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7 worst tech support responses

by Max Al Farakh · Nov 9 2015

In this blog, we've talked a lot about things you should say in your emails to customers. Today we are going to talk about phrases that are better left unsaid.

"Apologize for inconvenience"

This one is a classic insincere, non-personal, generic customer support response. If you want to sound like you really care, say something like "I'm terribly sorry. I know this sucks and this is totally our bad". That is way more personal and friendly. Don't sound like a robot.

"That's our policy"

This phrase sounds totally fine to us, but here is what customers hear: "I don't care what you want. I won't try to see things from your perspective. We're done here". You can at least explain the reasons behind your policies and why things cannot be done differently.

"You can find the answer here…"

I've always hated this one. Why wouldn't you just tell me the answer? I understand that you've spent many hours perfecting your documentation. But instead of just sending me a link, you could paste the answer straight into an email and save me some time. Why wouldn't you do that?

Foul language

Sometimes we get support emails from customers who are very pissed. Every once in a while we get an email that is plain rude and personally insulting. It's really easy to fall to the same level and drop a couple of f-bombs in your response.

I'm guilty of this – I've done it more times than I'd like to admit. We all know how hard it is to stay calm sometimes when talking to customers. You need to keep it together and rise above. Keep a friendly and professional tone and you'll feel good about yourself.

"You’re the first one to complain about this"

Translation: "We don't believe there is a problem and even if there is a problem, it's most likely your fault". You don't need to make customers feel useless and unimportant. Show some interest – ask for details, promise that you're going to look into this, etc.

"That’s another department"

Customers don't know ins and outs of your company. They just want a quick solution. Even if you have to direct a customer to another department, instead of saying "that's not my job", you can say "I know who can help with this".

"Thank you for your feedback"

This phrase is not too bad, but you can say it so much better. Instead of "feedback" you can use "ideas" or "thoughts". "Thanks for taking your time to share your thoughts with us" is way better than "thanks for the feedback, we don't really care".

Takeaways

To reiterate, you don't want to say anything that will make customers not important, dumb or useless. You don't want to sound condescending, ignorant or lazy.

Basically it revolves around the same thought – try to put yourself in customer's shoes. Customer support is all about empathy.