Let’s be honest, customers don’t contact a business out of pleasure. When was the last time you went on a vacation and felt like speaking to a customer service representative? Yes, almost never!
Customers contact you when they need assistance or simply when they are mad. The last thing they will want is a conversation that is going absolutely nowhere.
So how do you turn aimless conversations into meaningful interactions?
Customer service scripts can be used to hold strong conversations, train employees, build alignment among your service reps, and represent your brand’s values in every interaction.
In this blog, we will discuss how customer support software can help you respond to customers faster with canned responses. We will also understand the various advantages and disadvantages of using scripts and finally, we will explore 50+ customer service script templates that your team can start using right away.
What Are Customer Service Scripts?
A customer service script refers to a collection of carefully designed statements that guide customer service representatives as they interact with customers. The use of such scripts reduces common errors and helps representatives in guiding customers accurately.
Many reputable companies ensure that the language their scripts contain follows customer service best practices and reflects the brand. By employing scripts, your business can communicate better, solve customer problems faster, and reduce agent training hours.
What Is Positive Scripting & How to Use It?
Positive scripting is the process of designing a customer service script to limit a customer’s frustration and steer the conversation towards the solution rather than the problem.
In some cases, positive scripting can be used to guide a customer towards a desired outcome. For instance, using positive words to persuade a customer to buy more products or services from your business.
Here are some best practices for positive scripting:
- Positive scripts are not always suitable for all customer interactions
- Be flexible with scripts and consider all possible scenarios
- Respect a customer’s emotions whether they are negative or positive
- Make use of positive and empowering words
- Take inputs from all team members while creating scripts
What Are the Advantages of Using Customer Service Scripts?
Customer service or call center scripts can be a reliable way to keep your agents on track and up to speed. Let’s see how:
Offer a Consistent Experience
“A consistent and predictable experience creates customer confidence, which can lead to loyalty.”
– Shep Hyken, CX Expert & Keynote Speaker
The adoption of consistent scripts will allow your customers to get the same experience whether they drop an email or approach your business via phone support. Scripting ensures that your brand’s core values and policies are reflected consistently in every customer interaction.
Pro Tip: Make sure that all your scripts for different customer service channels- email, live chat, phone, etc. have similar elements such as branding or closing statements.
Reduce Employee Training Time
A tried-and-tested script can act as a guide for all your new customer service agents. Rather than wasting time learning communication phrases and tricks, they can simply refer to the ready-made scripts and prepared documents to save everyone’s valuable time.
Pro Tip: You can create an internal knowledge base for your employees where they can easily create, search and edit relevant customer service script templates.
Boost Agent Confidence
Scripts can prove to be a real confidence booster as they allow your agents to stay prepared even for the most challenging questions. This way your agents can pay more attention to what customers have to say rather than worrying about their next response.
Pro Tip: To instill confidence in your new agents, allow them to have role-playing sessions. This will help them in practicing the script through back and forth conversations.
“ProProfs has made this extremely easy with their canned response feature – the ability to pre-record answers to common questions is amazing. It saves us a lot of time.”
– Carol Tiffany, Owner, Lazy Cloud
Read Full Case Study>>
What Are the Disadvantages of Using Customer Service Scripts?
Despite some strong benefits of using customer service script samples, there are many who believe scripts are impersonal and should be avoided. Let’s understand why:
Customers Can Easily Smell a Script
Customers hate interacting with an agent with a robotic tone. They can sense when a rep is reading from a script and although they might not tell you, they can easily lose interest in the conversation.
Agents May Rely Too Heavily on the Script
While keeping a script close can prove to be handy, relying too much on them can make your agents lose their ability to carry conversations in a natural way. They might struggle to keep the conversation going during face-to-face interactions.
Lack of Flexibility
Passionate customer service reps may feel that scripts prevent them from modifying the conversation with customers and creating a strong connection. They are bound to follow a certain pattern that might not be suitable in all situations.
Pro Tip: It is true that scripts can make an agent appear non-human and prevent them from fostering a real connection. To avoid these downfalls, you must encourage agents to strike the right balance and use an empathetic tone for better flexibility.
50+ Ready-to-Use Customer Service Scripts
Customer Service Scripts for Greeting Customers
A strong, polite, and friendly opening can help you create a strong first impression. In many cases, customers have already shared their problems before they are connected to a human agent. Therefore, it is important to get straight to the point without wasting anyone’s valuable time. Here are some customer service greetings scripts that will help you start the conversation on the right foot:
Greeting a customer for the first time:
Greeting a repeat customer:
Greeting a customer who has already shared their problem/request:
Customer Service Scripts for Apologizing
If you handle customers, there are good chances you will run into an angry or frustrated customer who is having a difficult time with your product or service. It can be anything from a slight packaging issue to delayed delivery. In such situations, you need to acknowledge your mistake and apologize for the same.
