We all know we can't meet all of our clients' requests or make no mistakes. It's only natural, and representing the company's image to communicate with customers can be a daunting task in customer support.
For the risks that may arise regarding apologies
All of us have pride, especially when faced with accusations. You may need to let your employees know that the accusation your customer is facing is directed at the company, which will allow them to apologize without excessive psychological burden. Too many apologies can make your employees unhappy, and your company will need long-term employees.
Apologies that lack sincerity and empathy will cost you your users forever, and on top of that, it will give your company a negative reputation. These negative reviews will be fatal to you after a long period of accumulation.
Your support representatives who are not trained in the risks may derive legal liability, which is fatal. If you are unsure about liability, please consult your manager or legal counsel.
Principles of Apology
1. Emotion is always the highest level
Your support staff may encounter a situation where your customer has become upset due to some misunderstanding or other reason. Your support person may be desperate to explain to the customer, sometimes subconsciously defending the situation. You need to stop such behavior immediately! Because this will not satisfy the customer.
You want to know the right thing to do?
Imagine you feel cheated! When you approach a salesperson with anger (or by email) and you find that the agent is trying desperately to defend himself or the company. How do you feel? Would you be in a good mood?
You would definitely want to meet someone who is full of empathy and who might join you in complaining about this terrible thing (even if it might be the customer's own missteps). She will listen to what you have to say, and she will feel sorry and sad for your bad experience. She may also be brave and solve the problem for you with a positive attitude.
Face-to-face support and apologies are probably most effective, by phone or email if your business is online. If you find a customer unpleasant, then please take note. Or please be empathetic enough to begin with; human service is always the highest level of support.
2. Short and fast
To save your customers' reading time, you need to provide them with the shortest and most effective solution possible.
If you do not provide first response or have limited manpower, you can use the help desk to provide self-service for your users. Building a knowledge base can free up your staff and increase their productivity.
3. Legal responsibility
You need to set cautionary language for your agents and not say anything that could create legal problems unless the language has been reviewed by your legal counsel.
4. Admit your mistakes anyway
Whether it is an error on your agent's part, or an error in your company's services and products, it needs to be clearly acknowledged. Be sure to be specific about what you are apologizing for.
For example
- "There is no doubt that you are correct and we should have taken note of this earlier in the process."
- "I understand now that I didn't read your email correctly, and that was entirely my fault."
5. Provide an accurate solution
Clearly state what you or the company will do differently next time to avoid the situation from happening again. This is your opportunity to re-establish trust.
- "We have recharged your system and your issue has been resolved by the engineering team."
- "I fully understand if this was a deal breaker for you, but I wanted to let you know that I would be happy to explain anything in more detail or hear from you about any other issues. Simply reply to this email and it will be returned to me immediately."
Whether or not the customer accepts your apology is up to them, but you should make sure they know you are there to listen and help.
How not to apologize
An apology should not include the following points.
1. don't make promises you can't keep (for example, don't say "it won't happen again" if you don't have 100% control over it.)
2. don't belittle or ignore the customer's feelings (e.g., "Our other customers don't have any problems with this.")
Don't defend yourself by blaming others or minimizing problems (e.g., don't put third-party vendors in a bind.)
Don't over-apologize (if you say it too often, the word "sorry" will lose all meaning.)
The reluctant "well, it's really your fault, but I guess the customer is always right" apology that some companies tend to give is worse than no apology at all.
Example of a customer apology letter
Thank you for your email.
I would like to begin by offering my sincerest apologies for the great inconvenience and burden that my mistake has caused you. Normally, when an RRSP withdrawal is cancelled, it needs to be restarted immediately to ensure that the funds raised are not automatically reinvested on the next business day. Noting that the withdrawal was not restarted and at the risk of the funds being reinvested, I took the liberty of restarting it myself using the HBP form provided. However, as you pointed out and confirmed, it looks like I selected the wrong/default banking, which led to your instability.
