Let’s cut to the chase: Black Friday and Cyber Monday customer support is intense. For ecommerce customer support teams, the flood of tickets is the online store version of shoppers mobbing through brick-and-mortar stores. 

It’s easy to focus on just getting through the flood of tickets. But If you’re proactive, your support team could actually reduce the number of incoming tickets with automation. And with all that time saved, the support team can have a huge impact on the cumulative success of the weekend by unblocking sales, reducing return rates, and more.

Customer support teams are not just there to answer tickets during BFCM — they are key at every stage along the customer journey:

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An unprepared or understaffed support team is the quickest way to kill your BFCM success. And with  $209.7 billion in forecasted online spending at stake, that’s not something you can take for granted. Here are 5 steps to make your support team the hero of Black Friday 2023. 

1. Update your customer service policies and SLAs

Ecommerce sales depend on clear policies around shipping, returns, lost packages, and more. When customers don’t know your policies, they’ll either write to your support team (if you’re lucky) or abandon their cart entirely and head over to Amazon (more likely).

In the first case, your support team is stuck answering repetitive questions like, "What's your shipping policy?" when customers should really have easy access to that information on their own. In the second, you’re directly losing online sales because of a lack of clear customer self-service options. Either way, we’re here to help you solve it.

“Make sure all of your policies are up-to-date before Black Friday-Cyber Monday, and communicate them to both agents (through your SLA) and customers (on key pages of your website). This will reduce the number of tickets you have to field and ensure customers have the information they need to make a confident purchase decision.” —Bri Christiano, Director of Support at Gorgias

Policies for shipping and fulfillment during Black Friday-Cyber Monday

Most customers use BFCM weekend to lock in holiday gifts, so their number one concern on BFCM (after what deal they can score) is often around delivery dates. They want to know if their order will make it on time for the holidays. 

How to estimate shipping times to inform your shipping policy

Before communicating shipping dates to customers, work backward with your fulfillment team to determine the absolute last day orders can ship and still arrive in time (factoring in holiday shipping delays). 

Once that “drop dead” order date has been determined, it needs to be clearly communicated to holiday shoppers, along with any opportunities to speed up shipping for an additional fee.

Here are some common customer expectations around fulfillment you may want to consider (thanks, Amazon!).

Where to put your BFCM shipping policy

Make your shipping policies (and the “drop dead” date) clear in your:

• Checkout flow (during the shipping method step and order preview step)
• Order confirmation emails
• FAQ page and/or Help Center
• Macros (where relevant)
• Website banner
• Product pages 

If you feel uncertain about what those shipping policies should be exactly, check out our guide for ecommerce shipping and fulfillment best practices. Better safe than sorry with an inbox full of angry customer emails.

How to address lost packages during Black Friday-Cyber MondayLost or damaged packages are common during BFCM. The first step for addressing the issue is to understand why they go missing in the first place. 

Common reasons packages are lost are:

• The package was never shipped in the first place
• The packing slip fell off or wasn’t properly scanned by the carrier
• The package was delivered to the wrong address
• The package was damaged (usually by fire or water)
• The package was stolen after delivery

Stuff happens. Being upfront about what customers can expect if the worst-case scenario happens is key to recovering and retaining that customer relationship. 

Your customer-facing lost package policy should include:

• Any limits in coverage for damages
• How customers should inform of lost packages 
• What is required to submit a claim (i.e. pictures, shipping confirmation email, etc.)
• How long a package needs to go undelivered before it’s considered lost

And, don’t forget to set your support agents up for success by providing them with a process that explains:

• What steps they should take to troubleshoot a missing package
• Available macros the team can use in these cases
• Clear guidelines for escalating a case to the fraud team (i.e. number of repeated claims, etc.)

This will help your agents handle the process quickly and consistently, and give your customers the peace of mind that they will be made whole if something goes wrong. 

If you’re creating this policy from scratch or want to make sure your policy is covering all your bases, check out our guide on how to handle lost ecommerce packages.

Policy for returns and exchanges during Black Friday — Cyber Monday

If you’ve ever bought a gift for “ the person who has everything” or received tighty-whities from Great Aunt Margret for Christmas, you know how important a return policy is. More than ever during the holiday sales season, your customers are going to want to know your return policy. And, while you can’t eliminate the BFCM returns, you can at least reduce the number of them if you understand where they’re coming from.

