Customer service should be a conversation rather than a cold, lifeless script. Given the variable nature of interacting with customers, however, it’s easy to see how support center champs can benefit from some forward-thinking in dealing with tough customer service scenarios.
This is where flexible responses — in lieu of pure scripts — can be quite useful. They allow reps to have examples of what to say to customers in a tough situation but also give them the flexibility to adapt and add their own personality.
This is a chapter in our Ultimate Guide to Running a Customer Service Team. When you're ready, check out the other chapters:
Customer service scenarios are difficult situations that you're likely to encounter as a support professional. You may encounter these scenarios while working, or you may be quizzed on how you would handle them while interviewing for a new job.
Some of these scenarios can be quite hectic to deal with when they arise, and that’s where a little preparedness goes a long way. Below are a handful of troublesome scenarios you may come across, plus some guidance on how to handle them.
Great communication is an art. Honing it to a keen edge is a science. These tips will help you improve how you and your team talk to customers — starting today!
If you’re looking to train new team members, engage in role-playing as a group, or just improve your own ability to handle tricky customers and situations like a pro, consider these flexible scripts for the 16 most challenging customer support scenarios.
You shouldn’t beat yourself up for not knowing an answer. After all, a support rep’s responsibility is to have the tenacity to make things right, not to be perfect (especially if you’re new).
The mistake many support reps make, however, is in using the knee-jerk “I don’t know” response, which doesn’t help the customer. Customers may be sympathetic that you don’t know, but they’re not interested in hearing about it.
Instead, try the following:
“Does the ‘Premium’ package come with X?” “Great question, let me find that out for you right now!”
Placing the emphasis on the customer’s needs over your own situation (“I don’t know,” “I’m new here,” etc.) lets them know that it doesn’t matter that you don’t know the answer because you’re going to do whatever it takes to find out for them.
No ecommerce store owner or support champion likes to tell a customer that an item isn’t currently available. Fortunately, there is a much better way to go about it.
One of the most important skills in interacting with customers is the use of positive language to help avoid accidental knee-jerk reactions.
Here's an example: Let's say a customer contacts you with interest in a particular product, but that product happens to be back-ordered until next month.
Positive language replaces negative phrases (“I can’t…”) and instead places emphasis on the solution, which is what the customer actually cares about.
Try finding places in your response where a lot of negative language is present (“We don’t do that”) and see where positive language can be substituted.
There isn’t a single consumer out there who likes hearing, “Please hold while we transfer you. Your call is very important to us.”
The problem is that sometimes you do need to transfer customers in order to better help them. But many businesses don’t seek to help customers understand why they are being transferred.
Here’s a typical unappealing response some reps use to transfer people:
“My apologies, but I’m going to have to transfer your call to Department XYZ.”
As a customer, my gut reaction to this response is to believe that the wheel of misfortune has begun, and I’m going to get passed around and treated like another hassle.
Imagine using this language instead:
"Let’s get this problem resolved for you. I’m going to transfer you to our specialist who is the best-suited person to answer your question.”
Hearing that I’m being sent to the resident expert — and knowing that the rep who is sending me has my problem in mind — is much more reassuring than the vague “sorry, you’re getting transferred” response that most companies use.
Few customers will jump for joy because of a transferred call no matter how you handle it, but it’s better to assure them that the action was taken in their favor in order to solve their current problem.
Customers can often have some valuable insights on how your product is used and how it could be improved, but your product’s vision is your responsibility. Thus, the final call is up to you.
If it’s very obvious that a feature a customer requested won’t make the cut, you have to be able to tell them so. Saying, “We’ll take a look!” gives false hope that can end up with a customer checking in weeks later only to be disappointed again.
The truth is, you don’t need to be worried about a mass exodus of customers just because you regularly say “no” to many product features.
Here is some sample language we might use at Help Scout to tell customers a feature just isn’t the right fit:
"I really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts with us. As of this time, however, (Feature X) isn’t a perfect fit, and we have no immediate plans to implement it. We do have some other exciting new features planned, and should anything change about your request, we’ll make sure you are the first to know."
If you’re using a simple feedback system like Trello to keep track of past requests, adding an email is easy, so if your stance on a certain feature does change in the future, it becomes a simple process to notify customers via email.
Most requests from customers are reasonable, and every effort should be made to make them happy.
