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In customer service, the words and phrases you choose can make or break an interaction. It can turn a crisis into an opportunity for your business. On the other hand, poor interaction may make customers feel frustrated.
So much so, 82% of customers may consider leaving a company with just one bad experience. To avoid reaching that point, you should get your communication strategy right. You should focus on using positive customer service phrases to ensure happy customers.
By using these phrases, your business can create loyal customers and enhance their experience with your brand. If you use positive, impactful phrases regularly, you can evoke emotions and influence decisions. These phrases can also help you shape perceptions.
In this blog, we will explore the use of perfect phrases for customer service and understand how they help set the tone for the entire conversation.
Before moving further, let’s get started with understanding the definition.
Customer service phrases are the words that are used during customer interactions. Customer service representatives use these phrases for conversations over the phone, online, or face-to-face ( in person ).
Phrases for customer service add consistency to the entire interaction and they apply to specific scenarios. There may be various situations when these phrases can solve customer problems, guide them through the issue, and help them have a good experience.
Using power words for customer service is key to effective communication. They not only help resolve problems but also boost levels of customer satisfaction. When service agents use positive and professional words, it makes customer interaction valuable. After all, 89% of consumers may make another purchase after a positive customer service experience.
Here are the top reasons for using powerful phrases for customer service –
65% of customers say poor experience is a major reason why they have changed to a different brand.
This shows why interactions with customers should be positive. It should also happen in a supportive and encouraging conversational atmosphere. Positive phrasing in customer service does that as agents can use them to frame responses constructively.
Using positive scripting, service reps can highlight solutions and opportunities rather than problems. It helps in contributing to a more satisfying customer experience together with resolving issues.
When phrases have positive intent, it helps service agents demonstrate a sense of empathy with customers and willing to help. This is how customer service interactions can leave a lasting impression on customers. There are many phrases to make customers feel valued and positive scripting is a way to make scripts positive.
Let’s see how positive scripting is framed –
Customers wish for good experiences when they reach out to businesses with problems. They expect service agents to use energizing and positive language as this makes them feel good about the company they are associated with. So, you should follow customer service etiquette and ensure value with every interaction.
There are many powerful and excellent customer service phrases that you can use to create an impact on customers and win their trust.
Let’s look at each of the phrases and positive power words for customer service;
It’s always necessary to greet customers and make them feel welcome, whether in the physical or online world, or whether you use live chat, email, or phone.
Even when you know customers have come with a problem, you should still approach the situation with a visible sense of excitement as this sets the tone for a good conversation.
When you use customer service phrases like, “Nice to have you” or “How may I help you?”, it basically works as an inviting tone for customers to join into a conversation and open up. Also, take a look at these 15 customer service acknowledgment statements to deliver the best possible service.
Every problem that customers come up with is an opportunity for your business to improve a notch up and meet the expectations of the stakeholders.
And if your business sees problems as a chance, it should then be reflected in the way it communicates with customers. There has to be a team that knows how to use communication skills in customer service and ensure value.
By thanking customers for bringing an issue to your attention, you show them the genuine concern you have to fix that in order to deliver them a better overall experience.
Not all customers would come with reasonable demands. Some may want you to do them a kind of favor, like asking for a tweak in your product or adding more features to your service, etc.
Even in such situations, you should wait to say no to customers straightaway and rather show them how their feedback matters.
The focus should be on empathizing with customers and acknowledging their use of your products. The idea is to hear them, relate to them, and show them their opinions matter to you.
For such a situation, you need to know the perfect phrases for customer service and use them for sympathy and acknowledgment.
The last thing customers would want is to feel that their problem is somehow ignored.
To avoid that, it’s important to use empathy statements for customer service to make users feel that they have merit, or their issue is worth the attention, even if it’s not.
The easiest way to be empathetic is by using positive customer service phrases in a way that makes them feel as if you can relate to them at some level.
You need to show by words how the situation would have affected you in the same way, or how it would have upset you equally.
The best way to respond to customers is by first getting to know the root cause of their problem.
Unless you know the motive, how can you fix it effectively?
However, customers are not always as forthcoming as they should be so you might encourage them to share a bit more about the issue so that you can provide the relevant response.
You also need to prod customers to “tell more” or “open up a bit further” to get the right response.
As a customer service agent, you are supposed to have clarity of the issue to solve. For that to happen, you need to keep asking customers unless you’re sure about the problem.
The use of words like “please confirm this again” or “let me confirm this again” or “correct me if I got something wrong” can help you be sure of the situation.
And when you seek clarity, it might serve two purposes – customers will get confidence that their voice has value and second, you will get a good grasp of the situation.
Don’t delay the inevitable.
Yeah, if you have to say sorry to a customer, say it sooner rather than later.
It’s always the right strategy to be prompt with an apology to let customers know their issues have caused you pain.
And if any features of your product or service have inconvenienced the user, you should better own up the mistake the utter the golden word straight away.
By apologizing, you show to customers you’re prone to mistakes but also always ready to say it and show the resolve to improve.
