Top 15 Customer Support Tips
Customer support is a key factor in your brand’s success. It affects every step of your customer’s journey.
Will they choose your product in the first place? Are they going to be your loyal client for many years? Will you be able to stop them from churning when they are not satisfied with something at some point? Will they recommend your product to their friends? If your answer to these questions is Yes, effective customer support is a must-have.
High-quality customer support is one of Rasayel’s core values. In this article, we will share the tips that we developed over time that will help you to provide every customer with the best support possible.
1. Practice clear communication
Most likely, your customers don’t know your product as well as you do. The more you talk to your customers, the more ways you’ll hear of describing your product. For this reason, don’t use vocabulary that is too technical. Be simple and concise, and use more ‘human’ language. Try different ways of explaining things. For example, we often use screenshots and GIFs to illustrate our words.
2. Practice active listening
The ability to truly listen to customers is crucial. Always rephrase customers’ questions to make sure you’re on the same page with them. It will help to avoid misunderstandings, prevent you from making bad assumptions, and giving incorrect advice.
3. Reassure your customer
Sometimes, issues with your product or service can be very upsetting to your customers. In a situation like this, it’s important to let clients know that you’ll do your best to help. Even if you can’t solve the problem right away, sincere empathy and reassurance that a problem is indeed handled are vital.
Let them know that you feel their pain. You can use empathetic phrases like “I understand your frustration”, or “I know it’s very upsetting”. It will show that you care and want to solve the problem as much as they do.
4. Use an omnichannel platform
To be able to offer instant support, keep all of your social and messaging channels in one inbox. Customers tend to trust your business more if they can contact you via their channel of choice. To help you keep your WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and other channels in one simple, fast inbox, we built Rasayel.
5. Be personal
When your customer contacts you, try to gather as much context as possible right away. What company are they from? Do you have a history of conversations with this particular customer or with their teammates? Did they reach out with this particular query in the past? What plan are they subscribed to? Having these details ready at all times will save you and your customers a lot of time.
If you already know their background, resolving their issues would be much easier. It will also help your customer feel like they have a friend in the business.
6. Adjust your tone
Knowing your customers’ working background is important, but there are ways to being even more personal. Understanding and adjusting to customers’ personalities, patience level, or current mood will help you to keep customer interactions positive.
Keeping a friendly tone is a must, but there are more ways to personalize your relationships. You can try to adjust your tone to match your customer’s mood. For example, if they are happy and playful, you can share funny GIFs.
An example from my own experience: I love emojis, but I try not to use them as much when my customer doesn’t.
7. Know when to say no
Some customer requests cannot be fulfilled, and that’s okay. Empty promises will hurt your business more than an evaluated “no”. It’s important to give your customer an explanation, and share the reasons behind your answer. If it’s a product or business decision, communicate that. This leads us to the next tip.
8. Get to the root cause of a customer query
What are they trying to achieve? Why exactly? Do you have a solution or a workaround?
Always dig deeper by trying to understand their actual goal. You might have workarounds that are acceptable for this customer, and if there’s no current solution that you can offer, being better informed of your customers’ needs will help you a lot with defining your future roadmap.
9. Stay up to date about your product/service
To provide customers with the best support possible, you need to know your product thoroughly. Be abreast of new features, and of removed ones. Ideally, you need to understand the logic behind all product or service decisions. It will help a lot with explaining new features or offerings to customers.
10. Don’t hesitate to admit that you don’t know something
Yes, your product knowledge should be at its best, but hey, nobody knows everything. Saying “I don’t know” is totally acceptable. However, you should always do your research. You can tell customers that you’ll double-check with your team, or just ask for some time to find the right answer for them. Most customers will appreciate your honesty.
11. Always close conversations correctly
Before closing a conversation, make sure that your customer is satisfied and doesn’t have any further questions. This is important because they came to you for help, and only they can decide if the help was provided. Show that you’re available until their issues are solved.
Closing conversations as quickly as possible shouldn’t be your main goal. Take time to listen and understand your customers’ needs and requests.
12. Admit your mistakes
We’re all human and mistakes are inevitable. Be straightforward about your oversights. It will build trust and demonstrate that you’re on top of things.
13. Always follow up
From feature requests to bug reports, make sure your customers are up to date about their query status. If you don’t have a solution after a while, just let them know you need more time. It will show that their issue has not been forgotten.
14. Pay attention to details
Always read what your customers are saying with care. They may not be saying some things directly, but are giving you hints about their experience not being ideal. If many customers can’t find a feature you have or get lost on the settings page - perhaps your app or website is not clear enough. Be attentive to pick up on what customers are actually telling you and interpret their words correctly. It will help you a great deal to improve both your product and your relationships with customers.
15. Knowledge base for self-serve support
Craft a help center for your customers to educate themselves. Many people prefer to look for answers rather than ask someone, as long as those answers can be found with ease. Do your best to provide your customers with this option. You can take a look at the Rasayel Help Center for inspiration 😉
