The Importance of Call Center Etiquette

If you’ve ever had a negative customer service experience, this illustration probably serves well to remind you why call center etiquette can have a visceral impact on customer experiences. But how does all of that impact your business? We’ll explain—and show you how to excel at call center etiquette—in the rest of this article.

The Impact of Call Center Etiquette on Customer Experience
Call center etiquette has a major impact on the customer experience—as one might expect. However, recent data shows that this connection is more direct than one might imagine:

So it’s clear that good customer service impacts customer loyalty, retention, purchasing decisions, and, by extension, overall profits and company growth. But what exactly creates good customer service? The majority of US consumers—about 80%—say that friendly service and knowledgeable help, alongside speed and convenience, are the top elements of a positive customer service experience. Another study revealed that being able to resolve issues quickly, get support in real-time (i.e. 24/7) and speak to friendly support agents were the top elements that created good customer service experiences. Obviously, all of these elements—speed, quick resolution, friendliness and knowledgeableness—are related to call center etiquette. The more positive the conversation is—in both word and tone—the more positive the resolution is perceived to be, even if the outcome is the same. And more positive solutions create more satisfied customers. Creating this positive experience through call center etiquette begins with first impressions. From the first interaction a customer has with your agent, agents should be friendly, knowledgeable and eager to help.- Greet customers by name, if possible, or ask for their names quickly so you can use them throughout the conversation.
– Speak in a positive, friendly tone.
– Answer the phone with a smile so callers can “hear” that you’re happy to hear from them (body language really does come through over the phone in tone of voice!).By starting off on the right foot, you can reassure customers that you care and that you’re there to help. But it’s not just first impressions that impact customer experiences—it’s the entire call or conversation. In the next section, we’ll walk you through how to enhance communication skills in your call centers to improve etiquette and experiences.

There are four main elements of good call center etiquette:

While we’ll get into how to ensure your call center improves etiquette and communication, let’s take a closer look at each of these elements and how to recognize them. Obviously, polite and courteous speech is fairly easy to recognize. We’ve all had negative experiences with customer service, and many of them can be traced back to negative, impolite, or un-empathetic communication. However, some of these other elements are more difficult to define. Active listening skills cover a wide range of skills, such as:- listening carefully to the customer’s problems.

– repeating or rephrasing the customer’s problems back to them
– showing you understand and empathize with the customer’s problem

– taking responsibility for solving the customer’s needs.

In addition, regardless of how skilled your agents are in communication and active listening, it’s essential that you have procedures in place to ensure timely responses and follow-ups so customers feel taken care of. Without timely responses, all the good communication skills in the world won’t overcome the seeming rudeness of keeping a customer waiting. In fact, today, more than half of customers expect responses from call center agents within 5 minutes or less. Companies who can’t honor their customers’ time and respond quickly will lose customers. Finally, a respect for customer’s time is closely followed by a need to respect customer’s privacy and confidentiality. Though this is more of a background element—it’s not as often seen by the customer—ensuring that customer data and communications stay confidential and secure is essential to creating a courteous and effective call center.

Conclusion: Upholding Call Center Etiquette for Success
At the end of the day: call center etiquette can be difficult to implement, and even more difficult to keep implemented. Whether you’re relying on chatbots and AI or just managing a basic call center and fielding voice calls, you need to provide:- adequate training on emotional intelligence and good communication and etiquette skills
– clear guidelines on policies, protocol and etiquette to agents
– positive and friendly communication to customers.

All of these will help implement the etiquette you need to deliver successful customer experiences.