While I am glad you were able to complete your purchase, I fully understand your concerns. I have raised this issue with my team and have filed a request for compensation due to my error.
Again, my sincerest apologies for the additional stress and headache. I will get back to you via an update within 2 business days.
If you have any questions about this, please let me know and I will be happy to help.
Dear DRADI Community.
First of all, I apologize for any stress and uncertainty that the DRADI website redesign has caused in an already difficult year. I'm sorry that our actions or inactions have made anyone in the community feel neglected. We acknowledge that our response so far has been inadequate.
It is painful for the entire team and myself to know that DRADI, which we know is a source of comfort for many people, has caused additional anxiety for anyone. I hope people will find joy in DRADI again, and please know that we are working towards that goal.
In the meantime, I thought it might be useful to let me answer some frequently asked questions today.
Why did this response take so long?
I know it took me a long time to receive this letter, and I apologize for the delay. Considering the number of responses to the site redesign in June, we wanted to be very purposeful and thorough. We are still processing extensive feedback, receiving more messages daily, and trying to navigate the path forward with accessibility ahead of us. ......
Hello.
We had a technical issue yesterday that we would like to explain to you.
For context, we're out there. We create co-living spaces designed for location independent professionals.
At some point in the last 4 years, you signed up for a newsletter, downloaded an e-book, or booked our accommodations, and that's why we have your email on file. If you haven't heard from us in a while, it's because we typically only send emails to those who open and read our emails regularly.
Questions
Yesterday we may have sent you a membership renewal email that you should not have received. We realize that this may be concerning because the email indicated that a renewal fee would be charged.
We are writing to you to make it clear that you will not be charged. We do not have your payment information on file, even if you have booked through us in the past.
What happens?
Is it too late to say you're sorry?
The ability to apologize effectively is a skill that can be practiced often, from small misunderstandings to larger technical issues and everything in between. The value it will bring to your business (and your personal life!) The value it will bring to your business (and your personal life!) is immeasurable.
Use BClinked User Support System to enhance self-service for your users.
For the risks that may arise regarding apologies
All of us have pride, especially when faced with accusations. You may need to let your employees know that the accusation your customer is facing is directed at the company, which will allow them to apologize without excessive psychological burden. Too many apologies can make your employees unhappy, and your company will need long-term employees.
Apologies that lack sincerity and empathy will cost you your users forever, and on top of that, it will give your company a negative reputation. These negative reviews will be fatal to you after a long period of accumulation.
Your support representatives who are not trained in the risks may derive legal liability, which is fatal. If you are unsure about liability, please consult your manager or legal counsel.
Principles of Apology
1. Emotion is always the highest level
Your support staff may encounter a situation where your customer has become upset due to some misunderstanding or other reason. Your support person may be desperate to explain to the customer, sometimes subconsciously defending the situation. You need to stop such behavior immediately! Because this will not satisfy the customer.
You want to know the right thing to do?
Imagine you feel cheated! When you approach a salesperson with anger (or by email) and you find that the agent is trying desperately to defend himself or the company. How do you feel? Would you be in a good mood?
You would definitely want to meet someone who is full of empathy and who might join you in complaining about this terrible thing (even if it might be the customer's own missteps). She will listen to what you have to say, and she will feel sorry and sad for your bad experience. She may also be brave and solve the problem for you with a positive attitude.
Face-to-face support and apologies are probably most effective, by phone or email if your business is online. If you find a customer unpleasant, then please take note. Or please be empathetic enough to begin with; human service is always the highest level of support.
2. Short and fast
To save your customers' reading time, you need to provide them with the shortest and most effective solution possible.
If you do not provide first response or have limited manpower, you can use the help desk to provide self-service for your users. Building a knowledge base can free up your staff and increase their productivity.
3. Legal responsibility
You need to set cautionary language for your agents and not say anything that could create legal problems unless the language has been reviewed by your legal counsel.
4. Admit your mistakes anyway
Whether it is an error on your agent's part, or an error in your company's services and products, it needs to be clearly acknowledged. Be sure to be specific about what you are apologizing for.