In addition to gift returns, the top reasons online shoppers choose to return a product include:

• Item didn't match its product description and/or customer expectations
• Item arrived late and the customer no longer needs it
• "Wardrobing," when serial returners buy and return items without any intention of ever keeping products
• Merchant shipped the wrong product
• Item was damaged or defective

To reduce ecommerce returns, during BFCM or any other time, the more information you give upfront, the less likely people are to return the items later on. Your return policy should be crystal clear to both support agents and customers about the conditions under which you will accept a return for either a refund or exchange. Not sure where to start? Check out our return policy template generator to get started.

Where to put your BFCM returns and exchanges policy

Similar to the shipping policy locations, you want to make your returns and exchanges policy (or at least a link to the full policy) as visible as possible to avoid unnecessary support tickets. 

Make your returns and exchanges policies clear in your:

• Checkout flow (during the shipping method step and order preview step)
• Order confirmation emails
• FAQ page 
• Help center resource pages
• Macro templates (where relevant)
• Website banner
• Product pages 

Set customer expectations with your SLAs

A service-level agreement (SLA) is a document that describes what the client or customer can expect from the provider. A strong SLA is foundational to cultivating understanding and maintaining high satisfaction with your existing customers. Making sure your SLA is up-to-date is more crucial than ever when entering into the busiest times of the year when customer expectations are at their height. 

Here are some things you should add to (or update) in your SLA for BFCM: 

• Use plain English and simplify as much as possible. Talk to your target audience in language they’ll understand, to avoid confusion
• Design your SLA based on data. Benchmark your SLA expectations against historic data and then adapt to the forecast you calculated above, so you can make the metrics you aim for challenging, but realistic
• Set expectations specific to each customer service channel. Different customer service channels will require different policies. For example, social media response times may be longer than in-app chat responses. (Pro Tip: Use Gorgias Statistics to understand your existing response times per channel to help you craft these SLAs).
• Build in procedures for worst-case scenarios. Your website might crash, you might have more customers than expected, or there could be other unexpected issues — plan ahead to make sure you aren’t caught off-guard.
• Proactively communicate the SLA to your agents and customers. The value of your SLA depends on both of these stakeholder groups understanding the terms, so make sure you communicate it to your agents, to your customers through your helpdesk, and key places on your website (contact us page, live chat widget, etc.).

Berkey Filters, an online retailer that sells water purification systems, does a great job of sharing its SLA for live messaging channels with customers. Their Help page acts as a sort of customer support landing page, setting expectations with customers about the fastest way to reach the team — 2 minutes, for SMS and live chat support. 

2. Leverage automation for self-serve support

Your agents have more important things to do than answering the same basic questions over and over (and over and over). The trick? Setting up self-service resources to help customers help themselves.  

This includes making information easily accessible by leveraging automation to answer simple or repetitive questions (e.g. “What size am I?”) and making sure your FAQ pages are up-to-date. 

With tools like Gorgias, you can even use AI to automatically suggest articles when customers ask last-minute questions in the chat. 

Some examples of ecommerce brands taking help centers to the next level are:‍

• Loop Earplug’s Help Center has easy-to-identify FAQ categories with illustrated buttons. Customers can quickly find the answers they need rather than making them sort through a massive drop-down menu of questions and solutions.

• Steve Madden's Order Management Flows help customers quickly view the status of their orders, request refunds, or report an order issue.

• BrüMate's Flows help their customers easily find the perfect product through their self-service center.

• Topical’s Quick Response Flows answer common customer questions in the chat widget, deflecting 69% of tickets that would have otherwise required agent attention and wait time for customers.

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3. Forecast your ticket volume

Gorgias merchant data shows that the average ecommerce business will see a 20% spike in ticket volume during BFCM. That increase in volume can cripple a support team if you don’t take the time to forecast your ticket volume and staff accordingly. You’ll want to make sure your team has the capacity to answer revenue-driving questions in a timely way so your customers don’t abandon carts due to wait times.

Proactive and data-driven forecasting is the key to reducing wait times and increasing revenue on BFCM. Relying on guesswork or reactive staffing measures will likely leave you with burned-out agents and unhappy customers (not to mention tanking  CSAT and NPS). 

Or, you may find yourself overstaffed and wasting valuable resources on excess headcount, offsetting any bfcm sales you make. Balancing these two extremes can only be done with a strong forecasting strategy.

