It’s easy to view customer inquiries as a ‘problem’ to be resolved and then forgotten about. Of course, answering the question or fixing the issue is important. But if that’s your only goal, you’re missing the chance to maximize buyer satisfaction and loyalty.
Every communication (and every customer) is unique. So the best thing you can offer them is truly humanized service. If customers feel like you value their business, listen to them carefully, and see them as individuals, they’re a lot more likely to stick around.
So what can you do to make service more human and authentic? Let’s explore how to respond to a customer inquiry in a way that goes above and beyond.
What Support Skills Matter When Communicating with Customers?
Average response time, overall resolution rate, first contact resolution…
These kinds of metrics are one way to measure customer service success. And they are important. However, you won’t make progress on them without improving the way customers feel about your business.
In other words, the subjective human experience matters just as much as numbers and processes. Even if you have excellent workflows in place, a customer who is frustrated because they’ve been treated like a robot leads to a slower resolution process and wasted resources.
It can be exhausting to work through a long, difficult conversation with an angry customer. It requires a lot of patience, clarity, and attentiveness to fully help the buyer while maintaining a professional demeanor.
As a service tickets pile up, it’s tempting to look for ways to wrap things up as quickly as possible. Yet it’s essential to maintain complete focus on the customer’s issue, no matter how frustrating it is (or how long it takes to resolve).
Hard and Soft Customer Service Skills
There are plenty of vital customer service skills that help your team do that. Many businesses focus on hard skills – the job-specific or role-specific abilities developed through education and professional training. These are the kinds of skills that appear on a resume, and they form a valuable baseline.
But when it comes to customer support, soft skills are what make all the difference. These are the more nebulous traits that result from high emotional intelligence. Although they’re harder to learn and seem innate, they can still be honed through experience
For example, you’ll want to cultivate an empathetic mindset when responding to any customer inquiry. We’ve written before about the importance of empathy in customer service. It’s a crucial starting point, where you begin by understanding the customer’s frustrations by placing yourself in their shoes.
Other soft skills that are necessary for mastering how to respond to a customer inquiry include:
- Patience
- Positivity
- Clarity/concision
- Attentiveness
- Composure
- Adaptability
- Confidence
- Responsibility
- Problem-solving
Of course, it’s one thing to possess these traits in a general sense. It’s another to apply them well and consistently in challenging situations. The rest of this article will focus on strategies you and your team can apply right now.
How To Respond To a Customer Inquiry (In 5 Steps)
The biggest mistake is failing to have a plan of action for customer complaints. And that plan should go beyond outlining basic steps for resolution (although that’s a good place to start).
For instance, it’s helpful to group common problems into categories, and detail targeted solutions for each. Helping customers troubleshoot your software is a very different prospect from fielding complaints about late deliveries.
It’s also important to consider whether your customer service tools make it easy to process inquiries. If you’re responding to customer emails via Gmail or Outlook, for example, you won’t have access to a lot of the necessary organization and automation options.
This problem is compounded if you’re handling customer complaints, questions, and reviews through various channels: Google, phone calls, email, Facebook, Instagram, etc. The required switching back and forth between platforms slows your support team down. Plus, some messages are bound to get missed, and to properly follow up you’ll have to monitor every channel constantly.
So if you haven’t already, now is the time to get your team set up with a customer support helpdesk like Groove. Our software is built for small businesses – it’s powerful, but also affordable, streamlined, and easy to set up. It funnels all customer communications to the same place, and gives you the tools you need to respond effectively and efficiently.
Once you’ve set up your helpdesk, you can create a roadmap showing your support team how to respond to a customer inquiry. From there, you can further customize your approach based on each individual interaction.
In the following sections, we’ll walk through that process. Much of this advice applies whether you’re using Groove or not, but we’ll also show you how our helpdesk facilitates each step!
Step 1: Track and Prioritize Each Inquiry
Before you decide how to respond to a customer inquiry, you need to tackle the when. You probably get a lot of questions, requests, and complaints. While you can simply answer them in the order they’re received, that’s rarely the most effective option.
On the other hand, if you categorize and prioritize messages as they come in, you’re in a much better position. You can answer in order of urgency, or save time by tackling similar requests in bulk. You can also make sure that each inquiry ends up with the best person to handle it.
With Groove, for example, you can use smart folders to view conversations of a particular type or status:
Emails can also be tagged. This lets you group similar questions together, prioritize urgent issues, and respond to generic questions with canned responses that you can prepare and personalize. And with round robin assignment, you can more easily distribute inquiries among your support team.