For example
- "There is no doubt that you are correct and we should have taken note of this earlier in the process."
- "I understand now that I didn't read your email correctly, and that was entirely my fault."
5. Provide an accurate solution
Clearly state what you or the company will do differently next time to avoid the situation from happening again. This is your opportunity to re-establish trust.
- "We have recharged your system and your issue has been resolved by the engineering team."
- "I fully understand if this was a deal breaker for you, but I wanted to let you know that I would be happy to explain anything in more detail or hear from you about any other issues. Simply reply to this email and it will be returned to me immediately."
Whether or not the customer accepts your apology is up to them, but you should make sure they know you are there to listen and help.
How not to apologize
An apology should not include the following points.
1. don't make promises you can't keep (for example, don't say "it won't happen again" if you don't have 100% control over it.)
2. don't belittle or ignore the customer's feelings (e.g., "Our other customers don't have any problems with this.")
Don't defend yourself by blaming others or minimizing problems (e.g., don't put third-party vendors in a bind.)
Don't over-apologize (if you say it too often, the word "sorry" will lose all meaning.)
The reluctant "well, it's really your fault, but I guess the customer is always right" apology that some companies tend to give is worse than no apology at all.
Example of a customer apology letter
Thank you for your email.
I would like to begin by offering my sincerest apologies for the great inconvenience and burden that my mistake has caused you. Normally, when an RRSP withdrawal is cancelled, it needs to be restarted immediately to ensure that the funds raised are not automatically reinvested on the next business day. Noting that the withdrawal was not restarted and at the risk of the funds being reinvested, I took the liberty of restarting it myself using the HBP form provided. However, as you pointed out and confirmed, it looks like I selected the wrong/default banking, which led to your instability.
While I am glad you were able to complete your purchase, I fully understand your concerns. I have raised this issue with my team and have filed a request for compensation due to my error.
Again, my sincerest apologies for the additional stress and headache. I will get back to you via an update within 2 business days.
If you have any questions about this, please let me know and I will be happy to help.
Dear DRADI Community.
First of all, I apologize for any stress and uncertainty that the DRADI website redesign has caused in an already difficult year. I'm sorry that our actions or inactions have made anyone in the community feel neglected. We acknowledge that our response so far has been inadequate.
It is painful for the entire team and myself to know that DRADI, which we know is a source of comfort for many people, has caused additional anxiety for anyone. I hope people will find joy in DRADI again, and please know that we are working towards that goal.
In the meantime, I thought it might be useful to let me answer some frequently asked questions today.
Why did this response take so long?
I know it took me a long time to receive this letter, and I apologize for the delay. Considering the number of responses to the site redesign in June, we wanted to be very purposeful and thorough. We are still processing extensive feedback, receiving more messages daily, and trying to navigate the path forward with accessibility ahead of us. ......
Hello.
We had a technical issue yesterday that we would like to explain to you.
For context, we're out there. We create co-living spaces designed for location independent professionals.
At some point in the last 4 years, you signed up for a newsletter, downloaded an e-book, or booked our accommodations, and that's why we have your email on file. If you haven't heard from us in a while, it's because we typically only send emails to those who open and read our emails regularly.
Questions
Yesterday we may have sent you a membership renewal email that you should not have received. We realize that this may be concerning because the email indicated that a renewal fee would be charged.
We are writing to you to make it clear that you will not be charged. We do not have your payment information on file, even if you have booked through us in the past.
What happens?
Our email software is divided into lists. Yesterday, a large list was mistakenly sent an email asking if they would like to renew their outside membership. You are one of those people and you should not have received this email ......
Is it too late to say you're sorry?
The ability to apologize effectively is a skill that can be practiced often, from small misunderstandings to larger technical issues and everything in between. The value it will bring to your business (and your personal life!) The value it will bring to your business (and your personal life!) is immeasurable.
Use BClinked User Support System to enhance self-service for your users.