Hearing vs listening skills in customer service

Customer service representatives rely on their listening skills to understand how a customer feels about a product or service, to resolve customer complaints and to ensure customer satisfaction. However, the first step to active listening is hearing what customers have to say. 

But what’s the difference between the two?

Customer Service listening skills involve not only noting down the words spoken by the customer, but also the nuances of the issue raised. It could be associated with the tone of voice which a good listener can sense as compared to someone who just hears what someone has to say.

When it comes to listening skills in customer service, here’s the list you should know of:

• Pretend Listening: When someone pretends to listen, they simply nod along and make filler sounds to give the impression that they are listening. There’s a higher probability that they are lost in thought about something else. 

• Selective Listening: When someone chooses to listen selectively, they manage to pay attention only for as long as the conversation interests them. They might eventually get bored and stop caring if they don’t find it relevant or important. 

• Attentive Listening: When a person chooses to give their full attention to someone, they don’t just hear what is said, they are able to sense how the person feels at the moment and ask follow-up questions for more clarity. 

Note: To be a truly effective listener, you need to practice active listening.

What Do you mean by active Listening in customer service?

You practice active listening when you not only hear what a person has to say but you’re able to show empathy. Active listening in customer service makes the person feel valued and heard. Customer service reps should be trained to leverage their communication skills and active listening skills to understand customer needs, appease upset customers and deliver good customer service. 

Keeping an open mind without projecting your own assumptions onto the person, using encouraging nods and hand gestures to show your interest during a face-to-face conversation, and asking relevant follow-up questions over a phone call, but only after the caller is finished speaking, are major aspects of this listening technique.

What are the benefits of active listening in customer service?

Active listening skills come with a whole lot of benefits. 

• Customer service teams with better listeners on their team account for better metrics with an excellent customer satisfaction score for the tickets resolved, high first contact resolution, and low average resolution time.  

• Customer Service Representatives can practice active listening to improve your customer service experience and build trust amongst your team and customers. For example, even if a customer raises an issue that you may have encountered earlier, treat it like this is the first occurrence and show the care it deserves to ensure a customer experience that shines.

Customer service is a customer-centric industry. Hence, it is more critical for customer service teams to practice effective listening.

How can you improve your customer service listening skills?

1. Pay Full Attention to the speaker

You might be amazing at multitasking but if you are on a customer service call and you start working on something simultaneously, there’s a high probability you are unable to solve the query the first time around. You might be indulging in a secondary activity because you believe you’ve dealt with a similar issue earlier. If you’re on the phone, this feeling of boredom may be apparent in your tone as well. If you send out an email, you might end up sounding like a robot, sharing the same canned responses over and over again. Well, now your customer just feels less valued.

So, here’s what you can do. If you’re on a phone call, don’t forget to smile. Your customer can sense a smile even across a phone line. Also, while you practice becoming a better listener, spend some time focusing on your tone of voice and pitch so that your customer feels comfortable while communicating with you. Maintain a calm voice while communicating with an upset customer. It helps calm your customer down. No matter what the circumstance is, avoid a tone that is stressed out or too fast, since you may sound anxious about the situation and your customers need you to be confident and supportive when they reach out for a resolution.

Here are a few tricks you should have up your sleeve while practicing active listening. Use affirmations to let your customer know you understand and empathize with what they’re trying to tell you. During virtual interactions via chats or emails, you can even use chat emojis and personalize emails to let your customers know that they’re interacting with a real person.

Look at this chat transcript between a Netflix customer support agent and a customer. This is a great example of how engaging conversations can make for an amazing customer experience.

 Mike wasn’t required to put in this level of effort into a routine customer interaction but he did, ensuring an amazing customer experience that even results in a great reputation boost for Netflix. While you don’t have to stretch every time, you can try and connect with your customers to make them realize you’re a human on the other end of the line.

2. Deliver Personalized customer services

A great deal of focus is given to resolve queries in a certain timeframe. While speed is important to account for great customer service, you need to practice patience in order to improve customer satisfaction scores. Address your customer by their name, this can have a significantly positive effect on your interactions. It’s good practice to ask them how their day has been. If they are a regular customer, introduce them to your loyalty program as a reward for their patronage.

