Top Customer Service Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

A customer’s loyalty and affinity towards your brand will be heavily influenced by the customer service interactions they have with your company. A strong and positive customer service experience will build trust and satisfaction in your customers, which will have a direct impact on your customer retention rates and, ultimately, your sales.

Maintaining a high quality of customer service will make your customers more likely to return to your company, make new purchases from your store, and recommend your business to others. To ensure your customers are leaving customer service interactions happy and satisfied, read on to learn more about the top customer service mistakes to avoid.

Poor Listening Skills

To be able to resolve a customer’s issue, fully understanding the issue and the way it has made the customer feel is imperative. For this, customer service agents must be patient and respectful and allow the customer time to explain themselves and vent their disappointment. Failing to allow the customer the time to do this will leave them feeling frustrated and disrespected, which is likely to lead to resentment and them ceasing to spend money with the company. This will also likely result in the customer service agent having a poor understanding of the issue, leading to inefficiencies and difficulties with solving the issue at hand.

To avoid making this mistake, customer service agents should allow the customer time to fully explain their issue at the beginning of the call and should patiently hear the customer out while remaining calm. Having had the opportunity to speak freely will leave the customer feeling satisfied and this clarity will likely lead to more efficient problem solving, ultimately saving everyone time.

Poor Communication

There is more to customer service than the core of the conversation. Excellent customer service agents will communicate clearly with the customer every step of the way, taking time to explain everything, and ask questions that will help to reach a solution to the customer’s issue. Without this extra effort on the part of the customer service agent, the customer will feel disjointed from the process and uncertain about the proceedings, leading to feelings of frustration and resentment and damaging trust and rapport.

To prevent this, customer service agents must take the time to verbally outline to the customer everything they’re doing, whether this is letting them know the system is loading or informing them that another member of staff is being consulted on the next best course of action. Also, asking plenty of questions will help the customer feel taken care of, building trust and rapport, which in turn will expedite the process of reaching a solution.

Lacklustre Training

Professionalism, a good understanding of the company, and well-honed people skills are essential to good customer service. Comprehensive customer experience training will equip them with the skills and knowledge they need to handle a wide variety of difficult customer interactions with tact and control. These training courses can offer customer service agents tangible skills to excel in their role and completely transform the customer experience they deliver.

Having a strong team of customer service agents will make your company memorable to customers for all the right reasons and set your company apart from the rest. In turn, this will increase customer loyalty and improve brand affinity, and the confidence this instils in your agents will increase their job satisfaction, boost their morale, and drastically improve your employee retention rates.

False Promises

When a customer makes the decision to contact customer services and complain about a product or service they have received, they usually do so with an expectation of what they expect to be done to resolve their issue. It is important that customer service agents are careful with what they promise the customer. False promises can be hugely detrimental; they will cause a lack of confidence and trust in the company, may lead to negative company reviews online, and ultimately cause more problems and make the initial issue worse.

To avoid making this mistake, customer service agents should be very careful with the way they handle every call and take the time to consult with their colleagues and managers before making any promises to customers. This way, customers will not be deceived by false promises and will retain a good impression of the company, which will directly benefit customer retention and brand affinity.