What Is Empathy In Customer Support?
It goes without saying that companies that strategize their customer support with empathy-driven conversations get to see more brand loyalty and higher customer retention. Why? Because - empathy - when looked into - is the sheer force behind understanding the emotional outlets of the customers, and it literally dampens the fire of stress that each infuriated customer brings up with their query.
Whether we're late at delivering their product or a surprise technical glitch has halted their service, an incoming customer doesn't just expect a resolution but also the affirmation of the problem from whoever they're talking to, and it's only possible by tapping into an empathetic mindset.
Once we evaluate the severity by which the customer is lodging their concern, and act with empathy in mind, their infuriation gets replaced with customer delight. Even normally, we want people to accept their mistakes to set them free from judgments.
Empathy, in a sense, is a game-changing mental work frame that demands going deep into the customer's problem and understanding them with arms wide open.
How Does The Inclusion of Empathy Refine Your Customer Support?
Empathy is about feeling that "connection" of being courteous, friendly, and understanding towards customers and their problems, without making abrupt judgements or being resentful.
Even in real life, we all need empathy to spark healthy relationships and become active listeners for people around us. In the same perspective, by using the same force or inner drive of an unconditional assistance as the nexus of your customer support, every company can produce 2X customer delight, and register a higher retention ratio.
Let's see how the inclusion of empathy helps deliver exceptional customer support for B2B and B2C companies.
1) Record 2x Customer Satisfaction In Surveys:
When empathy gets poured in, the customer infuriation gets assuaged and driven out of their minds. They're no longer skeptical about your brand, and you become their top choice of brand to buy from.
Why? Because empathy does not only solve problems, it also creates a memorable brand experience, which pushes customers to come back. If your company has empathy-driven customer support, it's sure to touch higher standards of customer satisfaction, compared to its competitors.
To further the rationale, agents who share a dialogue with customers based on empathy are likely to be twice as curious about the problem, ask more questions, and shuffle between resolutions until they find a perfect answer to the query.
This results in an ideal scenario for any customer who wants to get their problem solved. Empathy works as a catalyst for higher customer satisfaction and will always be the nexus of a great customer experience.
2) Intrinsic Motivation Towards Customer Problems:
It's true that an empathetic mind set has an intrinsic nature of going an extra mile to solve problems. It also sheds light on the fact that when we care about something, we want it to happen, no matter how hard the struggle is.
In the context of customer support, having empathy-oriented agents is always favorable from the customer's perspective as they don't have to push them into solving the problems.
Instead, an agent would use everything in their powers to resolve the issue without feeling the despondency of motivation.
ALSO READ: 5 Must-Know Tips for Stellar Customer Service
3) Enhance Your Brand Perception Globally:
Brand perception is a flashback of a rational idea about your brand that lingers on in the minds of customers, and it's hard to reform it once it has an influx of negative customer experiences. But with a good flow of empathetic customer-first encounters, your brand can literally play it out with their improved brand perception.
There are multiple c-suite and blue-chip companies with an a-list brand perception, and this gives customers a pre-made template of how these brand would treat them, and inspire their buying behavior throughout their shopping experience.
If you're struggling to cope with your brand perception, it's time to infuse empathy-driven campaigns into your customer support and see the difference for yourself. You can take Apple and Google as a nexus of having high-profile brand perception, so their customers never deviate from buying from them.
FINAL THOUGHT:
Empathy is a crucial element in improving customer service. When customer service representatives show empathy towards customers, it helps to build trust and rapport. Research has shown that 70% of buying experiences are based on how the customer feels they are being treated.
By demonstrating empathy, customer service agents can make customers feel heard and understood, leading to higher levels of customer satisfaction.
Furthermore, empathy can help to de-escalate tense situations. When customers feel that the representative truly understands their concerns and is working to address them, it can diffuse anger and frustration. This can lead to quicker resolutions and a more positive overall experience for the customer.