Do you know the importance of customer service? What is it and how can we improve each customer's experience with our business? What are the keys to better understanding their psychology and what to do to offer them an unparalleled care service?
Simply put, customer service is the support you offer your customers, both before and after they buy and use your products or services. It is what helps them to have a full experience with your company.
Most people don't know what they want. Take this on to get ahead.
Business and psychology are closely related. Ultimately, both disciplines seek to understand people's needs, desires, choices, and behaviors.
In an ideal world, understanding psychology allows the worker to understand any interaction with their consumers. Each client is unique and has their own backgrounds, experiences, problems and beliefs, which can be more or less durable.
Whatever the characteristics of your customers, they are all beyond your control. You can only influence what comes next.
To do this, you can use some of the best psychological advice that will help you improve your customer service.
If you want to understand them better and push them in the right direction, just keep reading.
Maximize the power of psychology to increase the value of your customer service
Working in front of the public is difficult. And this is something that everyone who has done it has learned.
To make this task somewhat easier, it is only necessary to learn to understand: how people think and act at a basic level. What are wants and needs, regardless of their personal origin.
Knowing the main thing about customer psychology is a necessary step to take them on the right path and make them feel good about themselves and your company.
What are the essential psychological keys that work best in customer service?
It is important to make them feel important
The need to feel valuable is inherent in our human nature. Surely you have heard of Maslow's pyramid of needs, where we find five levels that form the pattern of motivations that we usually follow as people:
Self-esteem is at the top of the pyramid and represents the habitual desire of human beings to be accepted and valuable to others.
Boosting your own ego has highly recommended psychological effects, and it is very easy to make others feel good so that you can feel good about yourself.
How do you get this done with a client? Making each client feel important, giving them your undivided attention and making each communication equally valuable to both of you.
- Let them know that they are valuable and irreplaceable.
- Pay them a compliment.
- Send them a little gift just because.
- Offer a promotional or discount code.
- Thank him whenever you can.
Taking care of your customers' ego can cause a radical change in the way your company is perceived by them.
Develop your empathy
If you've ever received excellent customer service, it may have been because you perceived it as "human." Where you were treated as a person by someone else, and not by a company.
That feeling is closely related to empathy. This is so because the customer feels that their wishes are understood. Something very difficult to achieve with a robotic and generic service.
This is what differentiates great customer support from mediocre treatment.
Learn to manage anger
It is not so important why someone is angry, but what the reasons are that they feel this way.
People almost never say what they want to say, nor do they mean what they say.
It is important to learn to read between the lines to find the source of customer ion discomfort. Simple. Ask yourself the following:
- What caused your anger?
- Were they ignored, insulted or treated unfairly?
- Did they have expectations about the product or service that were never met?
Empathy is the ability to put yourself in the shoes of the other. And this is a big problem. Since of a client who expresses his anger, there are many others who do not say anything.
Getting into the habit of bypassing their self-defense mechanisms to focus on getting to the bottom of the problem will help you quickly spot dissatisfied customers.
Use positive language
Tone of voice has always been a great ally of customer service. Much of this depends on the words you use when you launch your messages.
People who use positive language on a regular basis develop changes in their brain that make them feel more positive most of the time.
Just by avoiding using negative words or phrases in our encounters with consumers, we can modify the way in which what we say is perceived.
Use the power of positive words in your customer service and you will achieve more pleasant experiences for your customers, both in the short and long term.
The first impression is very important
It's something that many businesses often overlook. But the first impression is usually a victory, since it immediately places you light years away from your competition.
Do you know the halo effect? It is a psychological effect where from a positive initial impression, it is more likely that everything that person or entity does in the future will be seen as positive, even when it is not.
Taking it into the field of customer service, all you have to do is maintain a positive impression during the first interaction. Remember that if the first impression is negative, the rest may also be seen that way!
Harness the power to ask for forgiveness
There are certain powerful words that we can use in certain situations, but only one that works for everyone during a crisis.
"I am sorry".
But it is not enough to pronounce it. Nobody wants to hear an emptiness "sorry for the inconvenience."
Apologies are helpful in any kind of unpleasant situation during customer service. However, this is not enough.
Even if your customer's tone is positive, they also deserve an apology for having to email you to fix their issue.
Don't forget: an apology does not mean acknowledging guilt. They are a simple exercise in empathy where the client is shown that their feelings are understood.
Even when you consider that you haven't done something wrong, you can still make your client feel good.
Stay conciliatory
In critical situations, such as in front of an angry customer, a rash reaction is often wrong. When someone feels attacked, they usually respond in two ways: fighting or fleeing.
Getting defensive can report an instant response, but it's dangerous, as you think… will this help calm you or your client in a stressful situation?
The number one step in tackling these types of scenarios is understanding what is causing the discomfort. Maybe it's the fear of not being able to fix the situation?
Remember: stress is not caused by the situation, but by you. When you forget that you have to fix that situation, you also forget that there is fear and stress.
It also does not mean that you should be unconcerned. Just remember that there is always something better you can do in every situation. Don't think so much about results, but about execution. This is the only thing you have control over.
Listen but really listen
When a customer expresses a problem, he should be the one who stars in most of the communication.
You should only interrupt him to ask, without judging at any time, more details of his problem.
With this technique you can solve two questions at the same time:
- The client will feel taken seriously when actively listened to, which will help to relax their overly defensive state of mind.
- Talking and explaining takes your client from an emotional state to a rational one.
Take advantage of the power of active listening, paraphrasing what you say and keeping your interventions clear and concise.
Increase retention through reciprocity
Reciprocity is one of the most powerful psychological terms out there. It is based on exchange, and it is that when someone does something positive for us, we will most likely respond in the same way. The same thing happens the other way around.
It is as simple as it is important.
Use the potential of reciprocity to build deeper relationships with your customers, which facilitate the continuation of business with your company.
Just think about what they might want: an eBook, a free guide, or free credit to your account?
Its size does not matter, but how "sweet" it is. Offer it at the end of every support interaction and customers will respond as you want.
Use names
A person's name is the sweetest and most important sound in any language. - Dale Carnegie
Many companies only ask directly by email what they want to know. But if your goal is to provide excellent customer service, you have to do more.
Starting each conversation using your client's name will not only make you seem more respectful and polite, but it will also make your client want to listen to you more.
You also shouldn't underestimate the power of your own name. We have already said that customer service is based primarily on making the customer feel that they are doing business with a person, rather than with a company.
The names are closely related to human psychology. And if not, just think: who do you prefer to receive an email from? From "Ana" or from "The Support Team"?
Make sure of the following: An exchange with a customer, whether by phone or email, is not a transaction, but a conversation.
By presenting yourself as a person, you keep things personal. All your interactions begin to be framed in that type of relationship, instead of between client-company.
With these 10 tips, now you can start to get an exquisite service for your clients, don't you think?