The role of a support agent is to make things better for customers.
You’re also responsible to let customers know you’re there to help them out in any situation.
And before moving ahead to fix the issue, you need to appreciate customers for having come up with the problem.
Good service agents know how to make customers feel good about their situation and how to use energizing language to mitigate any concern whatsoever.
They not only acknowledge the problem immediately but also give the confidence of fixing it sooner rather than later.
You too should always use positive customer support phrases like “surely” to convey your intent and show how much you’re willing to help customers with any type of request or problem.
You are not going to meet all customer requests all the time. There will be situations when meeting the exact demands of customers would not be possible.
For such cases, denying the request would not be a good customer service example as you need to come up with an alternative so that customers get some value out of the situation.
You also need to be cautious of not using negative words when you’re not able to meet the exact needs.
The kind of phrases or words you use to decide how customers feel about conversing with you.
And when you show a tendency to help by using words such as “what else I can do” or how may I help more”, it can encourage customers to share more about their problems.
Similarly, it will depend on your choice of phrase whether you’re willing to help and go a step further in solving the problem.
Customer service agents are not always the right people to solve customer problems no matter how powerful customer service power words they use.
For such scenarios, many teams make the mistake of using phrases like “I can’t help” or “this is beyond our reach” or something on a similar line.
On the other hand, you can win customers’ confidence easily by letting them know how their issue is being passed down to the specialist.
And when the experts will look into the problem, customers can definitely expect the best response for their problems.
You’d be making a mistake if you heard customers out and did not give them any timeline to resolve the issue.
It might create a sense of uncertainty in their mind forcing them to lose hope in your brand.
More than solving the problem, you should ensure that customers get the feeling that their voice is heard and their opinions matter.
And when you give a specific timeline by using words like “expect us to hear within 24 hours” or “we will get back to you in tomorrow” or something can add value to customers.
Customers deserve a pat on the back for the honest feedback they give about your products or services.
So, rather than being cynical, you should always try to adopt a tone of appreciation for any input received for your product.
There are some perfect phrases for customer service that you can use and show how any feedback is appreciated.
If you use encouraging words and positive phrases in such situations, it will give a great deal of confidence to customers in coming up with feedback for your products.
The more you make customers feel special, the more loyal they become. The customer service expressions you use can make great impressions on them.
So, you need to regularly show them how they mean the world to your business as this gives them confidence.
Right after solving their problem, you can use words like “You mean a lot” “Thank you for being our customers” or something similar and show them your appreciation.
Many service agents make the mistake of using cliche, negative, and old-fashioned phrases time and again for customers. Such canned response type phrases often lack genuineness and feel more like a formality than a well-intentioned statement. They hold no value at a time when a conversational AI chatbot can improve customer service performance by using the right phrases based on the inputs of the users.
Here are the 8 most common customer service phrases you should avoid:
The last thing a customer would want is to hear this phrase as it shuts the door on them completely. Even if you can’t help, rather than denying it right away, it is always better to offer an alternative to assuage some concerns.
Customers hate when you club them together with others or when you don’t give special attention to their problems. Avoid that and never use this phrase.
Nothing should be more important to you than customers. So any phrase that states otherwise can always harm your cause more than you think. These are the kind of words to avoid in customer service for any situation.
Even when you are not the right person to help customers, you should not say this and rather take an effort to pass the problem to the next team. Don’t expect customers to do that.
Customers may make mistakes but rather than saying it in an obvious manner and giving the matter a personal tone, you should rather stay on the bigger picture and use positive words to fix the issue.
Customers would obviously want their problems to be resolved as quickly as possible. And when they want you to hurry things up, you should take it well and never use negative words for that.
Every issue that a customer brings to your notice should be seen as an opportunity rather than a burden and the best way to do that is by using the right phrase.
Of course, some problems require more time but you should not present it that way. The focus should be on giving customers a specific timeline so that they can feel confident about the solution.
Positive and relevant conversations always ensure happy customers. And if your agents know how to use customer support phrases at the right time, it can not only improve the level of communication but also ensure loyal customers.
The focus should always be on making customers feel heard and giving them the confidence to come up again in the future if they face any issue. So, make sure your team is trained on the use of good customer service phrases to win the confidence of customers and deliver value to them with communication.
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Praveen Singh is a content marketer, blogger, and professional with 15 years of passion for ideas, stats, and insights into customers. An MBA Graduate in marketing and a researcher by disposition, he has a knack for everything related to customer engagement and customer happiness.
As a writer and analyst, he pours the heart out on a blog that is informative, detailed, and often digs deep into the heart of customer psychology. He’s written extensively on a range of topics including, marketing, AI chatbots, omnichannel messaging platforms, and many more.
Mr. Singh also has a passion for subjects that excite new-age customers, be it social media engagement, artificial intelligence, machine learning. He takes great pride in his learning-filled journey of adding value to the industry through consistent research, analysis, and sharing of customer-driven ideas.
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