When you ask so many of our customers about their experience with Customer Support, you would almost always hear them say, “It’s been great! They are the fastest”. This doesn’t happen by chance. We’ve been building our customer support principles from before we even had a product, and we’ve been iterating on them over the years.
Our principles revolve around just 4 simple words. Nothing complex, nothing fancy. Just 4 simple words that we believe in.
Acknowledge
The first step to a great customer support is to acknowledge the customer. A person needs to be acknowledged and heard before they can be helped. Whether it’s a simple “Hey, I’m here” or “I’m sorry about that”, it’s important to acknowledge the customer’s problem.
Whatever the issue could be, or however small it might be, it’s important to acknowledge it. Rest comes later. No one likes to spend time reaching out to support for a product they are paying for. If a person is reaching out to our support, they need something from us.
Empathize
Once you acknowledge the customer, the next step is to empathize with them. Empathize like you would with a friend. Tell them that you understand their problem and that you are with them through this. Tell them “I understand how frustrating this can be” or “I know how you feel”.
Empathy is the key to a great customer support. It’s the key to a great relationship. It’s the key to a great life. Empathy is the key to everything.
Empathy is as important to the world as it is to customer support.
Represent
The next immediate step is to represent the customer and be their advocate internally. You are the customer when talking to our engineering team. You believe in the customer’s problem, and you are here to get it sorted for them in the fastest way possible. You simulate the customers’ problem and represent them internally and never settle for anything less than the best.
Update
Whether the issue is sorted right away or not, the customer should be informed about it. Believe that most customers understand that there is a team behind every product, and that team is made of humans just like them. They understand that things can go wrong, and they get it. But what they don’t get is when they are not informed about it.
That’s it. This is how we have managed to be there for our customers and the best customer support has been a major factor for our business growth, customer retention, and customer happiness.