Don't lose your steam! How to deal with unhappy customers.

No matter if your product, business plans or plugin is functional and well crafted: there comes a time where a user or client knocks at your door, and they aren’t happy at all with you.
Supporting users is not an easy job, not to mention when they’re angry or upset, and this can affect your emotional and professional balance. In this talk I’m going to share some useful tips and tricks I deploy when dealing with upset customers, to turn them into a potential happy users. I’ll also share my advice on how to maintain an assertive and positive attitude when things go south.
This talk aims to all the people who can possibly interact with users and are looking to fine-tune their customer support skills

Transcript

2. Don’t lose your steam! How to deal with unhappy customers Stef Mattana @stefmattana @eraniapinnera
3. You have been an angry customer Yes, I know you have
4. Abusive customers are rare Despite the higher volume of enquiries
6. What happens in a human mind while dealing with an angry person?
7. #1 Body reactions
8. Catecholamines are released heart rate accelerates blood pressure raises rate of breathing increases
9. #2 Ready to fight
10. Your attention narrows Soon you can pay attention to your target only
11. #3 Mistakes are around the corner
12. If the amygdala handles the emotion, the prefrontal cortex handles judgment. (lack of) judgment
13. What happens in your head while dealing with an angry user?
14. You get upset too #1 Body reactions You’re discouraged You get passive aggressive
15. You’re willing to NOT reply #2 Ready to fight Ditch the ticket Mock the user
16. Hurried reply #3 Mistakes are around the corner Rude tone of voice Forgotten ticket
17. Emotions play a big part when dealing with abusive users
18. Control that feeling
19. Define the background of the anger
20. what? when? why?
22. Shut down your brain Recharge your batteries
23. No work Yes break
24. Don’t take it personally but be personal
25. Skip the arguments
26. A lot of back and forth? Get your back covered
27. Don’t let the users feel alone or abandoned when you’re sorting out an issue.
28. Offer a solution
29. Refund is not a waste of money your branding will thank you later
30. Make them part of the solution not of the problem
32. Try to use positive words
33. Don’t be apologetic
34. Educate them Empower the users
35. Be patient when language barrier happen
36. Zero tolerance towards abusive users
37. Don’t be apologetic
38. Prefer written channels vs phone The user You less impulsive more time to think go back and re-read = educate ease down the sense of urgency
39. Smile when you can it works! paw patrol
40. Smile when you can it works! paw patrol
41. Learn from user’s anger
42. Documentation is important!
45. A change of voice sometimes can help
46. What not to do apart from losing your steam
47. Never ask for a good review once the user is happy again
48. “we messed up your site, but we fixed it, so you owe us a feedback”
49. “we messed up your site, but we fixed it, so you owe us a feedback”
50. Angry—>happy users more keen on leaving good feedback organically
52. A note on the tools
53. Create a system where users can rate your CS
56. Make it easy to find a way to write to you
58. Adjust your tone of voice depending on the channels you use
59. Leave notes Especially when working in a team
60. Many tickets? Oldest > Newest Sort by urgency Triage them!
61. Feedback replies: agnosticism or keeping their own?
63. Use smart tools Alfred app TextExpander
64. Bullet points FTW
65. Look at the bright side
67. Thanks for listening! Questions? But don’t scream at me! Stef Mattana @stefmattana @eraniapinnera