How can you avoid sounding robotic in customer support?

One of the easiest ways to avoid sounding robotic is to use personalization in your customer support messages. This means addressing your customers by their names, acknowledging their specific issues, and showing that you care about their situation. Personalization can also include using a friendly tone, adding some humor or emojis (if appropriate), and signing off with your name or initials. Personalization can help you build rapport, trust, and loyalty with your customers, and make them feel valued and respected.

In my early days, I often found myself following scripted dialogues provided by the company. However, I quickly learned that this approach could lead to customer frustration. Over time, I realized the importance of personalizing interactions. By skipping the scripted dialogue and engaging in authentic conversations with customers, addressing them by name whenever possible, I discovered a more effective way to connect. Moreover, I found that incorporating a touch of humor, done tastefully and within boundaries, helped to lighten the interaction and create a more positive experience. Ultimately, the goal is not just to solve their problems but also to build a genuine connection that cultivates customer loyalty and advocacy.

Another way to avoid sounding robotic is to vary your language and avoid using the same canned responses or templates for every customer. While having some standard phrases or answers can save you time and ensure consistency, you should also try to adapt them to each customer's context, needs, and preferences. For example, you can use different synonyms, expressions, or examples to explain a concept, offer a solution, or apologize for an inconvenience. You can also ask open-ended questions, use positive language, and avoid jargon or technical terms. Varying your language can help you avoid monotony, boredom, and confusion, and make your customer support messages more engaging and relevant.

One of my "go to" one-liners when someone is upset about something is to say "I'm sorry (/I understand why that could be frustrating, etc.) that's not what Allstate wants for it's customers."

Empathy isn't something that comes naturally to everyone, but it's a crucial skill in customer support. It takes practice and effort to cultivate. Empathy means truly understanding and sharing the feelings, thoughts, and perspectives of your customers, demonstrating genuine care for their satisfaction and well-being. When customers express dissatisfaction or provide feedback, choosing the right words and tone is essential. Instead of using generic responses like 'OK' or 'sorry for that,' showing empathy involves using phrases like 'I'm really sorry to hear that' or 'I understand your frustration.' These expressions can help to diffuse negative situations, increase customer satisfaction, and foster emotional connections.

A third way to avoid sounding robotic is to show empathy in your customer support messages. Empathy means understanding and sharing the feelings, thoughts, and perspectives of your customers, and showing that you care about their satisfaction and well-being. You can show empathy by using empathetic statements, such as "I'm sorry to hear that", "I understand your frustration", or "I appreciate your patience". You can also show empathy by validating your customers' emotions, acknowledging their feedback, and expressing gratitude for their business. Showing empathy can help you diffuse negative situations, increase customer satisfaction, and create emotional connections.

Yes, a big thing is making sure customers feel heard/seen. I always make sure to thank them for their patience and acknowledge their frustration

Reviewing/Sharing feedback is key to bettering customer experience. It helps everyone in the long run. The analyst, the customer, and the overall business.

We've been taught to invite customers to provide their feedback in the surveys they receive an e-mail invitation to complete. We've been taught to let the customers know that those comments are read by management here at Allstate. Another of my one-liners is that "we're always getting better."

Authenticity is not just a quality; it's the foundation of effective customer support. From the outset, being authentic should guide every interaction. Why is this so crucial? Because authenticity ensures genuine connections with customers. When we personalize our conversations and solicit feedback, it's vital to be truly present and engaged. Customers can easily discern between a genuine conversation and a sales pitch. It's essential to avoid adopting fake accents or mimicking others. Instead, be yourself. Embrace your unique voice, even if your grammar isn't perfect or mistakes occur. Authenticity means delivering messages with honesty and integrity, fostering trust and meaningful connections with customers

A great mindset to adopt to help increase personalization is to remember that you're not just "solving a problem" or "resolving an issue", you're helping a person. In chat it can sometimes be easy to forget that it's more than just words on a screen. There is another human at the other end of that keyboard and they are relying on your expertise to help them navigate their issue. Even though you're on a chat, try speaking your responses aloud as you type. Hearing it will give you a better feel for if it sounds too robotic or scripted. This will help add a more natural flow to your chat messages.