Listen to what your customers have to say about their problems. Wait until they finish speaking and get more clarity before taking the conversation forward. A note of their previous interactions with your company would be useful here as well. For example, if you work at a café and your customer likes a particular brand of green tea with a dollop of honey and spice, make a record of it. Now, the next time they visit, your staff will be able to refer to this piece of information. Your customers will feel valued when they see that you care.

Any industry where customer support plays a significant role can benefit from this sort of attention to detail.

3. Empathize with Your customer

Since most customer interactions don’t happen in person anymore, you might not be able to read facial expressions and use your body language for communication. In such a scenario, it is important for you to understand your customers’ concerns, be cognizant of how your customer feels and let them know you can empathize with their situation. Never assume that they know exactly what you mean, or vice versa.

For example, there has been a delay in the delivery of a particular product. Your customer calls you to complain about the issue. A reactive approach would involve you launching into explanations immediately and it wouldn’t have the best effect. However, you need to understand that your customers want a resolution to their issue and a chance to talk about what went wrong. Customer service training enables teams to listen to customer complaints, and after they’re done venting, offer them an apology and the solution to their problem.

Try using phrases that convey pleasure or displeasure, such as “That’s amazing”, or “I’m sorry but I don’t think this is quite right.” You can even get a better picture of your customer’s sentiment by asking “Will this work for you?” or “Is this up to your expectations?”. There’s nothing wrong in asking clarifying questions as long as you acknowledge how your customers are feeling and offer them the best possible solution.

4. Ask for Feedback and Act on It

One of the most important things you need to do to improve customer experience is to garner feedback from your customers and then use it to spruce things up. Not only can acting on customer feedback improve your customer-agent interactions but it can also help in improving your product offering.

Feedback doesn’t just have to be in the form of a survey at the end of your conversation. You could also ask for active feedback during an interaction with a customer. Ask questions beginning with a ‘What, why, when, and where’. The answers can be used to understand customer concerns and arrive at a solution at the earliest. Some customers may give you feedback without you asking for it. 

Here’s a classic example by Sainsbury’s where customer feedback was used to impress the customer but as a great marketing tool.

Lily Robinson, a 3-year old, sent a letter to Sainsbury’s. She mentioned that one of their products, the tiger bread, looked more like a giraffe. The customer support manager sent in a personal reply as to why the bread was called so and included a gift card for her. This triggered a campaign to change the name of the bread. Sainsbury’s recognized this as a great opportunity, made the change and even highlighted why the name was now different.

5. Summarize your customer’s points at the end of the conversation

Once you understand what your customer wants, make sure you summarize the conversation in your own words. This is a great way for you to show them that you’ve been attentively listening all along. It also helps you to ensure that you’ve gotten the customer’s views and concerns right, helping you avoid misunderstandings. For instance, a customer needs you to customize a product for them. Summarizing what they have ordered will make sure that you get their requirements and expectations right, reinstating that you’ve been paying attention.

6. Avoid instinctive and emotional responses 

When customer interactions involve email communication, there is a significant focus on replying to them as soon as you can. Timely responses are important, but a well-thought-out and formulated reply holds just as much priority. If the issue is complex and you need time to reach out to the right team members to resolve it, send your customer an acknowledgment email to confirm the receipt of their concerns, ensuring them that you are working on a solution for them.

Remember: Digital communication is instantaneous and you can’t take back what you’ve sent. That’s why it’s critical to read your emails/chats/social posts/etc before you send them, not just for grammar and spelling, but also for the tone and consistency of your communication.

To be safe, avoid replying to your customers when you’re in an emotional state of mind. There might be instances when a customer is rude to you despite your best effort to help them overcome obstacles in their customer journey. In such cases, you shouldn’t let your emotions get the best of you. Go for a cup of coffee or take a walk. Come back and respond in a calmer state of mind. You will be able to come up with a more measured and logical response. Focus on your customer’s feelings and not your own. There‘s always a better way to deal with angry customers who are just trying to throw light on how dissatisfied they might be with the services.

Conclusion

Excellent customer service is the best way to ensure that your company can stand out from your competitors and engage and retain customers. Whether you’re a small business or large enterprise, the best way to provide great customer service is to actually listen to your customers. Now, the next time you’re on a customer service call, give your customers your undivided attention. You’ll be surprised at how your listening skills can improve agent interaction and enhance customer experience.

What are the other soft skills you need your customer service teams to focus on? Let us know in the comment section below.

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Originally published on Aug 9, 2018. Updated on March 2, 2022.