Harnessing the Power of Empathy in Customer Service

Empathy is usually not a common word that springs to mind when people think about customer service. However, combining the two can be a game changer for your business and believe it or not, could be the sole reason that keeps you ahead of your competition.

Nearly 90% of companies today compete on the basis of customer service alone. Moreover, 65% of consumers report a terrible customer experience as the main reason for switching to other businesses.

In this article, we’ll be setting the spotlight on empathy, a simple yet powerful ability that will take your customer service to the next level and far beyond your competitors. Read on to learn:

• What empathy is and is not in customer service
• Why it’s so important
• Plus how to add empathy as a super ingredient in your customer interactions

‍

With empathy caps on, let’s gain some new perspectives!

Empathy in Customer Service: What It Is and Why It’s So Important

Famous actress Meryl Streep once said, “The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy.” Dramatic theatrics aside, empathy is no doubt a powerful ability, and to maximize its power in customer service, it’s key to understand exactly what it is and is not.

Empathy Vs. Sympathy

Empathy is the ability to truly understand and show that you share the feelings of another person. It should not be confused with sympathy, which is something you don’t want to have in your customer service.

In general, sympathy is feeling sorry and only acknowledging that someone is distressed, like expressing condolences at a funeral. It’s a natural and appropriate response in many day-to-day interactions but doesn’t communicate to a person that you understand why they feel the way that they do. Sympathy is more transactional and distant in nature than empathy.

Empathy requires greater effort to dig deeper and understand why a person feels a certain emotion. It’s putting yourself in someone else’s shoes and seeing as well as understanding the situation from their perspective.

Importance of Empathy in Customer Service

In customer service, being empathetic is the ability to show that you hear and understand a customer’s feelings or frustrations, rather than simply being sympathetic to them. Nearly 60% of all consumers feel that companies have lost touch with the human element of customer experience. This is where empathy can come in to make a major difference.

Research on consumer expectations shows that:

• 30% of consumers want more responsiveness and empathy
• 21% believe customer support should provide more empathy
• 80% of consumers expect better customer service

‍

By employing the tactics we’ll lay out in this article, you can show your customers that you truly care and understand their concerns, gain their trust, as well as improve the likelihood they walk away with a positive experience.

How to Have Empathy in Customer Service

Now that we have an idea of what empathy is and its importance, let’s go over concrete steps you can take to instill empathy into your customer service.

Be Specific and Avoid Generic Sympathetic Statements

Whether face-to-face, by phone, or digitally, it’s easy to respond to customer concerns with generic sympathetic statements like “I’m sorry for the inconvenience” or “I understand.”

Compare those with saying something like “I completely understand how frustrating it is dealing with this issue and how it can affect {{desired outcome}}. I’m going to run some tests to pinpoint the problem and solve this as quickly as possible.”

By being specific you make it clear you’ve heard your customer’s concerns, understand the implications of the problem, and have an action plan to solve it for them.

Understand Your Biases

We all have biases to varying degrees. But in customer service, expressing any form of bias will almost always work against you. More often than not, customers can spot the slightest hint of bias, and this can become an obstacle in showing empathy and giving a positive customer experience.

For example, if an elderly-sounding customer calls you to ask about a problem navigating your app, you may automatically assume the problem is that they aren’t tech-savvy enough due to their age instead of the issue being your app’s UI or a glitch.

To maintain empathetic customer service, it’s important to stay aware of making quick assumptions or treating customers differently based on their sex, age, race, or religion.

Practice Active Listening

Active listening means being able to focus and understand what a person is saying, remember the information they share, and respond thoughtfully.

It’s a common strategy in the sales world and one that plays a key role in having empathy during customer interactions. Ways you can practice active listening are:

• Paraphrase or summarize what a customer says: This will make it clear you understood the problem and validate your customer’s point of view.
• Don’t cut them off: Even if they are venting, take this as an opportunity to gather more information about the problem and understand where their frustrations stem from.
• Remember what’s being said or shared: Taking notes is a great way to show you’re listening and make sure you don’t miss any key points, especially since customers hate repeating themselves.
• Use positive reinforcement phrases or words while listening like: indeed, for sure, right, I understand, etc.
• Ask follow-up questions: Ask questions that build upon what you’ve learned and help you dig deeper to solve the issue.

While active listening is practiced mostly in-person or over the phone, its elements can also be used in email to show you’ve understood the problem and are actively solving it.

Put Yourself in Your Customer’s Shoes

One of the core ways of practicing empathy is seeing things from the customer’s perspective. When looking to train your customer service team on empathy, ask them questions such as:

• How would they want the issue resolved as a customer?
• What would they like to hear to feel understood and reassured that the issue will be resolved?
• What could the agent say or do that will make you walk away with a positive experience? 

