Don’t make consumers angry. You wouldn’t like them when they’re angry.

Because customer satisfaction is one of the most important drivers of business success. Makes sense — a happy customer will typically become a repeat one, and consumers who are particularly pleased with your goods or services will sing your praises, acting as free marketing on your behalf.

But frustrated, angry, and dissatisfied customers can have the opposite effect. Just look at any business’ Yelp page to see the damage an angry review can cause — a 3.5-star rating just doesn’t have the same shine as a 5-star rating.

It doesn’t help that there’s a worrying increase in dissatisfaction amongst consumers. According to the most recent National Customer Rage Survey, 74% of American consumers reported having issues with a company’s product or service — up from 66% in 2020. In the same vein, the American Customer Service Index (recorded on a scale of 0-100) is at 73.4 — the lowest it’s been since the early 2000s.

As a small business leader, you know that delivering quality products and services is of paramount importance to staying competitive. But, mistakes happen, and problems can arise — especially when you’re trying new strategies, developing your products, and adding to your services in an effort to scale. These issues will naturally affect your customers, and you’ll need a strong team of customer service professionals to appease them while delivering solutions.

But, that’s easier said than done. Your customer service representatives (CSRs) have to take the brunt of a rising wave of frustration and anger from consumers (43% of whom reported raising their voices when making complaints to companies) — all while remaining professional and prepared to help. But a well-trained customer service team will keep your customers satisfied and save you money — it’s estimated that bad customer service is costing U.S. companies $494B.

So, how can your CSRs help your customers and keep them satisfied with your business? Well, we asked that very question of Trainual’s own Customer Experience team — who can boast a Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) of 97.5 (out of 100!) — and they were keen to share their expertise:

Here’s what our customer experience experts had to say about helping angry customers:

Speak with confidence.

Usually, when a customer reaches out to your business, it’s because they have a problem that needs solving. So, the last thing they want to hear is a lot of hemming and hawing about where the issue could be coming from or how this one solution could fix it.

“You want the customer to trust you and your knowledge, because we’re the experts right?” asked Cindy Bellers, our manager of customer support. “So, [remove] unnecessary apologies and filler words in conversation that may diminish that confidence, and instead [convey] product knowledge to help build trust.” 

So, when the customer comes to your CSR with a question, they need to answer with confidence — proving that they’re the right person to come to for a solution.

But, that also means that your reps need to know what they’re talking about — AKA, they actually use the products and services your customers are questioning them about.

“What makes me rage as a consumer is when [a business’] employees don’t actually use the product they are providing service for, and therefore, cannot possibly understand my use-case, my need, or why I’m annoyed,” shared Rach Richardson, a senior success coach. 

Without that first-hand experience, your customer service team will recognize the issue, but fail to understand how frustrating the problem is or why solving it is so important to the customer.

Plus, when your customer experience team knows the ins and outs of your products and services from a customer’s perspective, it makes continued development and improvement an integral part of your business plan. They know when something in your products or services needs to be changed for the better — and you don’t need a customer complaint to spearhead that change.

Be real.

We’ve all had to dial a 1-800 number to deal with some problem we have with our phone company, energy bill, or *shudder* our local internet provider — only to waste the next 45 minutes of our day arguing with a robot that redirects us from one department to another.

It’s frustrating, and by the time we get to an actual human being, we can be at our wits’ end. In fact, respondents to the National Customer Rage Survey said “being forced to listen to long messages” before reaching a human is one of their biggest issues with customer service.

But, a robotic customer service agent can be just as bad. Listening to someone read answers from a script in a monotone voice is just like talking to a robot — knowing you’re speaking to a person who doesn’t seem to care can be just as demoralizing.

Shawn Jensen, another one of our senior success coaches, said it best: “I love not talking to a robot, or someone who sounds like they’re reading from a script, or someone so rigid that attempts to make any small human connection hit a wall. Especially when I’m upset about something.”

This isn’t to say that your business shouldn’t leverage robots and artificial intelligence where they can. Chatbots especially are a great way to provide customers with a quick way to answer their common questions. But when they need a solution to a frustrating issue, your customers are better off speaking to a rep who cares about helping them out.

Because at its core, customer service is still a human-to-human interaction — and treating customers like people (as opposed to another check off someone’s to-do list) goes a long way to fostering a productive conversation.

Empathize with the customer. But be honest.

“My biggest recommendation [for helping frustrated customers] would be to empathize with the customer and meet them where they’re at,” said Rachel Astori, our customer success manager. And every single member of our customer experience team agreed: The most important tool for helping angry customers is empathy.

“Being empathetic, kind, and curious is huge,” said Mike Siegle, one of our newest product experts. “Listening to feedback and empathizing with that feedback is crucial.”

Because when customers reach out to customer service, they’re in a vulnerable position. They need your team to solve their problem for them. Otherwise, they can’t move forward with what they need to do, and that’s a frustrating place to be.

Knowing that someone understands the frustration they feel can go a long way to melting the anger your customers may have — even if your CSRs can’t deliver the solution they want.

Because sometimes, there may not be a solution yet. Maybe your customer is waiting for a new product feature that’s still in development, or maybe your service doesn’t match exactly what they need. In these cases, your team should empathize with your customer — but they have to be honest.

“I use honesty as my biggest strength,” said Heaven Russell, another one of our product experts. “[Unfortunately] most customers aren’t used to honesty. But sometimes honesty is the only promoter you have.”

When you and your team can be honest with customers, you mark yourself as a trustworthy business — one they can feel safe coming back to. So while you may not have a solution to your customers’ problems at the current time, chances are your customer will be happy to wait — or they’ll come back to your business another day.

If you don’t have a solution, communicate your next steps.

In those instances when you can’t deliver a fully satisfactory solution to your customers, there’s one important way to stay on their good side: communication.

Our product expert Alysa Carrillo uses a specific formula for all her customer interactions, based on her own experiences with CSRs from companies she needed help from. “When an agent is trying their very best to understand [my] situation, and when we’ve both honed in on the issue and are in sync about what needs to be done, having [that] person summarize, take action, and follow up means the world to me.”

Meaning, you want your customer to know exactly what you’re planning to do to help ease their issues — especially if you can’t provide the best solution. Communicate what you’re going to do, and then follow up with the customer once you’ve done so. 

It shows that you’re invested in your customer’s success. And according to Katie Liming, another product expert on our team, “if you can make the journey to resolution together as pleasant as possible, it can sometimes lessen the pain of an outcome that may not be the most favorable.” 

A CSR’s job doesn’t end once they’re off the phone — it ends when the customer is satisfied. Because when it comes to customer satisfaction, you and your customer are a team. You’re both trying to find solutions to issues that can hold back your business — solutions that will have your customer walking away happy and ultimately improving your products and services in the long run. 

👉 Need a process to help you facilitate these types of customer service convos? Check out our Customer Escalations Process template for a step-by-step guide.