Customer service is growing to become an absolute necessity for companies nowadays, no matter how small or big it is. One of the reasons that businesses can no longer think of it as an option for business leading is because, thanks to the internet, communication has become so much easier for everyone across the globe, giving the impression that anyone can handle customer service tasks.

Online customer support is mainly done either through (1) voice calls, or (2) email and chat. There are many ways to provide customer support for both platforms. However, if you’re looking to become an email or chat support specialist, there are a few skills you’ll need to master first.

At first glance, you’d think that email and chat support is easy because you’ll be dealing with written complaints. But in truth, attention to detail is still quite important in this line of work. Being succinct is not exactly what the customers have in mind when they complain to the company. 

They will usually try to paint a picture of their situation for you and tell you what the problem is. See what your customer wants to get done and try to solve the issue for them, or provide concrete steps that they can take to resolve the issue.

This is what will set the chat support specialist apart from bots and even from Google articles that are supposed to solve the problem for the clients. If you’re planning to work as a customer support specialist, your empathy will be your strongest tool in connecting with the customer.

Try to see where your customer is coming from and understand what they really want to resolve. Empathize with your customer and make them understand that your company understands what the customer is going through and is doing everything you can to provide the best service possible.

Humor is a good element in conversations. But when it comes to customer support, humor does not always apply. As mentioned above, it is important to empathize with your customer when dealing with them. 

Assess your customer’s disposition. Humor might not be the best technique to apply if your customer is fuelled with rage and frustration. It may work its magic, however, on customers with calmer dispositions or for when you’ve successfully resolved their complaints for them. 

Ideally, customer service transactions are supposed to be about two people calmly discussing a product or service-related query that will get settled as they effectively converse with utmost respect and maturity. However, that will not always be the case.

Some customers will be calm, and others will not. There will be times when they get enraged or frustrated. It is therefore up to the chat support specialist to try to resolve the issue and be patient if the customer is not in a particularly good mood. 

At the end of the day, email and chat support is really about solving your customers’ woes by being human and an effective brand representative at the same time. 

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