If you’re unsure of where to start with your strategy, check out the battle-tested, three-step framework for customer service forecasting, the CEO of HelpFlow, Jon Tucker developed. He manages a 24/7 live chat and customer service team for over 100 brands with this strategy, so you know it’s good stuff! Here’s the Cliffnotes version:

1. Calculate your contact rate (i.e. transaction-to-ticket ratio)

To calculate your contact ratio, simply:

• Pull your transaction count for a given period (in Shopify’s UI you can find it under Analytics > Reports)
• Pull your ticket volume for the same time period from Gorgias or a similar customer service platform (pictured in the red frame below)
• Divide ticket volume by transaction volume to calculate your ratio (e.g. 400 tickets divided by 1,000 transactions would yield a contact rate of 40%)

As a benchmark, HelpFlow usually sees a contact rate of 30-50% for stores that haven’t yet streamlined their customer service experience, and 20% for those with more optimized, automated processes.

Use your contact rate to project ticket volume

Once you have your overall contact rate, the next step is to estimate how many orders you'll experience over BFCM. Your estimated order volume and your average contact rate are the two ingredients you need to calculate the estimated ticket volume.

To build a projection of order volume, look at your historical data for:

• Order volume from BFCM the previous year
• Business growth over the last year
• Market trends surrounding BFCM for the current year

Once you forecast ticket volume, the next step is to determine how many team members you need to handle the volume.

Estimate the number of agents needed for the holiday season, based on past capacity

Start by assessing the number of tickets each agent has the capacity for and then divide the number of forecasted ticket volumes by that number to determine how many agents you need for the holidays.

To calculate agent capacity per full-time agent:

• Run a report for the total number of tickets resolved per full-time agent over a specific period using the agent statistics in your helpdesk (in Gorgias, it’s under Statistics > Agents)
• Use the average number to set a benchmark for agent capacity (this number will vary by agent, but an average will give you a good working estimate)
• Next, divide the forecasted ticket volume total by the average agent capacity to find how many agents you will need. 

Your agent capacity will vary significantly based on your business, agents, and customer service operation. For example, HelpFlow typically sees anywhere from 40 to 60 tickets per day per agent as a healthy benchmark. And, across Gorgias customers, we see an average of ~60 tickets per day per agent in healthy support organizations. 

As a general rule, building in a buffer is a good idea, especially if this is your first year creating your forecasting strategy and there may be some variance in the numbers.

4. Find ways to get more customer service help

While hiring additional customer service agents might seem like an easy solution to the BFCM madness, the unfortunate reality is it’s hardly the time to ramp up new employees. 

It’s better to first take a hard look at your existing processes and see where you can optimize for the team you already have, and/or outsource to seasoned pros. This will not only help you run your customer service more effectively but will also help you avoid excess headcount after the holidays. 

Offer your existing agents overtime

After you’ve optimized your existing process, consider offering your current agents overtime pay rather than hiring unseasoned agents that would be in excess come January.

For example, if you typically have five agents working eight-hour days, offer an additional 90 minutes each day during the holidays at a holiday-exclusive overtime pay rate. By doing this you can add the equivalent of another full-time agent (i.e. 90 mins per day x 5 agents = 7.5h of workload per day).

Here are some tips from Tucker, to maximize the impact of team overtime:

• Don’t surprise your team with overtime: Keep them informed of upcoming volume so they’re not blindsided and resentful for being asked to extend their shifts.
• Cultivate a sense of comradery: Keep your team informed of forecasts and potential issues — and brainstorm solutions together. This not only creates a sense of teamwork that makes overtime easier to implement but you also may uncover solutions you haven’t thought of. 
• Show your appreciation: Offering time-and-a-half pay for overtime hours is a great incentive for agents, and will most likely be more cost-effective than letting sales and customer satisfaction slip.

Agent burnout is a real problem, especially since the pandemic, so be careful asking for too much overtime from your current agents. However, it can be a great short-term solution, especially if you have a healthy team culture. Just make sure you’re following any relevant HR rules and regulations — the penalties can be severe if you aren’t careful.

Bring in an outsourcing agency or BPO

If the amount of overtime your team can work won’t bridge the gap in headcount needed during the holidays, it’s time to look externally for resources. But be forewarned, not all Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) or customer service outsourcing agencies are created equal.

