Angry customers are commonplace in the contact centre. After all, mistakes will happen – albeit more in some contact centres than others.
Yet, angry customer conversations are tricky and have the potential to sap the spirit from contact centre agents, damaging their happiness and engagement.
So, to protect the contact center from this draining negativity, train them to take the heat out of these challenging calls by following the advice below. Doing so will also improve CX and potentially increase the chances of customer retention.
1. Let the Customer Vent
Customers often settle down once they are given the opportunity to vent their frustrations. It is often difficult to listen to, but agents must remember that the anger is not directed at them personally.
Verbal nods – such as “uh-huh”, “yes”, and “ah” – are often helpful to show the customer that the agent is on their side and temper high emotions.
2. Train Empathy and Active Listening
Empathy allows agents to approach an issue from the customer’s perspective and come to terms with what they might be feeling. Therefore, good listening is crucial. Contact centers can coach agents on how to do this through sharing best practices such as:
- Stay focused on what the customer is saying, not what you will say next
- Make notes of critical language details within the customer rants
- Avoid defensiveness when the customer makes strong remarks about the company
Understanding the issue, contact centres suggest that agents tailor an empathy statement to the customer and their situation.
Yet, coaches can go further by playing call recordings to agents of excellent, empathetic service and discussing best practices. Then, roleplay these situations out to get agents comfortable with displaying empathy.
3. Demonstrate an Understanding of the Issue
Often, customers stay angry because they do not believe the agent has correctly understood their issue. Yet, if the agent can paraphrase it back to them, this niggling thought falls by the wayside.
As a result, the agent can acknowledge the problem, show empathy, and focus on the resolution, bringing the conversation to a more positive place.
4. Take the Heat Out of the Situation
When a customer starts shouting and balling out of the gate, match their intensity. Of course, avoid shouting back at them, instead, speak with a sense of immediacy and seriousness. Then, gradually bring the tone down to a more relaxed pace.
Customers will naturally follow the agent’s lead, giving the conversation a steadier pace and tone.
5. Establish That Everyone Is on the Same Side
Angry customers often begin a call with a “me against them” attitude. Yet, customers will adjust their tone if the agent takes ownership of the issue and demonstrates that they are on the same side as customers.
Simple tricks, such as using personal pronouns and creating a sense of immediacy, helps agents to do so.
6. Avoid Justifying Why the Problem Took Place
Sometimes, the root causes of the problem may very well stem from an error the customer has made – but agents should never shift the blame. They can state the reason objectively, without judgment, and move on to the resolution.
Another top tip is to tell the customer that it is easy to understand their logic, removing any sense of defensives that they may have.
7. Apologize Sincerely
Sometimes, an apology and recognition of the mistake are all the customer needs to begin cooling down. Yet, apologies such as “I’m sorry for the inconvenience” are too generic and do not cut the mustard. Customers want a genuine apology.
So, refer back to the incident empathetically and move on. Avoid getting defensive and using passive-aggressively apologies such as: “I’m sorry you feel that way.” Otherwise, agents only provoke further anger.
8. Coach Resilience
Resilience increases the ability of agents to take on board negative feedback, think clearly, and avoid letting customer comments impact their wellbeing.
Having an open discussion with a group of agents and encouraging them to share their experiences with angry customers is one technique that helps to increase resilience. Agents then understand that everybody is in the same boat.
9. Equip Agents with Knowledge and Tools
Excellent listening, empathy, and ownership skills empower contact centre agents to navigate the early stages of an angry customer call. Yet, the resolution needs to come quickly to make amends fully.
Enabling subject matter expert (SME) support channels through a UCaaS solution, managing the knowledge base, and harnessing noise cancellation technology supports agents so they can come up with better solutions.
10. Address IVR Issues
Customers are sometimes only mildly angry when they phone the contact centre. Nevertheless, long wait times and IVR issues cause their frustration to build.
Of course, enhancing contact center forecasting and scheduling processes helps reduce waiting times. But, understaffing issues are prominent across the industry, making long wait times are sometimes unavoidable.
Therefore, managing the queue and the initial IVR experience is crucial. Avoiding dead-ends, long lists of options, and repetitive messaging will help. Experiencing the IVR journey as the customer will enable managers to spot these issues.
11. Tackle Angry Contact Drivers
Talk to agents about the call reasons that upset customers most. Then, strive to find the root cause of each issue.
By removing these problems systematically, contact centers can stem the flow of angry customer conversations.
Sentiment analysis and automated ticket tagging – features enabled by speech analytics technology – are excellent tools that support such a process.
Discover how contact center outsourcer Echo-U combat the issue of angry customers by reading our article: How to Avoid the Cost of a Disgruntled Customer