Sharing proactive apologies
Apologizing with empathy
Apologizing with an offer
Apologizing with a commitment
Customer Support Scripts for Transferring or Putting Customers on Hold
Customers hate the idea of being put on hold by an agent. But some situations such as looking for the right information or transferring the call to another department will require the customer to wait. Remember, when you have to put a customer on hold, you’re playing with fire. Here are some scripts for transferring or putting customers on hold:
Putting a customer on hold
Transferring a call to another agent or department
Customer Care Scripts for Asking Customers for More Information
Can you really offer the best customer service experience if you don’t have the necessary information? Sometimes agents don’t have all the information at their fingertips. For instance, they might need your delivery address if you are a new customer. Here are a few examples of how you can ask customers for additional information:
Asking customers to offer additional information
Asking customers to provide feedback
Customer Support Script for Sharing Links or Resources
Even if you have an extensive Knowledge Base, sometimes customers might not be able to find the relevant links to self-help articles or other information by themselves. Therefore, it is important to know how to share links or other important resources with customers.
Sharing links to help center articles
Sharing survey links
Sharing important media or documents
Sample Customer Service Replies When Customers Are Angry
Angry customers can come across as some of the most nerve-wracking people to contact your support team. You can never be quite sure whether what you say is going to solve or exacerbate their problem. Therefore, you need to be extra careful while dealing with angry customers as a single negative online review can put your brand in a bad light.
Greeting an angry customer
Handling an angry customer with empathy
Handling an angry customer with personalization
Making an ‘achievable’ promise to an angry customer
Customer Service Template When You Don’t Know the Answer
In the customer service industry, you are constantly learning about new trends, product updates, competitors, and hundreds of other things. There will be many scenarios where a customer’s question will leave you scratching your head and you might not have the right answer. But that is completely alright. You just need to be transparent to the customer and they will appreciate that more than anything else.
Accepting that you don’t have the required solution
Escalating to a manager or senior
Requesting for some time
Customer Service Template for Follow Up
Modern businesses are focused so much on drawing customers in that they somehow forget the basics of following up with customers. It is important to remember that excellent customer service extends to customers even after purchasing from your brand. Following up with existing customers is necessary if you wish to foster long-lasting customer relationships. When It comes to follow-up calls or emails, timing is everything!
Following up after an unpleasant experience
Following up after a great experience
Post-purchase follow-ups
Appreciating customers for their referrals
Following up with a leaving customer
Customer Service Live Chat Scripts for Handling Multiple Customers at the Same Time
The rising popularity of Live Chat has taken everyone by surprise. In fact, 63% of customers reported that they are more likely to return to a website that offers live chat. Live chat representatives have the responsibility to make a great first impression with both existing as well as potential customers. However, since every interaction takes place so quickly, it is important to have all the customer service script samples within reach.
Greeting online visitors
Sharing informational resources on chat
Upselling to a customer
Reminding a customer to complete a purchase
Concluding a chat session
Customer Service Scripts for Concluding a Phone Call
Ending a call is as important as the initial greeting. The very last minute of a customer service call presents you with the opportunity to make sure the customer is completely satisfied and ends the call with a positive impression of your brand. The concluding statements should be respectful, professional, and must highlight the solution offered to the customer.
General concluding
Concluding with personalization
Concluding support call for a bad experience
List of Positive Words While Communicating With Customers
If you put a human brain under an fMRI scanner and flash the word “NO”, you will see a sudden release of stress-producing hormones and neurotransmitters.
The truth is that customers don’t appreciate the use of negative words when they interact with you. On the contrary, when you have the right collection of helpful phrases or words at your disposal, it can improve your communication as a customer service professional. Let’s quickly check some positive words that can steer any customer communication in the right direction:
- Absolutely
- Affirmative
- Agree
- Awesome
- Best
- Brilliant
- Certainly
- Congratulations
- Delightful
- Definitely
- Easy
- Effective
- Effortless
- Excellent
- Exciting
- Encouraging
- Friendly
- Fabulous
- Fantastic
- Fun
- Genuine
- Generous
- Happy
- Hearty
- Impressive
- Instantly
- Marvelous
- Optimistic
- One hundred percent
- Perfect
- Pleasant
- Proud
- Quick
- Quality
- Reward
- Right
- Safe
- Support
- Success
- Terrific
- Thrilling
Rule Every Conversation With Customer Service Scripts
A well-prepared customer service script is a great tool to ensure no customer hangs up the phone or abandons a chat session upset or angry.
The scripts shared in this blog will help your agents greet customers in a professional manner, tackle difficult customer questions, upsell better, and close the conversation on a positive note.
Remember, a customer service script is not written in stone. To avoid a robotic tone, keep the conversation natural and it’s never too late to add a dash of personalization. Keep the right scripts up your sleeves and rule every conversation.
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