In 2020, empathy became a front-runner among the most in-demand traits in customer service. Over 1 in 3 customers felt that service should become more responsive and empathetic. 23% feel they have received a “good CX” if the agent has excellent listening skills and customers don’t need to explain their problems multiple times.
Empathy and listening skills were always highly valued among customer service agents, and the pandemic has pushed these qualities to the forefront.
How to Improve Empathy in Contact Centres?
Empathy is an agent’s ability to understand the feelings of a customer in a personal manner. They are able to relate to the customer’s challenges within their own frame of reference, placing themselves in the customer’s shoes, as it were.
While empathy isn’t crucial for the customer experience (only 10% deem it absolutely necessary), it can help in several stressful and conflict-prone scenarios. An academic study found that customers seek out emotional support and empathy from agents when faced with interpersonal tensions.
There are three kinds of empathy one should aim for, each with its own tactics for improvement:
- Attemptive empathy– A type of listening skill, the agent they are paying attention to the customer’s elucidation of the problem. Repeat customers statements, paraphrase them and elaborate their ideas to show that you care. Avoid appearing as impatient or only superficially interested.
- Affective empathy– The agent relates to how the customer isfeeling as a result of the problem. Try asking questions to explore further emotional impact. Offer an apology and recall if other customers have faced similar issues, and how they were resolved.
- Cognitive empathy– The agent re-positions themselves from the customer’s perspective, cognitively figuring out the problem and its possible resolution. Offer the different options at hand, and clearly explain the problem cause. Avoid rushing through interactions of this type.
Contact centres should also provide training and scripting assistance so that agents can match every interaction with the appropriate empathy type.
How to Improve Listening Skills in Contact Centres?
Great listening skills come with years of practice and experience, and contact centre managers must stress its importance to put agents on the right track. Blindly chasing KPIs like a higher service level or shorter call queues can discourage active listening, so remember to prioritise this quality even when trying to meet target volumes.
Attentive empathy is an outcome of active listening, demonstrating that the customer grievance has been heard and it has made an impact on the agent. Repeating what the customer says, double-checking their statements, and letting the customer finish (even if they are upset, wrong, or angry) demonstrate that the agent is listening.
Another helpful tactic is to ratify the conversation with a post-call email/text, reassuring the customer that their thoughts and opinions have been recorded.
Customers may not explicitly specify empathy or listening skills as an expected quality, but cognitive empathy and attentive empathy/listening go a long way in solving customer problems. Keep this mind when setting performance objectives and guide agents in the right direction.
