How to show emotional intelligence in customer service

Kate Onissiphorou • 4 weeks ago • 3 min read

Customer service agents deal with many customers daily, a lot of them angry or frustrated. Being able to turn a negative experience into a positive one and retain customers is one of the main aims of the customer service team. So, defusing a situation successfully, and using emotional intelligence to do it, could be the difference between a customer returning to your business and leaving for a competitor. In this blog, we will discuss what emotional intelligence is and how your customer service agents can use it.

What is emotional intelligence in customer service? 

Harvard Health says that emotional intelligence refers to the ability to identify and regulate our own emotions, to recognize the emotions of other people and feel empathy towards them, and to use these abilities to communicate effectively and build healthy and productive relationships with others.

Emotional intelligence is divided into five components, these are:

  1. Self-awareness – Becoming self-aware allows you to understand your emotions and how they can impact others.
  2. Self-regulation – Self-regulating your emotions allows you to express how you feel and think about how you can influence others.
  3. Social skills – Having strong social skills can create positive relationships with your customers.
  4. Empathy – Being empathetic will allow you to understand other people’s emotions and then react based on the way they feel.
  5. Motivation – Being highly-motivated allows individuals to use their skills and create solutions to problems and work hard to reach goals set for them.

Why is customer service emotional intelligence important? 

Emotional intelligence is important in customer service as it can help customer service agents to understand customers’ emotions and recognize why the customer might be feeling frustrated towards them or the organization, as well as allowing them to communicate in a more empathetic way and solve any issue effectively. Emotional intelligence also allows customer service agents to manage their stress levels when dealing with angry callers, stay calm under pressure and handle the difficult situation productively.

Being able to demonstrate emotional intelligence in customer service allows representatives to improve communication with customers and build trust, leading to stronger brand-consumer relationships. This is important, as it can create positive experiences for customers and result in higher customer satisfaction and retention.

What are the benefits of showing emotional intelligence in customer service

There are many benefits of showing emotional intelligence in customer service, here are just a few of them:

  1. Increased customer satisfaction and loyalty – When your customer service agents are able to identify customers’ emotions and build a positive relationship with them, then customers are more likely to continue to purchase your products again and remain loyal to your brand.
  2. Boost revenue and sales – Being able to provide good customer service is important as it can attract new customers and ultimately increase your sales, and therefore revenue.
  3. Improved customer retention – Many customers will change brands after a negative experience, so it is crucial that customer service agents use emotional intelligence to create a positive relationship with all customers, even frustrated ones. This will help to build trust and mean they’re likely to continue shopping with your brand.

How to best show emotional intelligence in customer service 

There are many ways to show emotional intelligence in customer service, here are a few strategies that customer service agents can use to improve their customer service skills:

Awareness

Becoming self-aware allows you to express your emotions and influence others. Doing this in customer service allows the representative to be aware of how they are coming across to others and use the correct language to deal with the situation at hand.

Listen

Carefully listening to customers and giving them time to speak will allow them to feel heard, and ultimately help you to fully understand the issue at hand and deal with it accordingly.

Empathize

Often customers will only call an organization when they have an issue with the product/service. In these scenarios, customer service agents can display empathy and understanding, which will neutralize any tension and help to resolve the problem quickly and efficiently.

Training

Taking part in refresher training will help customer service agents use emotional intelligence in the most productive way. They will understand how using their emotions and recognizing other people’s can impact if a customer’s experience is positive or negative.

How VoiceNation can improve your customer experience 

As America’s best phone answering service, hundreds of businesses trust VoiceNation’s live answering solution to enhance their customer experience and ensure every inquiry is captured in the most cost-effective way. Using emotional intelligence in customer service can be difficult and it takes training to use it successfully. 

All of our receptionists are trained to use emotional intelligence in every customer call to ensure your calls are getting the best experience possible. Contact us today, to discuss our pricing packages.