Icon (Close Menu)

Logout

The Language of Customer Service (Craig Douglass On Consumers)

4 min read

The appropriate response to “thank you” is not “no problem.” Just in case you’re wondering, it’s “you’re welcome” or “my pleasure.”

How often do you hear a response from someone hired to deliver customer service that rings a bit hollow? Or that doesn’t quite match the situation or your triggering expression (like “thank you”)? Seems to me, it’s too often.

The experience of good customer service, whether from the waiter at a local restaurant or the retail clerk in your favorite store, can be diluted or sullied with inappropriate or off-putting language. And it’s the experience at the point of purchase that reinforces the customer’s choice of an establishment and completes the connection between the brand and the purchase. Without a good match, that customer won’t be yours for long.

A number of research studies on knowing and evaluating customer desires and expectations reveal some key company-customer findings:

  • Customers care more about quality than they do speed. Good service trumps fast service.
  • Customers know what they want. Their ideas need to be listened to and acted on.
  • Creating goodwill with customers doesn’t cost a lot of money. The intentions of the giver (the server) affect the value of the gift (the service).
  • Customers want personalization. Remember them, their names and their preferences.
  • Customers want simplicity, clarity and confidence. Communicate clearly, with friendliness and completeness.

Each of these five traits, which come from researchers such as Kissmetrics, a marketing-performance company (you get the “kiss” in its name, don’t you?), can be conveyed using the right language expressed well.

Some of the most effective language is based on common sense, if the customer service representative is listening. However, smart businesses, particularly restaurants, should not rely on the common sense of these good people. They should, instead, find out what works and what doesn’t and invest the time, money and effort to train their staff — the staff delivering the service, as well as the staff backing them up. This strategy should be employed throughout the organization.

I’m neither picking on restaurants here nor on their valued servers. However, in order to use this space economically, allow me to vent some pet peeves that happen to be most pervasive in the retail food and beverage business.

If a reservation has been made, the server has an opportunity to know your name. If not, please, please, please don’t ask, “How are you guys doing?” I’ve never thought of my wife as a guy. Most folks would probably appreciate being referred to as “ladies” and “gentlemen” or “sir” and “ma’am.” And, in fact, “folks” works too.

I’ve already covered the “no problem” response. Please just say, “You’re welcome.” In addition, I don’t recall ever “working” on a meal. Consequently, “Are you still working on that?” may not be the best way to ask a customer if he has completed his meal. “May I remove your plate?” might work better (but only if everyone else at the table has finished as well). If dessert is an option, I would rather not be asked if I’ve “saved room” for dessert. “May I share our dessert offerings?” seems palatable.

You know some of the other offenses: “Sorry, this is not my table.” (‘Nuff said.) “Is everything all right?” (Well, my back’s been bothering me. Other than that, I’ll bet most customers will say otherwise without being asked.) “Good choice.” (It’s a pity what others in the party ordered is quite possibly suspect.) And if the table is wobbly, please fix it before the restaurant opens; know the menu and proper place settings; and don’t fill my tea glass after two sips. I just got the sweetness right. Thanks.

By now, you get the idea. The language of customer service is important. So are the actions. There are a number of hospitality and retail industry guides, studies and even classes to help improve the customer experience as delivered by the service representative. If one wants to be successful in the service business, it would pay to know what customers want, train it into the staff and then deliver it. Consistently.

“Got it?” “No problem.”


Craig Douglass is an advertising agency owner and marketing and research consultant. He is president of Craig Douglass Communications Inc. of Little Rock. Email him at Craig@CraigDouglass.com.
Send this to a friend