❓ #AskMicah | How to delight upset customers? | Ask your questions!

Question: What should a CS agent do when they can tell that following company policy is making an unhappy customer even unhappier?

Super excited! Tagging some of our members who might want to see this :)

@s.woodrow@hq@prithi.pillay@jake.carden@yvoheinen@antony.pain@zachary.king@nmollet@Sophie Murgatroyd@Aazir@n.baumsteiger@alex_10481@bart-jan.wolters@cbarina@rick.murphy@stefan.letko@fbn@tyler.brandt@sam.spence@i.cameron@peter.smith@aaron.nichols@petey 

Question: Is there anything that can be done post an interaction with an unhappy company? (to essentially prevent a similar situation from cropping up). If yes, what are some steps?

Question: How can one win back trust with a customer who has had a very disappointing experience previously and give them a truly fulfilling experience?

How can agents respond to requests from customers that they know cannot be provided atleast in the short term? Some customers may get defensive or upset when they hear that something they had requested isn’t possible.

How to deal with an upset customer who has already started to berate the company on social media? 

Question: What can you do to prevent customer flare ups? Are there any leading indicators of an impending outburst? 

Hello - will this session be recorded as well?

Thanks!

Justin

Question: If we offer a gift card, coupon or over-amount refund to disappointed or unhappy customers is it perceived as a bribe? I mean, sometimes, such an offer may look like a bribe like we try to mute the customer on social media :)

Hi There,

Will this be recorded by any chance ? I am located in Australia and this will be around 2am here ?

Thanks,

kay

Hey, @Kay.Jay and @JustinL,

The session will definitely be recorded, and available for you to view at your convenience, right here, on this thread.

If you have a question for Micah, please feel free to add it here, and he will take it up during the event. :) 

Hope this helps!

Best,

Rhea

Hey folks!

We are exactly 1 hour away from going live with @Micah Solomon and Disha Gosalia. Tune in right here or on the Freshworks LinkedIn page to catch the action as they take on your questions and more. 

See you there!

Cheers,
Rhea

I’m looking forward to this :)

One thing that puzzles me is when CS agents make the customer that wants help even angrier than they were to start with. What should companies be doing to prevent this? Plus, to help agents identify when it’s happening despite the preventative measures.

Hah! Just realised that I’d already asked something similar :)

This was a great question, Stephen, that we were delighted to address in the live session.  Happy to follow up as needed, too. Thanks! 

Micah Solomon 

Featured Influencer

Author •  Forbes Senior Contributor • Customer Service Consultant

President and CEO, Four Aces Inc. 

484-343-5881

Click here to chat live with Micah

micah@micahsolomon.com • micahsolomon.com 

This was a great question, Finn (cool name, too!)  that we were delighted to address in the live session.  Happy to follow up as needed, too. Thanks! 

PS :the VERY short version of the answer was: “no, it won’t be. However, it depends on context whether it is received well.  If your boss’s 80,000$ convertible dies on the highway the day she bought it, and the dealership offers her a $5 gift card….that’s not good. 

Micah Solomon 

Featured Influencer

Author •  Forbes Senior Contributor • Customer Service Consultant

President and CEO, Four Aces Inc. 

484-343-5881

Click here to chat live with Micah

micah@micahsolomon.com • micahsolomon.com 

This was a great question too.  For those who didn’t hear the live event, we answered to be careful of the language you use, careful to not interrupt the customer/not try to solve the issue before they’ve had a chance to vent, and more. 

Micah Solomon 

Featured Influencer

Author •  Forbes Senior Contributor • Customer Service Consultant

President and CEO, Four Aces Inc. 

484-343-5881

Click here to chat live with Micah

micah@micahsolomon.com • micahsolomon.com 

This was a great question, Meeta, that we were delighted to address in the live session.  Happy to follow up as needed, too. Thanks! 

PS the short answer was: 

• There are technical solutions that claim to help (sentiment analysis, including from Freshworks)

• You can certainly (often) hear it in their voice or in their words on email. 

• Most important is to not further exasperate them or exacerbate the issue:  Using defensive language (“that’s not what happened”; “that’s not true”; “you shouldn’t have/should have...”) will likely do just that.  As will some phrases like “I’m not going to argue with you” or “as seen in our documentation/policy.”

Micah Solomon 

Featured Influencer

Author •  Forbes Senior Contributor • Customer Service Consultant

President and CEO, Four Aces Inc. 

484-343-5881

Click here to chat live with Micah

micah@micahsolomon.com • micahsolomon.com 

This was a great question, Sebastian, that we were delighted to address in the live session.  Happy to follow up as needed, too. Thanks! 

PS the very short version of the answer we gave: Don’t panic: don’t assume that the customer’s initial response/claim/flare-up is how they will feel later on.  e.g., “I’ll never work with you if you don’t get this feature added by Friday” is probably not ultimately how it will play out. 

Micah Solomon 

Featured Influencer

Author •  Forbes Senior Contributor • Customer Service Consultant

President and CEO, Four Aces Inc. 

484-343-5881

Click here to chat live with Micah

micah@micahsolomon.com • micahsolomon.com 

This was a great question, Gowrirao, that we were delighted to address in the live session.  Happy to follow up as needed, too. Thanks! 

PS the very short answer was: 

• reach out to them VERY quickly, offering to work with them via DM (you don’t want the world watching you try to resolve this in near-real time) 

• when you have succeeded in making them happy and you’re SURE they’re on your side, consider asking them to update or delete their negative post(s).  But be careful with this. 

• Avoid the Streisand effect (drawing more attn to the issue by over-reacting). 

Micah Solomon 

Featured Influencer

Author •  Forbes Senior Contributor • Customer Service Consultant

President and CEO, Four Aces Inc. 

484-343-5881

Click here to chat live with Micah

micah@micahsolomon.com • micahsolomon.com