What Customers Hate the Most: Top 3 Bad Customer Service Habits to Break
Getting rid of bad customer service habits works pretty much the same as when you’re trying to stop any other bad habit such as overspending, shoplifting, philandering, smoking or one utterly dangerous and life-threatening habit like nose picking.
Firstly, you have got to be aware of, acknowledge and own the habit completely before any changes can be made. Without this crucial first step, no amount of external convincing or correction will ever be truly effective.
What customers hate the most
Bad customer habits you’re not aware of might be the very reason why your sales and conversions are as pale as Edward Cullen. A survey released by Dimensional Research on April this year identified (finally!) the top 4 instances US consumers identify as bad customer service interactions with mid-sized companies.
- Explaining their problem to multiple people 72%
- Unpleasant staff 67%
- Resolutions taking too long 65%
- Problem not solved 51%
Now let’s take these 4 notorious cases and translate them to bad customer service habits.
Spring Cleaning Bad Customer Service Habits
Bad habit #1: Being a Bad Listener
When I was working as tech support, I often catch myself “partly” listening to customers calling in. While they mildly rant, I’m carefully rehearsing explanations in my head or thinking about my next move — a transfer to another department most likely. And when I’m done I’d just spew it out, cutting them off.
There goes the 80-20 rule out the window.. and down the fire escape.
Sounds uncannily familiar? Chances are we have the same habit! Now here’s what I did, I deliberately bit my tongue every time I get the urge to take control. The next time you feel like opening your mouth to present your side, bite that tongue for a sec. Practice the 80-20 rule which is 80% customer talking and 20% you. Spend the 20% demonstrating full understanding of the problem and the outcome being asked while actively reassuring it will flow through the pipes as needed. It’s only when we’ve listened completely and fully that the probability of them repeating themselves to our support team will remarkably lessen.
Kill the habit: Bite your tongue. Listen, iterate, and document. For live chat agents, offer to review the chat logs immediately if it’s a transfer or a repeat contact. And make sure to get their issue or problem right.
Bad habit #2: Forgetting courtesy
Yes, it’s a busy day. We’re so buried in our routine that most of us develop the tendency to be apathetic and to treat another chat or call as “just another…” forgetting there’s a real, living human being at the other end. Simple courtesy starts and ends at our automated greeting. Hardly any room for politeness as we dash to answer customer questions. Have you snapped at a somebody today?
Kill the habit: Smile. Yes, even if you’re just facing the screen and typing out responses. Believe it or not, our customer service mentor back then had us bring mirrors to be placed right beside our individual screens. I thought it was dumb smiling at myself there every.single.time! But damn that raised my customer satisfaction score. So again: stick a mirror in front of you, and smile. Just do it.
Bad habit #3: Putting off work for later
The drone of urgency reverberates throughout the day. With different kinds of support you are receiving, prioritization is a must. Some cases stay in the limbo indefinitely while solutions are still being worked on. Things can fall through the cracks quickly. At this point, we can be procastinating on solutions deliberately or unconsciously. Customers may have to contact again to ask for updates, and explain the situation to a staff again (see #1) which can then restart the ominous cycle of stress. It can ruin your metrics too!
Kill the habit: Put a system in place. Have a list of unresolved contacts and a calendar for initial follow up after 3 days and after a week. Customers appreciate it when they are updated or are given the honest, hard truth. Yes, they will be frustrated and disappointed at first but it sure is a lot better than being stuck in a limbo.
Key Thoughts:
- Evading the landmines that trigger shopper’s ire will build you a rock-solid relationship with your customers.
- The way your business handle online customer service and the kind of customer experience you provide on all your touch points can convert your idle traffic into actual conversions thereby getting you new customers.
- The only way to do this is to break those bad customer service habits that are the culprits behind what consumers hate the most.
Cheby writes about live chat insights, improving conversions, epic customer service, online marketing and everything in between. She will take you by the hand in exploring how to extend your website's earning power through Offerchat's smart live chat tool, and even smarter live chat people.
