THE VALUE OF EMPATHY IN CUSTOMER SERVICE IN KENYA

In this current day and age where technology has taken over and many organizations are pushing for efficiency via self-service and artificial intelligence, empathy is a skill that your customer service team cannot ignore.

When the global crisis, that is Covid-19 hit, our normal way of doing things changed. Globally and even here in Kenya, technology took the forefront and human interaction as we knew it, was highly discouraged and subsequently reduced.

The uncertainty that came with Covid-19 made and still makes people anxious. However, companies that are able to show empathy in their delivery of customer service, set themselves apart from their competitors.

In Kenya, we are still grappling with the constant strains of Covid that keep coming up which of course has caused a strain in the emotional stability of people. This are the same people who are your customers. Customer service is now more crucial than ever before to offer further emotional support to the customers.

What is Empathy?

It is the ability to understand and relate to another person’s experience. Or the ability to share the feelings of another person.

When empathy is not applied in moments that it is required, your organization may lose out on an opportunity to build rapport and create a pleasant experience for your customer.

A majority of customers will engage the customer care agent when they are unhappy or agitated over an issue. It is at this point that empathy in customer service becomes important. When a customer care representative is able to put themselves in the shoes of a distressed customer and show empathy, they may be able to calm down an agitated client.

As a business, using empathy at all levels of the customer experience is valuable and finding any opportunity to express empathy to your customers can help build long term relationships and further enhance the customer’s experience.

So let us explore the different ways that we can adopt, show empathy to our customers and the importance of empathy for a business.

Build Empathy for your organization

In order to achieve empathy in a company, the management has to take a lead on this. It requires a cultural change from the leadership trickling down to the employees. Your organizations will achieve success in building empathy when employees see that the leadership team is willing to make changes.

Empathy is a skill and it requires a change in the mind-set of the company’s workforce and the culture of an organization. Empathy forms the foundation of a healthy company and it should be embodied in all activities and by all employees of the organization.

Empathy does not necessarily mean you agree with the customer but it shows that you understand their point of view. With this, your customer representatives are able to personalize their interactions with the customers, anticipate their questions and proactively respond to them.

 

Understanding the customer

In the quest to learn what and how your customers respond, what makes them upset, empathy is essential.

When the customer care representatives are able to demonstrate empathy especially when the customer has had a negative experience, the customer feels acknowledged and cared for which improves the perception they have of the company.

To get to understand the customer, your customer care representative needs to listen attentively and not just to the words said but how the words are said. They should allow the customer to share their experience and express themselves.

Many times, customer care agents are caught up trying to quickly find a solution as this is one of their main duties. As a manager, encourage your team to allow the customer to share their experience without interrupting them as this will foster trust and loyalty to your brand.

Let the customer feel listened to and understood

Dealing with an emotional customer can be quite the uphill task but as a customer service agent, you have a chance to make the client feel welcomed and appreciated even in the negative of occurrences.

The interactions with the customer needs to be personalized. Try and identify what the issue is and validate the customer’s feelings and their point of view. This will encourage them to share more information.

You can show that you completely understand what their issue is by restating and summarizing what they said. Some phrases or words that you can adopt include:

• Just to ensure I understand…
• Correct me if I am not describing it correctly, but what I understand is…
• So what I understand is that you experienced…

Ask suitable questions pertaining to the issue to help promote trust, respect and understanding.

Offer a solution as soon as possible

When a customer representative fully understands a client’s issue, they are able to be empathetic towards the customer. Sometimes the issues presented by a customer may not seem that serious or it would seem like they are overreacting, but to them, it could be an overwhelming situation.

At this point, being able to display empathy and giving a solution, even though it may be temporary, just to find a workaround for the issue, will go a long way. If an issue cannot be resolved immediately, communicating a realistic timeline is necessary.

Sometimes it can be difficult for a customer care agent to advise the client that their preferred time frame is not possible. Communicating bad news to a client can be dreadful but if the news is expressed with empathy, although not being able to resolve an issue to the liking of the customer, the agent can strengthen the relationship and boost trust.

When customers feel valued and their concerns are validated, they are more likely to still come back and purchase from your business.  Customers are able to sense genuine concern and when your customer service representatives show empathy, they make all the difference and set the organization apart from the competitors.

Empathy is an emotion and a majority of people are born with the capability to empathize but it’s a skill that needs to be exercised constantly to develop it even further. It is also a trainable skill.

Showing empathy to your customers helps boost the company’s reputation, safeguards the revenue earned and helps avoid loss of customers.

Book a well-tailored Customer Service Training for your team with Customer Centric Kenya to help you explore more about empathy and how it benefits your organization.