Choosing the right partner agency

“A great outsourcing agency or BPO should be providing advice to make your team more efficient, not just providing temporary agents,” says Tucker. “The net result of finding the right partner is not only the additional tickets from their agents but also the increased output from your existing team.”

Tucker said some of the best ways to find a great customer service vendor is to:

• Ask your helpdesk provider for recommendations: At Gorgias, we have an entire partner program with talented teams that can help you scale (here’s HelpFlow’s partner page).
• Vet your potential agencies’ training processes: This training should be extremely methodical, robust, and agency-driven — it’s a red flag if you’re expected to train their temporary agents.
• Look for an agent turnover rate of less than 10%: It’s common for customer service agencies to have turnover rates of 30% or higher, which means you will be constantly onboarding new hires. (HelpFlow’s turnover rate is only 1% per year, so you’ll get experienced, fully-ramped agents who can hit the ground running during BFCM)
• Seek an agency that asks questions: If they seem desperate for business and fail to dig into the mechanics of your business to know if they can help, it’s a sign they won’t go deep on training either.

5. Double down on chat for BFCM support

Imagine a customer is rushing to get a deal on that one item their kid really wanted for Christmas. They only get as far as the product page when they realize they’re not sure which model is compatible with their kid’s current tech setup though. So, they call your customer support line, but agents are slammed because it’s BFCM and the estimated wait time is over 20 minutes. 

The customer, wanting to make sure they get this special gift while it’s still in stock, quickly searches Google for the specs. They land on the site of another retailer that has the product in stock at a comparable price. Better yet, before they even have a chance to try and find the information themselves, a friendly chat assistant welcomes them and asks if they need help finding anything. 

The chat conversation quickly helps them determine what model they need and even sends them a direct link to the product page for it after just a brief dialogue. The customer, rather than shuffling through all their tabs to find the other retailer’s site, decide they might as well just purchase the item on the second site since they’re already on the exact product page they need.

This is what chat does best; they help customers while they’re in the flow of shopping. Wherever your customers are on the site, chat keeps all of the information right at their fingertips so they stay on-site and in the online shopping flow. According to recent studies, chat can boost conversion rates by as much as 12%!

With a tool like Gorgias, you can set up chat campaigns that target customers and automatically pop-up based on browsing behavior, pages visited, dwell time, and more. You can use these chat campaigns to offer real-time support, deal notifications, offer unique incentives, and more.

Learn more about how chat campaigns can help you improve the pre-sales customer experience and drive more sales during BFCM (and beyond).

How Gorgias helps support teams drive revenue on Black Friday and Cyber Monday

If your BFCM strategy over-relies on expensive marketing ideas to win new customers, you’re missing out. Of course, acquiring customers is important — but their value is only truly realized if you can keep them around. 

According to Gorgias data, repeat customers make up only 21% of the average brand’s customer base but generate 44% of that brand’s revenue because they shop more often and place higher-value orders. 

The easiest way to cultivate customer retention beyond the holiday season is through great customer support. And, the best way to provide great customer support is by giving your customer service teams the tools they need to streamline operations.

Gorgias helps empowers your support teams to retain customers by:

• Centralizing interactions across all ecommerce channels through powerful integrations to reduce tedious tab switching
• Automating answers to common requests to skip mind-numbing questions and reduce overall ticket volume to manageable levels
• Empowering agents to engage in meaningful customer interactions by automating repetitive tasks like ticket triage and tagging and updating orders
• Boosting sales with pre-sales support, proactive chat campaigns, product quizzes, and more features that power upsells and cross-sells‍
• Providing the data needed to continually optimize for the best agent and customer experience

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Looking for some customer support statistics to develop your business strategy for 2023? You’re in the right place.

Understanding customer expectations and their impacts on your business is a great way to improve your company’s customer service. For example, it can help you: 

• Make your request for more support resources more compelling and data-backed
• Inform your strategy, including deciding where to invest
• Benchmark your performance against similar companies

In this post, we’ve gathered tons of customer support statistics all in one place so you can understand the objective numbers behind the state of customer service as it stands now.

