Eight Things Your Support Team Should Never Say to Your Customers

There are things that we’re all taught not to say. Don’t mention an old flame in front of a new spouse. Never ask an older woman her age, or a younger one if she’s pregnant. Don’t ask about someone’s salary, shoe size, or anything to do with their sex life. Even support agents, who earn their living by speaking to customers, sometimes, need to be reminded what they should and should not say. At Desk.com we talk to a lot of customer service professionals. Ranging from merely cringe-worthy to enraging, here are eight things they recommend your team should never say to customers:

"You did that wrong."

Customers frequently do things the wrong way and it can be incredibly frustrating to agents. (What do you mean you can’t see the red button? It’s right in front of your face!) It’s good to remind your team that what seems obvious to them is not as apparent to people who aren’t thinking about your product all day long. Especially where technology’s concerned. Rather than telling customers that they did something wrong, encourage your team to walk them through what they're trying to do, slowly, step-­by-­step.

"That's not something I can help you with."

Sure there are lot things like lowering the price of your product or changing shipping schedules that are outside of the scope of your support team, but there are better ways for them to tell customers they can't help. If a customer is asking for something that’s out of your agent’s control, the agent can explain that they aren’t an expert in that area but promise to connect them with the person that is. And then make sure to deliver on that promise.

That they know the answer if they don’t.

Nobody likes a know­-it­-all, and especially a know-­it-­all that doesn’t really know it all. This is especially true for customer service agents. If your agents aren't sure whether a problem is actually a bug or how to troubleshoot it, it's okay for them to let the customer know that they’ll get in touch with the right person to investigate and circle back when they have an answer. Customers appreciate the honesty and certainly don’t want to phone back again if they get an answer that’s wrong from someone that thinks they know it all, but doesn’t.

“I promise we’re adding this new feature....”

Although it may be well­-intentioned, if your agents make promises about new features it can burn you. Yes, it’s important to let customers know that they’re listening, but when agents make promises about things that are not in their control it can lead to more unhappiness. Instead, have your team explain how your company takes feature suggestions and prioritizes them based on demand so customers can understand why their specific request may not be worked on immediately.

"Sorry" (or sorry-not-sorry)

This may surprise a lot of people. Don’t you want your support people to apologize? But let's be honest, most support people aren't sorry for things. Whatever the issue is it's usually someone else's fault; a user did something wrong, there’s a problem with the product, broken code, etc. Customers can tell when an apology is fake, and it can frustrate them even more. Encourage your support team to avoid the inauthentic apologies and to focus on offering fast, effective solutions. And make sure that they never ever offer a sarcastic sorry-not-sorry one.

"I'll have so­-and-­so call you back in 5 minutes."

This goes into the “don’t make promises you can’t keep” category. Unless that person's absolutely, positively, swear­-on-­a-­stack-­of­-bibles going to pick up the phone and call in 5 minutes, agents should never offer a specific time. Nothing will make customers more unhappy than waiting by the phone for a call that doesn’t come.

"Thank you for your feedback."

One of the functions of a great customer support team is that it collects customer opinions and passes them along. So why wouldn’t you want your team to thank customers for sharing their feedback? In this case, it’s just a choice of words. “Thank you for your feedback” sounds robotic and insincere. Encourage your agents to thank customers but to do it in their own words, in an authentic way.

Nothing.

Sometimes agents need to pull up account information or research a bug, but leaving a customer on the line with dead air makes for a terrible experience. Encourage your team to either put the customer on hold or — even better — to talk to them. Tell them to ask how the weather is, whether they're excited about the holidays, who they want to win the Super Bowl. Basically anything that helps to build a relationship and show a friendly, more personal face to the customer.

It’s a new year and a great time to take a hard look at how your team is doing and reevaluate how you are motivating and training them. Although it’s unlikely that you’ll need to remind agents not to ask customers about their salaries or sex lives, it’s important that you place a high value helpful, friendly ways of dealing with customers and that your agents do not fall into robotic, know-­it-­all, inauthentic communication styles.

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