Humor can be a powerful tool for enhancing customer service, but it can also backfire if used inappropriately or excessively. How can you use humor effectively to personalize your service, build rapport, and diffuse tension, without offending, confusing, or annoying your customers? Here are some best practices to follow when using humor in customer service.
Before you crack a joke or make a witty remark, you need to consider who your customer is and what their expectations are. Different customers may have different preferences, cultural backgrounds, moods, and levels of familiarity with you and your brand. Some may appreciate a light-hearted approach, while others may prefer a more formal or professional tone. You can use cues such as their language, tone, feedback, and behavior to gauge their receptiveness to humor. If you are not sure, it is better to err on the side of caution and avoid humor that could be misinterpreted or insensitive.
It helps to save any humor for the closing if applicable. In many cases it may be more important to sympathize than to try humoring anything. I find that it's usually the client who adds any humor and mirroring it can be a form of sympathy.
For me, sensitivity is the key word. One needs to know if and when it is appropriate to be humorous. Sensitive matters for instance, should not be a topic for jokes. Also, while humor can be a sure way to thaw the ice in a business relationship, it should not replace but complement efficiency and effectiveness.
Humor can be a great tool to personalize your customer service, build rapport, and diffuse tension in difficult situations. It can also be used to apologize for mistakes or reinforce a positive outcome. However, it’s important to ensure that your humor is relevant, appropriate, and consistent with your brand voice and values. Whatever the purpose of your humor, make sure it serves a specific purpose in customer service and isn’t just random or gratuitous.
Humor can be a tricky thing to navigate when providing customer service, so it’s important to understand when and how to use it properly. Avoid sarcasm, mockery, teasing, or jokes that could be seen as rude, disrespectful, or dismissive. Do not use humor in place of solving the problem, providing accurate information, or offering a sincere apology. Additionally, humor should be used sparingly and strategically; too much humor can lose its impact, dilute your message, or annoy your customer. Finally, stay away from topics such as politics, religion, sex, race, or personal matters that could trigger negative emotions or reactions.
The best way to know if your humor is working or not is to pay attention to your customer's feedback. Feedback can be verbal, such as laughter, compliments, or complaints, or non-verbal, such as facial expressions, body language, or silence. If your customer responds positively to your humor, you can continue or adjust accordingly. If your customer responds negatively or neutrally, you should stop or change your approach. You should also ask for feedback from your colleagues, managers, or quality assurance team to evaluate and improve your humor skills.
Finally, humor is a personal and subjective matter, so you need to find and develop your own style that suits you and your customers. You can draw inspiration from other sources, such as comedians, books, movies, or podcasts, but don't copy or imitate them. You should also experiment with different types and forms of humor, such as irony, puns, anecdotes, or memes, to see what works best for you and your customers. The most important thing is to be authentic, confident, and respectful when using humor in customer service.