Creating excellent client experiences is something that more and more businesses aspire for. It’s important to delight customers and put them first, but it’s not always feasible.
Especially in the world of , customer expectations are high. No matter how hard you try to keep your customers happy, things go wrong from time to time. Customer expectations are so high, especially in the era of eCommerce. Things go wrong from time to time, no matter how hard you try to keep your clients pleased. Products break in transit, deliveries are delayed, and customers complain.
But the good thing is that complaints aren’t always a terrible thing, and they may often lead to great outcomes if handled correctly with excellent customer service.
Recognize the Gravity of Complaint
Dealing with an angry customer is a great opportunity to learn and transform a pessimistic scenario into an optimistic customer experience. How you handle angry customers can make or break the customer’s impression of your brand.
Rather than being afraid of an unhappy customer, use the circumstance to improve your product or service and strengthen your relationship with them.
According to the research of Esteban Kolsky, the founder of customer strategy consulting company – ThinkJar, “91 percent of unsatisfied non-complaining consumers simply churn”. To put it in other words, the majority of customers do not express their dissatisfaction to firms.
For this reason, we should view every complaint as a gift. Complaints contain valuable information that can help customer care teams to improve and provide value to a number of other angry but silent consumers.
Let’s explore the ten tips on how to handle angry customers.
1. Listen
Instead of passive listening, practice active listening. Active listening implies paying close attention to everything the consumer says so you can comprehend why they’re upset. Passive listening involves just taking in a portion of the message and not paying close attention to the emotions conveyed.
“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.”
Steve Covey, author of ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’.
Be instant and provide your whole attention to the customer. Before you react, read the customer’s question again. Concentrate on the words they’re saying rather than the fury they’re expressing.
To demonstrate that you’re paying attention, paraphrase the customer’s complaint, ask clarifying questions, and don’t interrupt them. This is frequently the most effective technique to deal with angry clients.
When it comes to changing an angry customer into a happy one, the first step is to listen. It is hard to turn the situation around without listening.
2. Apologize
Apologize for the difficulty they’re experiencing. Acknowledging the error and expressing your regret to the customer will create a long-lasting relationship. Make your apology as detailed as possible.
Instead of: “I’m sorry for the inconvenience”. say: “I’m sorry your order was Instead of “I’m sorry for the trouble” say “I’m sorry your order was damaged; this isn’t the customer experience we’re looking for, and I understand how aggravating this is.” “I looked into the situation, and this is what happened…”
A detailed apology demonstrates that you care about and understand the customer’s sentiment. Give a quick explanation, but don’t go into too much detail. Keep your explanation brief and move on.
3. Show empathy
Empathy helps guide your reaction and response to an angry customer. It does not always imply that you agree with the customer. It means you understand what they’re going through.
You’ll be able to relate to them on a more personal level if you grasp how they feel. While dealing with problematic customers, demonstrating empathy will assist in de-escalating the negative situation. Reflect to the consumer that you respect them and are genuinely listening to them.
3. Maintain a calm tone of voice
Don’t let frustration get the better of you. When dealing with an angry Don’t allow your annoyance to get the best of you. You could be tempted to imitate an angry customer’s tone of voice when interacting with them. This must be avoided at any cost since it will only worsen the condition.
It’s simple to imitate an irritated person’s tone of voice and answer as soon as they finish a statement. However, you’ll have a more fruitful conversation if you can keep yourself calm and take a few moments to consider your response.
Tip To Calm Voice Tone:
- Proofread your response to make sure you don’t use any angry vocabulary. If time permits, take a break and return to your composed response before sending it to the customer. Take a little rest with a fresh perspective filter out unpleasant words from your response.
5. Make use of the Client’s Name
The power of a name is undeniable. Using the customer’s name gives the individual you’re interacting with a face. It aids in the infix of a high degree of customization in the connection. While dealing with angry clients, this is far more effective than addressing an individual anonymously.
“Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”
Dale Carnegie, author of ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’.
Using the customer’s name demonstrates that you care about them, as well as reminds them that you are a genuine person working for a real organization. Addressing the consumer by their first name demonstrates your respect for them.
