How To Say Sorry: 8 Tips For Providing Positive Customer Support Experiences

Acquiring new clients uses up more resources than retaining existing ones. This is just one reason why it’s so important to provide your people with a positive customer support experience when they’re having a problem!

Here are 8 customer support tips for solopreneurs and small businesses. It’s so important to look at responding to customer issues as an opportunity rather than a dreaded chore.

Listen now!

Fun fact: when I was an angsty teen, I had a firm policy on never apologizing.

My rationale was: “I’ll never apologize because if I did something I was sorry for, I wouldn’t have done it in the first place.”

(Another fun fact: the human brain isn’t fully developed until 25 years old. That explains a lot, right?)

Now that I’m older, wiser, and much less cringe, I know it’s IMPOSSIBLE to go your entire life without doing something you need to apologize for.

Sometimes, we snap and say something we regret.

Sometimes we act in a way that sends a message we didn’t actually mean to send.

And sometimes we just straight up mess up and make a mistake. 

And there are times when we aren’t at fault at all, but we still need to be sympathetic and help the other person resolve a problem.

Today, we’re talking how to say sorry in your business. We’re talking customer service and how to respond to people when they come to you with a problem.

How Does Customer Support Relate To Digital Strategy?

We’re all about digital strategy here, and helping you improve yours!

Customer support and digital strategy are connected in more ways than you can imagine.

Let me hit you with some facts:

• Acquiring new customers can be 5+ times more expensive than retaining existing ones
• When deciding whether or not to make a purchase, 90% of consumers are influenced by customer service reviews
• People are willing to pay more for better customer service
• After a positive customer service experience with a brand, 77% of people will recommend it to a friend
• After a poor customer service experience, 39% of people will avoid the brand in question for at least 2 years

I could go on, but I think you get the picture.

Providing Good Customer Support Is An Opportunity To Impress

You’re gonna get customers or clients coming to you when they have complaints, issues, problems, etc. That’s inevitable.

Depending on your niche and your type of product or service, you may deal with this a lot or only on rare occasion.

Regardless of the frequency, it is important to respond well when these situations do arise.

Look at it as an opportunity to keep a paying customer or client happy.

Because if you’re able to give people a positive customer service experience, they’re gonna be more likely to be loyal to you and refer others to you.

And we’re all about that!

On the flipside, if your customer support is not so hot, you could be pushing people directly into the arms of your competition.

8 Customer Support Tips For Solopreneurs

Don’t expect to keep everyone happy, but these tips will go a long way to helping you better respond in these situations.

Tip #1: Deal With Negative Emotions Privately

If someone is coming to you with an issue or complaint, it’s natural to get defensive and experience a wave of negative emotion. Don’t let this emotion guide your response, because it’s not a good look.

I’m not saying bottle up your emotions. Do whatever you need to do, but do it privately. Take some deep breaths. Meditate. Take up boxing. Call your mom. Whatever works for you.

Tip #2: Take A Moment

Most people are likely coming to you with their issues via email–most of us don’t have a customer service hotline or anything–so we can answer at our leisure. Obviously, don’t wait too long. But do take time to get your bearings about you and make sure you aren’t responding rashly. Take the time to deal with any emotions and address the situation when you’ve detached emotionally from it.

Tip #3: FOCUS ON THEIR EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE

 It’s so important to try to put yourself in the other person’s shoes. Sometimes, this is easier said than done – especially when we’re so close to our business and everything that goes on in it. But there’s usually some common ground you can find if you take a couple of moments.

Remember that you have no idea what the other person is going through, or what they’ve got going on in their life. Maybe money is tight and they really saved their pennies up to buy your product/service. Now, it’s not up to their standards or isn’t what they were expecting or they can’t get it to work right. I feel like most of us can agree that would be frustrating and disappointing!

Tip #4: BE CAREFUL WITH THE LANGUAGE & TONE YOU USE

You should have a tone of voice profile established for your brand. For example, your tone of voice profile may be funny, casual, sassy, and enthusiastic.

But your tone of voice can, and should, change depending on the situation.

If someone is coming to you and they want a refund – you probably don’t want to use a funny, sassy tone when you write back to them.

Also, be cautious with humor, because sometimes it can kinda get lost in translation and not be received the way you meant it.

Tip #5: Just Say Sorry

Even if it’s not your fault, an apology goes a long way.

Now, there are good ways and bad ways to say sorry. We’ve all probably had enough experience in our own personal relationships to know what works well and what doesn’t, but just in case:

The best apologies are direct, indicating you understand the problem and the other person is cared for and heard.

Tip #6: TAKE THE HIGH ROAD

If people are writing to you because they have an issue with your product or service, the things they say may not be the nicest. Sometimes, in fact, they can be downright mean.

Now, it is important to have boundaries and not get walked all over. But you can stand up for yourself and not stoop to their level. That’s not going to do anything to resolve the problem, and at the end of the day, it’s not going to make you feel any better, either. Avoid anything that is full-on or passive aggressive.

Tip #7: Take Note Of Common Issues/Problems

If you find yourself constantly apologizing for a screwed up order or something like that, perhaps there’s an opportunity to fix something within your business. to prevent it from happening so often.

Tip #8: Create A Library of Plug & Play Responses

I’m usually against anything that’s plug-and-play when it comes to copywriting, but this is one of the exceptions.

Creating a bank of typical responses to common customer inquiries or issues can be helpful. It’s especially handy if you struggle to come up with responses on your own, or if you’re working with a team who may be responding on your behalf.

Instead of being at a loss for words every time you get a customer emailing you that their order didn’t arrive on time, you can just copy and paste your already-written response in. Remember to personalize it for the customer and their exact situation, of course.

Wrapping It Up

For most of us solopreneurs and small business owners, our customer support/service probably isn’t at the forefront of our minds. But that doesn’t make it any less important!

Having excellent customer support is only going to strengthen your brand and help you grow it. It’s an opportunity to retain your hard-earned customers and get them referring you to their friends!