Bob Farrell describes this as “giving them the pickle,” a phrase which refers to a letter he received from an unhappy customer who wasn’t able to get an extra pickle for his hamburger. Fulfilling a small request can often leave a positive impact on a customer, which is why it's almost always worth it to just “give them the pickle.”
But what about requests that you truly cannot say yes to?
I can give you a very candid story of when this really mattered to me: I was checking in to a hotel with a few of my friends, one of whom had a severe allergy to cats. I vividly remember watching a couple plead with the front desk employee to let their cat stay (the policy was “No Pets”).
If the front desk employee had given in to their request, he would have (unknowingly) made our group upset, trading one potentially unhappy customer for an even bigger problem.
I remember being impressed with how he handled the situation, and I’ll paraphrase his response below:
“As much as I like fulfilling our customers’ requests, I’m afraid that the ‘No Pets’ policy we have in place is too important because it impacts the safety and comfort of other customers. Can I perhaps call around for locations where your cat might be able to stay?”
It was a stellar response to a pretty wacky request; after all, pet owners should know to check a hotel’s pet policy before booking a room.
Remember that a customer’s perception of your service quality is greatly affected by how attentive, thoughtful, and sincere you are. In an awkward scenario where you simply have to refuse a request, showcasing your empathy and willingness to find an alternative is one of the best ways to lessen the sting of saying no.
Support professionals’ natural inclinations to help can leave team members open to social engineering if they aren’t careful. For example, if your product has different permissions that deal with security or payment responsibilities, you may have customers who ask you to switch their roles or transfer account ownership.
You’ll want to assist right away. You might even hear, “Please, we need this right now!” Hold steady. You’ll need approval from the current account owner.
Let the requestor know you'll need approval from the account owner with a response like this:
I'd be happy to make the change for you, but I will need approval from Veronica since she's the current account owner. It’s all about keeping your account safe! I've emailed her so we're all on the same page. Once she gives the okay, I'll pass the ownership role to you.
Email the account owner (separately so the reply can’t be spoofed), and don't copy the original requestor. When the owner responds, check to make sure the original message you sent is included in the reply.
You may still run into something like, “But the account owner is on vacation/has been fired/is very busy and important!”
For these situations, it helps to have a policy you can point to on your website. That way, they know you’re not being obstinate; rather, you’re serious about security and unable to make exceptions. That isn’t always easy for people to stomach, but you still have to do the right thing.
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Having a purchase come up short is disheartening from the customer’s perspective. I’m sure we’ve all run into this scenario: After finally convincing ourselves to pull the trigger on a purchase, we wait with excitement until it’s delivered . only to have it arrive broken.
We all internally recognize that even great companies can’t build and ship everything perfectly, but it’s so frustrating to be the person on the receiving end of a dud.
Showing empathy for the customer’s situation becomes important, followed by an immediate explanation of how you’re going to fix the situation. Consider the following example:
“I’m so sorry about that; that’s very disappointing! There might have been a slight mistake in the manufacturing process, or perhaps it was damaged while being shipped. Can I send a new one out to you right away?”
This script completes three important objectives: It empathizes with the customer’s frustrating experience, it explains what the problem might be (instead of having a customer assume you make bad products), and it offers a clear and immediate solution.
Depending on what you sell and how you conduct business, you might also add, “or should I send you a full refund?” Either way, know that in this situation, it’s the ability to relate with a customer that counts.
Support champions are often required to act as lightning rods, to take the brunt of an emotional, angry customer despite the fact that it is not their fault.
Sometimes, this anger from customers is unjustified; other times, they have a cause for their actions. Either way, it’s often quite hard to win back an extremely angry customer.
However, the smart folks at Telephone Doctor have a great system called “ASAP” for dealing with the most difficult of customers:
It’s hard to come up with a perfect solution for a customer in this state, and know that even if you handle things perfectly, some people simply cannot be appeased. But don’t let that stop you from making your best effort.
Whoops! Say a bug deletes some of a user’s settings or your site is under a DDoS attack. Excessive technical details won’t placate many customers or make the inability to use your product or access your site any less annoying. Instead:
A few years ago, Help Scout faced some uncharacteristic downtime. It was a terrible feeling, but we knew we couldn’t just stick our heads in the sand and hope people wouldn’t notice. We sent our customers the following email:
Help Scout had two notable status events this week, resulting in roughly 51 minutes of downtime. Considering our track record and only 61 minutes of downtime in the last year, this week's performance was disappointing for our whole team.
