Inconveniences: A Short Overview of Complex Cases
Contemporary customer service recurrently faces two persistent issues: the trend to needlessly apologize and to show little empathy. It may sound a little bit off, but half of the customer service employees tend to believe they need to apologize multiple times when they talk to the client. At the end of the conversation, many cannot avoid saying, “We are sorry.”
Unfortunately, it does not work in an intended way. Instead of causing the client to empathize and be patient, the reaction becomes overly negative, with clear signs of irritation and impatience when a customer faces any complexity.
The problem lies within the misconception about the use of apology. Many customer service managers believe that constant apologies and expressions of regret will satisfy the client and keep the spirits high. Yet it is not the way it works; it is a sad stereotype.
Excuses
Having read the section above, you would probably think—what to do now? Should I just stop apologizing!?
You are partially right! If you apologize, do not apologize when unnecessary or when you do not know how to do it properly.
Avoid these phrases in your speech: “Take our apologies”, “Let us apologize for the inconvenience”, “Please forgive us for the complications we have caused”, “We are sorry for doing..." Try using these instead: “We are sorry that there has been an issue on our side. We are currently in the process of fixing it”, “We totally understand that this is our responsibility. This problem is already being solved. Sorry for the inconveniences.”, “Good evening, we beg you pardon; an unexpected complication has occurred on our side. Apologies for the inconveniences; we are working on fixing it.”
Schemes and typical phrasing do not work for a client, as long as they experience it every day on multiple occasions. The malfunction is not in the fact that a phrase sounds badly or appears silly, but in the emptiness—the customer understands that this phrase has nothing behind it. Being hypocritical in the eyes of the customer will not give any stimuli towards showing appealing emotions, as no honest and clear dialogue is expected. When you get rid of the cliches and start to delve deeper into the details specifically important for the client, everything shifts in a positive direction.
Apology must proclaim that there is a human being the client is talking to. Saying “sorry” highlights that a company has made a mistake and you explicitly recognize it and make an accent on the fact. After recognizing the mistake, you have already started the process of correction; you are moving in the right direction. Empathy that binds you with a customer shows that you are actively looking for a way to solve the problem, showing that you stand with the client. Therefore, using standard and stereotyped language here is unequivocally wrong. An apology must be personalized and unique for each customer (even if you have good templates, include personal details and important information to show your involvement).
In order to get an understanding of how to use it correctly, one should spend time training and approaching the customers in a new way. And a good customer support software helps to find this time
How to Practice
Ask the customer support managers to remove the stereotyped phrases from the templates and advise them to come up with several new phrases. 10-15 phrases will be enough for daily use. Try to divide the new phrases each operator comes up with into categories of the possible scenarios.
Observe how the clients react to this or that phrase used by the operator; try new options. Do not send a customer the same phrase again. Do not make the clients think you use the same templates for each customer; otherwise, the effects will be spoiled.
Expressing Regrets
While apologies are designed to demonstrate the recognition of your mistake, regrets appear to be the sub products of shame. Many businesses try to include regrets into a strategy of communication with the clients, but the results leave much to be desired. When a regret is expressed incorrectly, you appear weak and make the customer angrier instead of comforting them, as they need a solution to their issue, not the pain of shame.
It is hard to formulate correct regrets since they appear hard to sound natural—the customer support manager can be the only person capable of that. Unprepared employees make regrets sound uncomfortable, and the client loses patience before accepting the sincere regrets from your company.
Here is a rule of thumb you can follow: do not express regrets and do not write them.
Try to stay away from these phrases: “We are so sorry”, “Unfortunately”, “Sorry for the..." Try to be creative and address regrets with dignity. If you are not a good writer, you can simply avoid these phrases, but if you have the talent, try something like: “Dear Jack, I wish I could be of help, but these circumstances are beyond my control. If I could do anything, I surely would. I have facilitated the communication with all the responsible agents; please tell me if you need something else.”
How to Practice
Scan through your templates thoroughly; be ready to exclude regrets without any doubts. Tell the customer support managers they need to stop expressing regrets and provide a clear explanation for that.
Be mindful of how you argue that the employee needs to stop using regrets. Careless and simple explanations will not work. Instead, press the issue of the customer not understanding the regrets, the situation getting out of control, and the overall spoiled impression about communication. The team should agree with you at some point.
If the situation turns out in the scenario that one cannot deal without regrets or they could not be avoided in any circumstances, try changing the templates. Identifying common traits that are in the scripts will help to guide the employees through a creative way to express regrets and come up with new phrases for such occasions. Always remember one thing: a customer’s issue is not solved when you tell your sincere regrets.
