communication and response templates for some critical situations.
Top 10 tips for responding to customer complaints
Never rush your reverts
Let’s suppose, you’re running a software company based out of India and you outsource one of the best sales outsourcing companies in India to boost sales growth without being salesy on your behalf.
Now, as you have tech products, and generally they’ve quite complicated features, your outsourced sales reps should carefully listen to your customers over babbling.
Now, why is it important? You’ll miss essential details if you’re thinking about your reply rather than listening or reading the customer’s concern.
Understand the query carefully to provide the best solution and if you see yourself short of some detail, reach out to the customer with questions.
It’s better to ask relevant questions rather than aggravate the customer further with pointless answers.
Example:
Hello {name},
Thank you for reaching out to us with your concern.
Please be assured that our team has already started working on the issue.
However, to expedite the resolution, it would be great if you could share the following details with us.
{question 1}
{question 2}
We’ll need this information to ensure we have everything to identify the root cause of the problem and avoid its recurrence in the future.
Thanks for your cooperation.
Regards,
{signature}
Acknowledge with sympathy
You never know how much time it can take to debug the issue. Instead of keeping the customer waiting, email immediately acknowledging their complaint.
It assures the client that you understand their concern and are working for a faster resolution.
If the customer is irate, it’s because they are bearing the brunt of the ongoing issue. Validate their feelings and sympathize with them for pacification.
Example:
Hello {name}
Please accept my sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused due to this issue.
I understand that it must have affected your daily operations and revenue, which is completely unacceptable.
As soon as the issue was reported, our team started working on it as a top priority. You can expect the resolution in the next two hours.
Meanwhile, please reach out to me if you need any assistance or information.
Thanks for your patience.
Regards,
{signature}
Show your human side
Imagine a frustrated customer looking for help stuck on an automated call typing numbers just to talk to a human. It will definitely tempt the client to go on a public forum and roast your services.
That’s why it’s necessary to keep that personal touch in your interactions with clients and limit automation to the point where it streamlines your process and doesn’t confuse the customer.
Just because you’re talking to the customer through a digital screen doesn’t mean you have to act like a robot. Add personality and a casual-formal tone to your conversations.
Example:
Hello {name},
I hope you had a fantastic weekend!
As per our last conversation, let’s hop on a call today to discuss the concerns regarding the billing.
I had a call with my team over the weekend to find some promising solutions.
Let’s kick off the week by fixing this problem permanently.
Looking forward to our meeting.
Best,
{signature}
Avoid goof-ups with proofreading
Amidst the chaos of daily tasks, we often cut corners to save time. And when we see a stupid mistake in our email staring back at us, there isn’t a pit big enough to bury ourselves.
Don’t worry. It happens to the best of us. But you can limit such blunders with a simple step– read your email or message before sending it across.
Check for grammar and any spelling mistakes. There isn’t anything more unprofessional than an email full of silly mistakes.
Use free tools like Grammarly to edit your emails in real-time. Also, increase the email cancellation time in your email provider to the maximum to reverse an unintentional hit.
Don’t wait for the escalations to find a solution
The sooner you provide a solution to the customer, the better chances are there to repair the damage.
Whenever a client reports an issue or raises a complaint, go out of your way to resolve them. It might involve highlighting issues internally and following up strongly, but it’s essential to avoid any blow-up.
Remember that you are the voice of the customer in your organization. And you have to act like that.
Example:
Dear {name}
Greetings!
It is about the ongoing issue with the reports.
Our team is working on the issue, but they will need some more time to fix it. Also, this has been brought to the attention of the senior management.
Please be assured that I’m in constant touch with my team and will keep you posted with the latest developments.
Thanks for your understanding and patience.
Regards,
{signature}
Keep the client updated
Even if you’re working on the complaint raised by the customer, it doesn’t matter unless they know about it too.
Your goal is to keep the customer happy, but it defeats the purpose if they are left to guess what’s going on behind the scenes.
So, share what you know about the complaint as soon as you get to know about it.
It assures the client that you’re working on the complaint sincerely.