Customer service stats takeaways

Technology has driven the evolution of ecommerce in many ways, and the same trend rings true when it comes to customer service. Some of the biggest takeaways from this data include: 

• Customer expectations are growing. 79% of businesses believe that customers are smarter and more informed now than in the past. They expect A+ service from every brand. Bad customer service experiences will even cause shoppers to look for alternative options. 
• Seamless cross-channel journeys are challenging, but essential. 53% of consumers say customer support interactions feel “fragmented.” This is a critical challenge, as customers expect the same experience regardless of when and how they’re interacting with brands and service teams. 
• Artificial intelligence (AI) is here. 64% of service professionals who use AI believe it allows them to personalize and improve the service they provide. AI technology is a cost-effective way for brands to keep up. And modern consumers are warming up to the idea, easing concerns about AI leading to bad experiences and issues with privacy, trust, and ethics. 

Recommended reading: 8 Customer Service Trends for 2023

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The state of customer service in 2023

Excellent customer service is becoming both more challenging and a bigger competitive advantage than ever before. To deliver on that, brands have to overcome the challenge of high-effort, disconnected experiences.

• 88% of customers say the experience a brand provides is equally as important as the product or services it sells. This is up from 80% in 2020. Consider a good customer service experience one of the most important things you can sell. (Source: State of the Connect Customer report, Salesforce)
• 53% of consumers say customer support interactions feel “fragmented.” This is often due to hold times, handoffs to other customer service representatives, and ill-equipped customer service reps. (Source: State of the Connect Customer report, Salesforce)
• 13% of shoppers believe it takes minimal effort to get their issues resolved. (Source: State of the Connect Customer report, Salesforce)
• 29% of consumers feel like it takes “a lot” of effort to find solutions to their service issues. (Source: State of the Connect Customer report, Salesforce)
• Simplifying the customer journey while simultaneously reducing call volumes and costs is one of the top three customer service priorities for businesses in 2022. (Source: The State of Customer Care Survey 2022, McKinsey & Company)

• 79% of businesses believe that customers are smarter and more informed now than in the past. (Source: HubSpot Annual State of Service in 2022)

• 85% of businesses believe that customers are more likely to share both positive and negative experiences in 2022 than in the past. This could have a huge impact on your company’s word of mouth — a big concern if you’re offering poor customer service experiences. (Source: HubSpot Annual State of Service in 2022)
• 27% of customers who place an order reach out to support at some point in the buying journey, based on data from 12k ecommerce brands. (Source: Gorgias data)
• Brands receive an average of 882 monthly tickets, based on data from 12k ecommerce brands. (Source: Gorgias data)
• 61% of customer care leaders have experienced an increase in total calls in 2022. They cite “increased contacts per customer” and a growing customer base as the leading causes. (Source: The State of Customer Care Survey 2022, McKinsey & Company)
• Brands’ top four customer service priorities in 2022 are creating a great customer experience (45%), customer success (37%), customer retention (35%), and customer engagement(33%). (Source: HubSpot Annual State of Service in 2022)
• 88% of customer service leaders say customer expectations have soared to an “alltime high” in 2022. (Source: HubSpot Annual State of Service in 2022)
• 83% of customers expect to be able to resolve their complex issues with just a single customer support representative. (Source: The State of Customer Care Survey 2022, McKinsey & Company)

The top 10 reasons customers reach out to (ecommerce) support teams (based on a Gorgias survey of 12,000 ecommerce sites) are: 

• Order status
• Returns
• Pre-sale product questions
• Shipping questions when deliveries aren’t received
• Order change
• Order cancellation
• Missing an item from an order
• Marketing
• Negative customer feedback
• Warranty questions

Customer service benchmarks

Customer service is increasingly important, and average response times are decreasing. Benchmarks are helpful to keep in mind to ensure you’re competitive, but it’s equally important to set your own benchmarks and compete against yourself.

• Ecommerce businesses have an average Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 50. (Source: Retently)
• The customer satisfaction rating (CSAT) on Gorgias is 4.55. (Source: Gorgias data)
• Customer support agents handle an average of 1 ticket per hour. (Source Gorgias data)
• Brands have an average of 3 active agents at any given time. (Source: Gorgias data)
• The average resolution time is 18.1 hours. (Source: Gorgias data)

• The average first response time is 11.4 hours. (Source: Gorgias data)
• The average first response time on Facebook is 10 hours. (Source: Gorgias data)
• The average first response time on email is 7 hours and 34 minutes. (Source: Gorgias data)
• The average first response time via contact form is 11 hours and 25 minutes. (Source: Gorgias data)
• The average first response time on live chat is 42 minutes. (Source: Gorgias data)
• The average first response time on SMS is 35 minutes hours. (Source: Gorgias data)

• The recommended average resolution time is same-day for email. (Source: Gorgias)
• The recommended average resolution time for SMS tickets is 10 minutes. (Source: Gorgias). (Source: Gorgias)
• Live online chat support queries are typically resolved in under 10 minutes. (Source: Gorgias)
• Customer support interactions over the phone are best resolved in 1 call. (Source: Gorgias)
• Social media queries should ideally have a same-day resolution for comments and a 10-minute resolution for DMs. (Source: Gorgias)

Want to get better at measuring your service? Check out our guide to customer service metrics. 