I'm writing you this note to apologize for such a poor experience. We understand how critical it is for Help Scout to be up and running at all times and we take that responsibility very seriously.
We learned a lot from the challenges this week and feel very confident in our ability to prevent them from repeating. We'll get to work on improvements right away. In the meantime I hope you have a great weekend!
Co-founder at Help Scout
We were touched by how understanding people were. Nearly all the replies we received were along the lines of “That’s okay, folks; we know how it goes sometimes! Keep up the great work!”
When you own up to your mistakes, follow up promptly, and take steps to ensure it doesn’t happen again. You’ll find your customers can be a forgiving bunch.
If you messed up, pass the conversation on with context to the team lead, and you’ll both figure it out from there. Mistakes happen.
The buck should stop with you, however, if a customer requests “the manager” just to get around an accurate, honest response. When you’re acting with certainty, speak with kind authority:
“I’m afraid my supervisor would have to tell you the same thing. I’m really sorry we don’t have a better answer for you!”
If they don’t drop it, well, that’s what team leads are for. I’ve also seen it work where one team member hands off the conversation to another who reiterates the message in different words: “I’m afraid June is right — we currently don’t have a feasible workaround. I’m so sorry about that!”
Often, a second opinion is enough to convince the customer there’s nothing more to be done.
Something went wrong and now a customer is asking for a refund. Say a bug deletes some of a user’s settings, and you’ve never seen this happen before.
The team determines that a refund as not the right response for this situation. You’ll run into those instances, and problems aren’t always fixed with freebies — even when someone asks. Try responding like this:
"I'm sorry, Mark, but in this case I cannot offer an account credit. I understand this wasn’t ideal. Your settings can be fixed with a few changes, and I’d be happy to help you set them up again."
Offering some of your time is a fair exchange for a small glitch. Be polite but firm that you’re unable to offer financial compensation — but you’re ready to make things right through any alternatives available.
An abusive customer and an angry customer are not the same thing. An abusive customer is someone who has clearly crossed the line and is mistreating you.
Shut it down, no exceptions. But don’t lose your cool; you must notify leadership so they can commit to a swift, immediate action. Loop someone else in — a support lead or other team leadership. Do not handle this situation yourself.
The leader should cancel the account and tell the customer not to contact you or anyone else on your team again:
This is Cynthia Kapa, CEO.
I’m stepping in to let you know I’ve followed this conversation since the beginning. Given how it’s played out, it’s best that we part ways. The members of my team deserve to be treated with respect, and I haven’t seen that in this exchange.
I’ve canceled your account and refunded you for the rest of the month. You will not be able to reactivate the account.
Nobody enjoys these situations. They’re a mess. But the chances of not running into something similar over years or decades of experience is slim, so be prepared.
Every once in a while you might release a new version or make a change to your existing product that just doesn’t work. Perhaps the change breaks the functionality entirely, or people miss the old features that the product used to have.
This happens to all companies, whether big or small, and it’s something that every support team should be prepared for. In the event that there is a product change that has been totally botched for your company, there are a few steps that you should take as a support team:
Once you start responding to tickets, remember that your customer is upset that something that they (typically) paid for is not working. If you were in the same position, how would you feel? Cultivate some of that empathy before you start wading out into the sea of people who are frustrated about this change.
In your response, acknowledge that the issue was painful for them, align yourself with them by using similar language, and then assure the customer with an explanation about why the change occurred.
If the customer begins to escalate or grow even more frustrated despite the explanation, take a moment to breathe and remind yourself again that something they’re expecting to just work is not working, or has totally changed. Find that empathy, and stay firm but kind in your explanations.
Sometimes outages are related to something that your company does, but it’s also equally possible that the outages are due to a service that you use for your website hosting or payment processing. Either way, it’s your team’s problem to handle. No matter whose fault it is or how the problem started, it’s yours to clean up.
Here are a few steps to take to make sure things are in the right place for an outage before you get down to digging through the tickets:
Once you get to responding, as Mathew Patterson writes, don’t forget that no matter how tricky your situation, your customers are likely in an even worse spot. They have no control over the situation and are relying on you to protect and take care of them. So no matter how frustrated you are, you need to take care of them first.
When you respond to your customers, let them know clearly what is happening, acknowledge that you have made a mistake, and try to build their confidence by letting them know that you are working on the solution and hope to have it resolved soon.
Teams using Help Scout are set up in minutes, twice as productive, and save up to 80% in annual support costs. Start a free trial to see what it can do for you.