NB: Always provide a solid base for your regrets once you express them. Never intend to say “sorry” when something you cannot control has happened. Play evenly; do not lower your business to the losing side, as you probably will not get out of this trap. Avoid beginning the dialogue with the expression of regret. Instead, provide the client with information and speculate on something interesting and thematic in the bottom line. One scenario where you can apologize is when a customer is ready to accept your excuses and has already figured out the situation, having shown empathy towards your business and your employees.
Problems and Inconveniences
Some trigger words can turn a conversation with a client into a disaster. The most common ones are any variation of “inconvenience” and "problem.”
Avoid saying this to your clients at all costs: “You have the following problem...”, “This inconvenience you have experienced...”, “We have already started the inquiry into the problem." When you tell this to your client, you generalize and widen the scope, taking things out of context. Every conversation is better off with synonyms or with total substitutions. Try saying “omission”, “malfunctioning" or “error” instead of “problem”. “Defect” is also an option, but a more tricky one, as your evaluation of the problem can take the client out of control. Instead of the word "inconvenience,” try to use a specific phrase that is context-based. For example, if the client has been waiting for the delivery all day, try saying, “Your delivery is delayed; we apologize for that.”
Yet, “inconvenience” can be accepted in a situation when a client experiences discomfort. It is mainly about physical feeling; therefore, “inconvenience” should always be applied to a particular situation. Some examples of such situations include:
A client rushing to the store to pick up the delivery (because the package came late);
A mobile app is malfunctioning, and the client needs to use the company’s website.
Keep in mind that situations like “the website could not be reached for five-ten days" and “the customer got the delivery (for example, food and drinks) that have expired" are mistakes and should be treated as such.
How to Practice
The tip that always works is to constantly revise the templates you have and draft new ones when needed. Each time you apply “inconvenience” in your speech, explain the particular reason behind it.
Promises and Alternatives
Showing empathy, expressing apology and regret, and focusing on the customer is only the addition; the main ingredient is the solution to the problem the customer has. Always remember these things:
When you apologize, give concise timelines, dates, recognition, and alternatives.
Besides expressing an excuse, include this in your message:
- Try to work out a temporary solution with the customer and deliver it timely to reduce waiting stress and lower impatience (if some features of your products lag behind, technical issues occur, etc.)
- When a company has made a mistake, show the recognition, acceptance, and willingness to correct it. When you offer a fix without accepting the problem and showing that you have understood the mistake, the customer starts doubting if he can trust you. In order to avoid it, do not fear to go into details on the issue—show all the aspects of the problem and make an emphasis on how you have understood the error and fixed it.
- Resolving the problem requires time, and you should warn the client when and how you will be dealing with their issue. If you have already set the deadline, stick to it and avoid failing to get the job done on time. You should allow some flexibility to dive in in case something goes wrong; therefore, do not overestimate your abilities. After you have set the deadline, you can stay focused on the issue and keep working on the solution—nothing will distract you.
Dealing with Compensation
Compensation is another story—you have to understand in what particular moment to present when to offer compensation and how to do it. Below you can find an overview of the steps that need to be taken when assessing the field of "compensation.”
Compensation is subjective and dependent on the current resources and capabilities. The business should not be scrooge, nor should it be too generous.
- Always see some value in compensation; do not underestimate it. A perfect moment to offer compensation when the customer has already experienced certain losses and has made his mind to close the deal. At this moment, a well-timed compensation will help to restore customer’s loyalty. Do not make the compensation too generous, otherwise the clients will think they can always await it, and do not go too strict on them.
- Choose the value precisely. Larger compensation needs to be offered for more expensive products, and vice versa. Always find this balance between the volume of the purchase and compensation.
3) Get your team actively involved in the process of designing compensation, yet do not make it a part of their motivation. If the customer support managers see that compensation can negatively affect their performance, they will simply stop offering it, distorting the image of your business. Never align to the situations where compensation levels off with the team's performance cuts (or bonus reductions); this way, the value of compensation is distorted.
4) Compensation does not necessarily have to be about money or something material. Some perks for the client, additional personal support, and the signs of empathy and care for the problem can function as compensation.
5) In a moment you offer compensation, the customer should not be angry; therefore, do it before this emotional breakdown. It requires experience to understand the right moment in time when to offer compensation, but once you are constantly in the flow, you will learn how to feel it. One vivid example includes the drafting of the email. When you draft an email for the customer and he has already been waiting, offer compensation along with the second email. Once you have given this sort of "gift," the customer will feel obliged to have patience and show kindness since he has been treated the same way. When you decide to offer compensation in the aftermath of the "explosion," you will necessarily struggle to make the right impression and succeed in your compensation practice.
What to do if the customer starts asking for a discount after having an offer for compensation? Read what we think about it—What to do when the customer asks for a discount.