6. Establish and Maintain Mutual Trust
If the level of trust of an angry customer’s in your firm has been harmed, it becomes critical to recover and preserve that faith in the future.
If you’ve made a mistake, it’s okay, you’ll just need to work a little harder to repair the relationship.
It’s okay if you make a mistake; you’ll just have to work a bit more to mend the relationship.
The first step is to demonstrate to the customer that you care about their situation, and you actually understand it.
While dealing with an annoyed customer, make sure you have collected all of your customer’s background information and order history. This exhibits to the customer that you are confident and capable of assisting them.
Be open and honest with your customers. Give them a behind-the-scenes glimpse at what’s going on so they can sympathize with you.
Tips for gaining a customer’s trust
- Use simple phrases like “we messed up” and “this is completely our fault” to take responsibility for the error.
- Instead of “I don’t know,” use positive scripting like “Let me find out for you” or “I need to check with my colleague ” instead of “I’m new here.”
7. Don’t take things Personally
Always keep in mind that your professional and personal life are two different aspects. Don’t take a customer’s rage personally, and don’t assume it’s directed at you. They aren’t mad at you; they are angry about your product or service. As when they acquire a product with certain expectations but the issue frustrates them.
If you will take the words of clients personally, you risk becoming enraged with the consumer, which will exacerbate the situation.
Taking the complaints personally lowers your own spirits, which can have, however a bad impact on your overall job quality and mental health.
8. Avoid negative language
Support teams must be skilled in their use of words while dealing with an upset consumer. The negative language will simply fuel the fire, whereas soft-spoken language is an important ingredient to breeze down a tense situation.
Avoid using language that implies the customer is mistaken or isolates them. Even if the assertions are somewhat true, the consumer does not want to hear them right away. Instead, use positive words to help the buyer gain confidence and turn a poor situation into a positive one.
It’s really easy to employ negative language unconsciously. Make sure to stay away from this at all costs!
Advice on how to avoid using negative language
- Whenever possible, use positive phrases like “yeah,” “absolutely,” “surely,” and “definitely.”
- Use terms and phrases like “let me be clear,” “for your information,” and “really” sparingly. This makes individuals feel foolish and is frequently perceived as confrontational.
9. Find a Solution to the Problem
While dealing with an angry consumer, your primary priority should be to resolve their problem. Is there a way around this? Is there anything you or the customer can do right now to meet their requirements? If that’s the case, it’s important to let them know.
If you think that you won’t be able to resolve the problem right away, tell the consumer straight away. Set expectations with them so that they understand when their problem will be resolved. More importantly, satisfy those expectations; if you can’t, let them know ahead of time so that the relationship doesn’t suffer further damage. If necessary, notify a senior member of the support team or your management about the problem. your manager.
Collaboration is frequently the quickest approach to resolve a problem. You may have members of the customer support team who are more experienced or technically proficient, and their assistance is often crucial to resolve a problem. In that case, quickly tag the user with the concerned with the help of customer support software like VoiceRules.
Call Monitoring, Whispering, or Barging are All Options.
Every customer service call is unique. Clients have varying expectations depending on their business objectives. Some are simple to deal with, while others are critical. However, dealing with an enraged or disgruntled consumer is the most difficult since you never know which of your words will start off a firestorm.
As a result, you must provide strategies to your frontline employees. Nothing is more strategic for a manager than watching and listening to monitoring agents when they are on the phone and live. For quick coaching over the phone call, you can whisper the strategy right next to the agent without letting the client know.
10. Share Information
Customers that are enraged can teach us a lot. The core reason behind the customer dissatisfaction always points to some operational adjustments that help to improve the customer experience.
Sharing what you learn from the customer is one of them. Have a simple means to collect feedback from angry customers and share them with product managers, engineers, and designers. Then the entire team can work together to develop long-term solutions to keep your customers pleased.
Final thoughts
It’s difficult to deal with client problems. Especially if the customer is angry. However, you must see them as opportunities – interactions that develop your firm from the inside out and provide a better client experience.
So, after you catch a whiff of what the consumer wants, step in like a soldier with your arsenal of methods and use the above positive reactions to save your client connection.
