In the life of a consumer, something can wrong with a product or service at any time, day or night. And when something does go wrong, these consumers want to be able to get in touch with someone from the company immediately to get their issues resolved. While many people use a customer service phone number to address these issues, an increasing number of people are taking advantage of website’s live chat option to express complaints to a company. Knowing this, it’s important that your customer service representatives know the ins and outs of speaking to upset or frustrated customers in this forum. To help with this, here are three tips for handling customer complaints via live chat.
Use Chat Scripts Wisely
Chat scripts are a great way for your customer service reps to handle a large number of customers in a timely and efficient manner. Personally typing out all their messages take up time that could be better spent figuring out how to fix the issues the customers are having. However, when you get an angry customer, it’s important to be careful with the chat scripts you’re using as to not inflame the situation. Comm100.com shares that your reps should be trained on how to use the scripts while adding sincere, personal touches so your customers don’t think they’re just talking to a robot. So once your reps realize a customer has an issue to complain about, be sure to use the canned messages wisely.
Take Advantage of Chat Transfers
Just like if a customer were calling on the phone to complain or seek resolution to their problems, you need to be able to transfer them via chat to the appropriate person to speak to if you can’t be the one to answer their questions. This means that your customer services reps should know when and how to transfer a chat to their supervisor or another department. To best accomplish this, Kevin Gao, a contributor to KISSmetrics.com, recommends that companies give their reps a list of people they can transfer chats to if they get in over their head and how each transfer option can be of assistance with particular issues. Not only will this get your customers their answers quicker, but it will free up your chat reps to take on more customers.
Try To Follow Up With Them Later
The great thing about handling customer complaints via chat or through your website in a different way is that it makes it easy for you to reach back out to the customer in the future. As a way to ensure your customer got what they wanted and maintains a good relationship with your company, Nicole Leinbach-Reyhle, a contributor to Forbes, suggests following up with each customer complaint that comes through on chat. Try to do this within 24 to 48 hours of the complaint coming in to show the customer that you care and are concerned about the issue they reported.
If your company is having a hard time handling confrontational communication that comes through via live chat, use the tips mentioned above to improve this aspect of your business website.