Customer service is an essential aspect of any service organization out there. It provides customers with a space to reach out to if they are ever confused or curious about anything and is key to ensuring that all issues customers are facing are dealt with accordingly. It serves as the bridge between the organization and the customers.
The importance of a customer service department cannot be understated even in the slightest – as, after all, customers are the most important element for any organization out there. As per this article, customer service is all about listening to your customers and prioritizing them.
However, the key here isn’t just providing customer service.
Customer Service and importance of Empathy
It is providing empathetic customer service. Genuine and sincere empathy can go a long way. It can help customers feel truly heard and listened to even if a customer is having a frustrating time with service; dealing with a customer service agent who responds to them patiently and politely can help them feel better and more inclined towards figuring a solution out.
Let us consider this potential situation. Your phone service has not been working for a few hours, and you are expecting a critical call in a few days. Thus, you are highly concerned. Understandably, you are pretty upset and need a quick solution to the problem. Here are two potential scenarios:
- You initiate a conversation with customer service, and they keep telling you to restart the phone without offering a real solution to the issue. You express your worries; however, they don’t seem to be concerned about them. In the end, they tell you to wait it out and claim that it is a temporary issue even though you have an important call coming up. They emphasize that there is no other choice, and you are left feeling helpless, angry, and anxious.
- You initiate a conversation with customer service, and they immediately begin to troubleshoot the issue for you. They understand your frustrations and express that they are here to assist you however much as possible. You work on your phone for a while with them, and nothing seems to be working. They suggest that they will be forwarding this issue to their supervisor for now. Meanwhile, they will be sending you a new complementary sim to activate with a new number to ensure that you don’t miss out on the important call you are awaiting. You end the conversation still concerned about your service; however, at least you have the reassurance that the company is trying to assist you. You also feel better knowing that they will be cooperative and patient while helping you out if issues persist.
Imagine yourself in both of these scenarios. Are you able to note the difference?
Empathy is the difference.
With the empathetic customer service, you felt heard. They were genuinely trying to look out for your needs, while the other representative was not concerned. They were making an effort to help. However, they did not seem committed to resolving the issue, nor were they looking out for your anxieties and frustrations.
Empathetic customer service ensures that representatives go all the way to look out for your worries. Most importantly, it listens. It allows you to express yourself and communicates politely and patiently.
According to Jeffrey Fry, “It is not important what is said; what is important is what is heard.” It is about how you feel after a conversation. Do you feel like there was genuine concern expressed? Do you feel like they were trying to treat your problems like they might have been their own? Do you feel like you were being taken seriously? If the answer to these questions is yes, then it can be said that customer service is doing its job.
Our customer service training is extremely rigorous and focused. It revolves around all the potential issues customers might bring up, however, more importantly, they ensure that all representatives understand the significance of being there for our customers, and looking out for them however necessary and possible. We establish and reinforce the philosophy that our customers are our absolute first priority. Once the training is complete, our representatives are more than ready to welcome all our customers into our family!
It is crucial to remember that when customer service representatives are doing their job, they aren’t talking to just customers on the other end. They interact with human beings who might be dealing with all kinds of issues with their friends, family, business, or work. If you treat them with kindness, they remember it. If you treat them with kindness, it will go a long way.
This is what we try to do here at US Mobile. Here, each customer is a member of our family. Here, we will always try our best to make sure that we listen. Available 24/7 on chat, email, Reddit, and various other social media platforms as well! We are always here.
US Mobile prioritizes their customers and goes out of their way in making them feel like they are heard and solves their issues. Our CEO has his own way of communicating with customers. His open letter to the US Mobile family explains how valuable our customers are to us!