The importance of great customer service (and danger of poor customer service)

Customer service impacts the bottom line, and customers are willing to share their experiences — good or bad. It also builds trust with shoppers, making them more eager to make a purchase and build a lasting relationship with your brand. 

• 94% of customer respondents say the “treatment of customers” is the top influence on their purchase decisions. (Source: State of the Connect Customer report, Salesforce)

• Improving the customer experience can increase sales revenues by 2%–7% and profitability by 1%–2%. (Source: Prediction: The future of Customer Experience, McKinsey & Company)
• Improvements to customer service also boost overall shareholder return by 7%–10%. (Source: Prediction: The future of Customer Experience, McKinsey & Company)
• 48% of customers will seek out competing brands for better customer service. (Source: State of the Connect Customer report, Salesforce)

• 74% of customers say it’s more important now than before the pandemic for brands to communicate honestly and transparently. (Source: State of the Connect Customer report, Salesforce)
• 62% of customers feel an emotional connection to the brands they buy from most, which is amazing for customer loyalty. Impersonal interactions, including irrelevant offers or waiting on hold, damage those relationships. (Source: State of the Connect Customer report, Salesforce)
• Repeat customers account for only 21% of customers, but generate 44% of revenue and 46% of orders. (Source: Gorgias)

• 94% of shoppers say they’re likely to make a repeat purchase after a positive customer service experience. (Source: State of the Connect Customer report, Salesforce)
• 82% of customers have recommended a company because they had a positive customer service experience. (Source: State of the Connect Customer report, Salesforce)
• 80% of consumers will even forgive brands after they made a mistake, so long as it’s followed up with good customer service. (Source: State of the Connect Customer report, Salesforce)
• 78% of consumers have made purchase decisions based on their customer service experiences. (Source: State of the Connect Customer report, Salesforce)

• 68% of customers trust businesses are telling the truth in 2022, compared to 59% in 2020. (Source: State of the Connect Customer report, Salesforce)

• 96% of customers say excellent customer service builds trust. (Source: State of the Connect Customer report, Salesforce)
• Repeat customers drive 300% more revenue than new customers. (Source: Gorgias)

Customer service teams and employees

Challenges with employee retention have led to reduced quality in terms of service standards. Brands with strong customer service training and strong, loyal service teams stand to gain a competitive advantage. 

• In 2021, nearly half of customer care managers faced increased employee attrition. (This was largely because up to 85% of the workforce shifted to working from home in 2020–2021). (Source: The State of Customer Care Survey 2022, McKinsey & Company)
• The top-cited reason for employees leaving is poaching by competitors—58%—followed by employee dissatisfaction (39%), lack of advancement opportunities (31%), and lack of work–life balance (30%). (Source: The State of Customer Care Survey 2022, McKinsey & Company)

• 41% of service business leaders say it takes three to six months to train a new employee. 20% say it takes more than six months. (Source: The State of Customer Care Survey 2022, McKinsey & Company)
• “Retaining and developing the best people” was one of the top three customer service priorities for businesses in 2022. (Source: The State of Customer Care Survey 2022, McKinsey & Company)
• According to service leaders, the most effective ways to retain top customer service talent is through focusing on motivating and building trust with employees (34%), encouraging leaders to act on employee feedback (24%), offering new career opportunities (11%), and aligning their work to the overall company’s goals and values (11%). (Source: The State of Customer Care Survey 2022, McKinsey & Company)

• According to 54% of customer service professionals, peer relationships are the best way to learn. 50% learn by attending conferences and 39% from formal mentors. (Source: HubSpot Annual State of Service in 2022)
• Service professionals actively learn new skills for their roles “a few times a month or more often” (32%), “about once a month” (30%), or “a few times a year” (28%). (Source: HubSpot Annual State of Service in 2022)

Personalization in customer service statistics 

Customers continue to expect more relevant messaging and promotion from brands, including personalized customer support. And their hesitations around data privacy and related technologies are waning, making them more open to sharing information to receive improved customer service interactions. 