‍

Customer service reps can also role-play and share feedback on how scenarios play out. By putting yourself in your customer’s shoes you can come up with creative ways to approach and solve customer problems while practicing empathy.

Use Personalization and Be Proactive

Personalization is a major topic in marketing, sales, and even customer service. It’s a powerful way to build a connection, show empathy, and develop an overall tailored customer experience.

There are plenty of ways to personalize customer interactions, such as addressing customers by their names or providing special offers and solutions to loyal customers.

One very powerful way to take personalization and empathy to the next level is being proactive in solving your customer’s concerns before they even voice them. For example, popular makeup brand Glossier noticed a package was delayed, reached out to the customer before any complaint was made, and redelivered the product with express shipping.

This predictive level of support shows customers how much the brand values their business by actively tracking and resolving issues before they are even raised.

Give Customers the Benefit of the Doubt

Having a mindset that automatically gives people the benefit of the doubt is one of the most effective ways to become a highly empathetic person. Keep in mind that when a customer acts up, the issue is not personal to you in any way but is rather a multifactorial one.

Dealing with an overreacting customer? Perhaps they’re going through a divorce or a home foreclosure. Or maybe the product was meant to be a special gift that they had been saving up for and it did not work as expected.

Whatever it is, giving people the benefit of the doubt will help you empathize with their situation, actively try to help them, and perhaps make their day a little better.

Know How to Manage Stress

Building upon the previous point, there’s no doubt that working with customers at times can be a stressful endeavor. Apart from the many negative aspects of stress, it also makes empathizing with others all the more difficult.

If an interaction with a customer is causing you to stress to the point where you can no longer empathize with their situation, try to:

• Let the customer be part of the solution by asking them what they think the solution should be
• Transfer them to a customer service agent that can better handle this particular situation
• Refer to your manager to help solve the problem

‍

This is not to say you should let a customer go beyond the boundaries when dealing with you. You can stand your ground, show them you understand their frustration, and take the proper steps to resolve the issue. Just keep in mind:

• Resist the urge to blame them for their mistake if they made one
• Avoid getting worked up or intimidated
• It’s best not to expect or wait for an apology even when the customer knows they are wrong

‍

Collect Customer Feedback

A lack of negative customer feedback may seem like your customers are satisfied, but research shows that 91% of customers unhappy with a brand will walk away without complaining.

Gathering customer feedback will help you know if your team is doing a great job or not plus it can help gauge the effectiveness of your team’s training. If you are looking to assess your team’s use of empathy, you can ask customers through surveys and questionnaires questions like:

• “What could {{AGENT}} have done to make your conversation better?”
• “Are you happy with the resolution {{AGENT}} provided? Why or why not?”
• “Do you feel your issue was properly understood and resolved?”

‍

Actively promoting and incentivizing customer feedback will let your customers feel involved with your brand and help you grow a loyal customer base.

Also read: De-escalation: How to Deal with Irate Customers Effectively

3 Helpful Empathy Phrases Your Customer Service Should Use

When it comes to expressing empathy there is no set script to follow. However, there are some helpful phrases and statements that come in handy.

Here are three of them you can use to quickly empathize with your customers.

“I totally agree with you. We can work on this together.”

This phrase helps validate the customer’s feelings or complaints. Including the collaborative “we” helps build confidence that you’ll get through this together.

Most of the time customers will have to give details like order numbers, product information, error codes, etc. so you may as well build upon their cooperation with a spirit of collaboration that empowers them to be a part of the solution.

“I’m very sorry you had to spend time trying to figure this out. I know how frustrating it must have been for you”

Acknowledging the time and frustration a customer went through is a powerful way to empathize with their situation. Following up with an assurance that the problem will be solved will help them feel their efforts have not been totally in vain and hopefully instill a sense of relief.

“That sounds very challenging, I’m sorry you had to go through that over the weekend.”

Sometimes a lot of customer frustration stems from having to deal with a problem at a critical time like during vacation, over the holiday, or on a Saturday night.

Even if they are free every day of the week, mentioning the fact that they had to go through this on a typical day off is a quick way to show them you are putting yourself in their shoes and understand their frustration.

Key Takeaways

Empathy requires effort and practice to grow within your customer service team. The steps outlined in this article can help you implement empathy in your customer interactions and will likely immediately set you apart from your competition.

If you’re still on the fence regarding how important empathy is in customer service, remember:

• Most companies today compete on the basis of customer service alone
• Leading with empathy when resolving customer issues will result in a much better overall customer experience
• Consumers wish there was more empathy and human interaction in customer service
• Active listening, giving the benefit of the doubt, and putting yourself in your customer’s shoes are quick ways to invoke empathy 

‍