If you notice a lot of inquiries related to a specific product, you might set up a rule to automatically move conversations to a certain folder when the tag contains “[Product] problem” or “Question about [Product]”.
For requests that need to be followed up on, you can set reminders. Let’s say you’re waiting on an update from the development team. You can snooze related conversations until that update is ready. At the appropriate time, the relevant tickets will pop back into your inbox, and remind you to follow up with the customers.
Step 2: Acknowledge the Inquiry Right Away
When your customers reach out, they want a quick reply. You’ll need to know what their expectations are, and have a process in place to respond based on the channel or nature of the inquiry.
For instance, social media warrants a speedy response. At least two-thirds of customers want brands to respond to social media questions within 24 hours. You’ll need to account for that in how you prioritize tickets once they hit your inbox.
The urgency and severity of the problem also matters. When the customer is upset, angry, or confused, you have one shot to diffuse the situation or remedy the problem. The longer they have to wait, the worse the situation will get.
It’s imperative to reply to these inquiries as quickly as you can. If you’re busy or the question is complex, it’s tempting to wait until you can fully resolve the issue. But even if an immediate solution isn’t possible, you still need to provide an acknowledgement so they know it’s being handled.
This is where automation can help. You can send out an auto-reply to each customer inquiry, notifying the customer that you’ve received their message. It’s also a good idea to give them a timeframe for your full response (typically 12-24 hours).
Groove’s auto-replies can be easily customized. They trigger on the first message of a new conversation. So if the customer is replying to an existing email thread, the auto-reply will not re-trigger.
Step 3: Adjust Your Communication Style To Match the Customer
When the time comes to dive into your full response, remember – each customer is an individual. Even if they’re reaching out about a common problem, you should take the time to read their inquiry carefully. Look for clues that indicate their frame of mind, and mirror that back to them in your reply.
In other words, you’ll need to adjust your communication style to suit the customer. Pay attention to their choice of words, tone, sentence structure, and emotions, and respond appropriately.
For example:
- If a customer is detail-oriented (indicated by a long, organized, and thorough request), provide comprehensive information.
- This may be a detailed outline on your intended course of action, specific plans for resolution, or a walkthrough of what caused the problem in the first place.
- The customer still has feelings about the situation, though, so don’t be too formal. Provide reassurance that the mistake won’t happen again, or that action will be taken to permanently fix the issue.
- If the customer is blunt and direct, or sounds panicked, your goal should be to solve their problem as quickly as possible.
- Keep your response short and to-the-point, and don’t introduce unnecessary topics or small talk.
- If their tone is informal, you can match this while still remaining professional. But again, remember the human element. A quick but sincere apology will go a long way.
It’s important to note that ‘mirroring’ can be taken too far. You shouldn’t respond to aggressive communication with a similar tone. But take an angry or rude customer seriously – a casual or overly-positive rely will sound dismissive.
In those cases, you can adopt a more productive approach by responding assertively. This isn’t about controlling the conversation, but showing that you’re taking it seriously. Focus on creating a balanced dialogue where you listen attentively, but respond with authority.
Brand Voice and Positivity
While adjusting your responses for each customer, keep in mind that your overall voice should remain ‘on brand’. This is especially important when you have a service team. Every customer should have a consistent experience, no matter who they’re speaking with.
If your brand maintains a casual and friendly tone, you’ll want to reflect that attitude in your responses. Your language should be clear, concise, and free of technical jargon the customer may not understand. Alternatively, if your brand presents a formal and authoritative face, you’ll want that to come through in your customer service.
Finally, one guideline that’s nearly always relevant is to keep your wording positive and constructive:
- “I know how frustrating that must be, so I want to make sure I fix this for you right away.”
- “Great question! I can definitely help you with that.”
- “I understand how serious this issue is. Let me speak with my manager to see what we can do to resolve it for you now.”
Conversely, you’ll want to avoid overly negative phrasing, and statements that ‘close the door’ on the conversation:
- “That’s the policy; I can’t do anything to help you.”
- “We’ve been delayed here, so all orders are taking longer than normal to send out.”
- “You need to understand the limitations of our product.”
- “Customer service isn’t for this request. You need to reach out to the correct department.”
Consider what the customer is going through, and direct the conversation in whatever productive avenue is available. There’s always something you can do to move things in a positive direction, whether that’s directing them to the right place for answers, or providing recompense in the form of a refund or discount.
Step 4: Solve The Inquiry
The most pressing component of any customer inquiry is, of course, resolving their problem. Issues are inevitable, especially for startups. You can’t avoid them, but you can deliver excellent customer support and keep your buyers happy.