Example:
Hello {name}
Greetings!
Here’s a quick update on the ongoing issue.
The team has successfully identified the bug that caused the delay in report delivery. Now, they’re speeding up to resolve the issue so that you can receive all the missing reports.
Though I can’t share an exact time for resolution at the moment, I’ll keep you updated with the latest developments.
You’ll hear from me next in an hour with the new information.
Till then, feel free to reach out to me with any concerns.
Thanks & regards,
{signature}
Power the resolution with complete information
Simply declaring that the issue is resolved now isn’t enough.
Go the extra mile and empower your customer with complete visibility on what went wrong and what you have done to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
In short, accompany your final email with a root cause analysis (RCA) and the preventive measures for the future.
Example:
Dear {name},
I’m glad to inform you that the issue with the reports has been resolved.
I understand it caused a severe inconvenience to your business, and we are deeply regretful for the same.
The issue was observed at 11 AM today, and our team found that it was caused due to a heavy volume of report generation requests. I have attached a detailed document with root cause analysis below.
That said, we have implemented some drastic changes to our system to avoid this from happening again. Here’s what we have done–
– We have added extra resources for managing the report requests.
– A backup has been added for the primary system.
Please trust that this issue won’t affect your operations again.
If you have any doubt or need further information, kindly reach out to me.
Thanks for your patience.
Regards,
{signature}
Speak in customer’s language
Customers care about what they understand.
So, don’t be surprised if your customers aren’t impressed by your technical information or internal acronyms.
Talk to your customers in a language they relate to and understand.
While writing emails or talking over the phone, try using simple, short, and concise sentences. Avoid using jargon as it might confuse the client rather than give clarity.
Offer ‘aha’ moments
Apologizing might not always be enough.
In such cases, offer the customer a little extra to regain his trust and loyalty. You can deliver a partial refund, free trial, or add extra credits to their account to show your sincere regret.
Example:
Dear {name},
I hope you’re doing good.
Thanks for bringing the issue to our attention. We recognize the problem it created for you, and we apologize for it once again.
However, please accept 30-days of free access to our prime features as compensation for your loss. No strings attached, we promise!
Kindly consider it a token of appreciation for your constant patience and cooperation.
Please feel free to let us know how else we can help you.
Thanks,
{signature}
Ask for feedback after every resolution
Measure your efforts with the help of customer feedback.
After any issue is resolved, send a short feedback form to see how customers feel about your services.
It can help you with an honest picture and make necessary changes to your processes. Understand that customer management service is always a work in process, and you can find ways to improve it.
Example:
Hello {name},
How are you doing?
We are happy to inform you that the reported issue has been resolved.
We would love to hear your feedback about how we managed your concern.
Here’s a quick feedback link for you to share your honest thoughts.
We’ll use this to improve our services further and assist you better.
Thanks for your time!
Regards,
{signature}
5 don’ts while replying to the customer
- Don’t miss communicating deadlines- Share the timeline for the next update or resolution to the customer. It maintains transparency and accountability.
- Don’t overpromise- Never promise something you can’t deliver. It leads to disappointment and bad customer relationships.
- Don’t use the same response templates- It’s good to have several canned responses to save time without sounding boring. Add some personalization to your email to provide a positive experience.
- Don’t shy away from sharing information- Always share something extra with the customer to keep them excited. Share upcoming product updates that will be useful to them. It’ll increase the chances of retention.
- Don’t take things personally- A customer might blast you if they’re angry because you’re the point of contact for them. To manage the situation professionally and retain the customer, you’ll have to keep calm and understand that it’s not about you.
Let’s turn complaints into compliments
If you’re managing customers, chances are you’ll sooner or later come across an agitated customer reporting an issue. It’s essential to handle those situations with utmost empathy and agility.
But what’s even more important is to ensure that the complaints don’t become the norm of the day. Work on the customer feedback, implement robust systems, and bring additional help on board if required.
If your team is struggling with calls, emails, and messages, trying to answer every complaint, it’s time to set up better solutions.
Instead of losing crucial time on hiring and training, try outsourcing your service channel.