First, remember to apologize sincerely for anything that isn’t working or may have gone wrong. A defensive demeanor reflects poorly and results in mistrust, so keep this clear and simple.
After that, effective resolution is built on a few principals:
- Active listening: Show customers their concerns are heard by summarizing their points in your own words, and asking for clarification when needed.
- Honesty and integrity: Don’t lie to the customer, even if your product is at fault. Accountability builds long-term relationships. You can validate the customer’s concerns while still moving the conversation in a productive direction.
- Clear communication: You can’t help the customer if they don’t understand what you’re offering or suggesting. When outlining a plan of action or providing a solution, it’s imperative to be direct and clear, and to not skip over any steps or information.
- Follow-through: Always deliver on your promises, and aim to go above and beyond. If you don’t have the capability to resolve an issue, make sure the ticket is followed through to its resolution, even if that involves another department or supervisor. For bonus points, you’ll want to check in a few days later and make sure the problem was actually fixed.
You can develop roadmaps for how to respond to a customer inquiry based on type. These shouldn’t be inflexible scripts, but general sets of steps so support agents always know what to do next and don’t miss anything crucial.
Your roadmaps should be customized to fit your services and customers, of course. But a baseline set of steps for resolution might look like this:
- Apologize sincerely for anything that isn’t working or has gone wrong. Don’t be defensive or argue with the customer; just let them know that their concerns matter and you’re sorry they’re frustrated.
- Walk through the issue with the customer, ask questions, and summarize what you’ve heard. Do this as needed until you’re confident that you understand the extent and specifics of the problem.
- Take one of the following paths:
- If there’s a single solution, describe it to the customer. Make sure it’s clear how the solution will help, and what (if any) actions the customer will need to take.
- If there are multiple potential solutions, outline them concisely along with their pros/cons (and your recommendation if relevant), and let the customer decide what to try first.
- If you don’t have a solution but think there might be one, detail a plan of action and bring in help or escalate to the appropriate department. Let the customer know what you’re doing and when they should expect another reply.
- If there is no direct solution, offer the customer another apology and some kind of compensation for their trouble. If possible, communicate how a similar issue can be avoided in the future, explain that the problem is being worked on, and/or suggest an alternative option that helps them accomplish their goal.
Along with the resolution process, your roadmaps should include advice on communication styles, tone of voice, and the other advice we’ve discussed.
You can also include guidance on the practical aspects of how to respond to a customer inquiry. Point your support agents towards canned responses that can be customized, and make sure they know how to collaborate with other team members effectively.
And provide platform-specific directions. If you’re receiving complaints or angry inquiries on social media, you’ll want to acknowledge them on the platform so other customers can see that your business is responsive. Then transition the conversation itself to private communication via your helpdesk.
Step 5: Follow-Up on the Inquiry
At this point, the complaint should be addressed and the customer (and you!) should feel like the issue has been resolved. Thank the customer for reaching out, and offer follow-up information or instructions in case they need to get back in touch.
But you don’t have to wait for them to take the next step. Depending on the inquiry, you may want to follow up a few days later to make sure the issue is fully resolved. This is useful if the problem was especially important or complex, or if the solution required the customer to take certain actions they could be struggling with.
For online reviews and social media complaints, you may want to summarize the solution publicly, even if the bulk of the conversation happened in private. This reassures anyone else who reads the initial communication that you responded and took action. It also gives them a starting point if they’re experiencing similar issues.
This is also the perfect time to send a customer satisfaction survey. It’s a quick way to obtain quantitative and qualitative data about how the customer views the quality of your resolution.
CSAT surveys can be embedded directly into your response emails within Groove. You can ask for a simple rating, and provide the option for the customer to share more detailed thoughts:
Soliciting feedback immediately after an inquiry is resolved ensures that the experience is fresh in the customer’s mind, and increases the odds that they’ll respond. In aggregate, the results of these surveys show you what you’re doing right, and where your business needs to improve.
Mastering Customer Inquiries Requires the Right Tools and a Human Touch
Swift, productive replies are the key to customer satisfaction. Combine that with a willingness to learn and constantly improve your support processes, and you’re on track to deliver a better customer service experience than your competitors.
When deciding how to respond to a particular customer inquiry, remember: Listen actively, demonstrate empathy, provide concrete resolutions, and mirror the customer while staying on-brand. Don’t underestimate how important this process is – how you handle it has a dramatic effect on the overall customer experience and on retention.
Groove is designed to help you maximize your customer support, while saving your team time and frustration. Sign up for a free trial today, and give every inquiry the best chance for a happy resolution!