• 73% of customers expect brands to understand their personal customer needs. (Source: State of the Connect Customer report, Salesforce)
• 62% of shoppers expect brands to anticipate their needs. (Source: State of the Connect Customer report, Salesforce)
• 56% of shoppers expect all offers to be personalized to them. (Source: State of the Connect Customer report, Salesforce)
• 56% of customers feel like brands just treat them as a number, not as a person to build a relationship with. (Source: State of the Connect Customer report, Salesforce)

• 46% of consumers would share their style preferences if it meant they would receive personalized offers and rewards. (Source: State of the Connect Customer report, Salesforce)
• 61% of consumers feel comfortable with brands using their personal information transparently and beneficially. This is an increase from 52% in 2020. (Source: State of the Connect Customer report, Salesforce)
• Almost 80% of consumers say that when brands are transparent about how they use their data to provide personalized experiences, it makes them trust the brand more. (Source: State of the Connect Customer report, Salesforce)

Customer service tools and platforms

Technology is key to delivering exceptional customer service experiences. The right tools, from helpdesks to live chat support apps, are essential to meeting today’s customer expectations. 

• Only 12% of digital platforms are “highly integrated.” (Source: The State of Customer Care Survey 2022, McKinsey & Company)
• There are 94 help desk solutions currently available in the market. Gorgias has the top spot. (Source: Datanyze)
• Gorgias customers improve ticket resolution by 34% by adding phone support. (Source: Gorgias)
• 86% of live chat tickets end with a satisfied customer. (Source: Gorgias)

• 77% of businesses use some form of digital means to provide customer service and assistance, yet only 10% of new digital platforms are fully taken advantage of by customers. (Source: The State of Customer Care Survey 2022, McKinsey & Company)
• 95% of customer service leaders believe a customer relationship management (CRM) platform can help boost productivity. (Source: HubSpot Annual State of Service in 2022)‍
• 36% of brands track NPS scores as a way to listen to customers. (Source: HubSpot Annual State of Service in 2022)

Multichannel customer service statistics

The number of communication channels customers can use to interact with brands (and vice a versa) is constantly increasing. This number is only going to grow, so brands need to understand not only how to leverage each customer service channel but also how to integrate all the touchpoints into a single synonymous customer experience. 

Synergy across an omnichannel support experience is the new baseline for good service. 

• 43% of shoppers prefer to use non-digital channels for customer service, preferring in-person or phone support. (Source: State of the Connect Customer report, Salesforce)
• 83% of shoppers say they have more brand loyalty when customer service is consistent across departments. (Source: State of the Connect Customer report, Salesforce)
• 86% of live chat tickets end with a satisfied customer—more specifically, a 4- or 5-star CSAT rating. (Source: Gorgias)
• Businesses plan to increase digital customer interactions by 1.5 times by 2024. (Source: The State of Customer Care Survey 2022, McKinsey & Company)

AI and automation in customer service

Artificial intelligence (AI) enables more self-service options, as well as automations. Effective use of support automation technology can boost efficiency and reduce resolution and response times. 

• Nearly 80% of businesses have experienced an increase in customer adoption of self-service customer support channels, including chatbots. (Source: State of the Connect Customer report, Salesforce)
• Only 20% of online support interactions are completely self-serviced and unassisted. (Source: The State of Customer Care Survey 2022, McKinsey & Company)
• Nearly two-thirds of customer care leaders say that higher-quality self-service options have contributed significantly to reduced call volumes. (Source: The State of Customer Care Survey 2022, McKinsey & Company)
• 14% of Gorgias tickets are automated. (Source: Gorgias data)
• The top 5% of Gorgias Automate users automate 45% of all interactions (source: Gorgias). 

• 79% of customer service professionals believe AI is “somewhat to very important” to their jobs. (Source: HubSpot)

• 64% of service professionals who use AI believe it allows them to personalize and improve the service they provide. (Source: HubSpot)

• 65% of customer service tasks are automated. (Source: The State of Customer Care Survey 2022, McKinsey & Company)
• 57% of consumers trust companies to use AI ethically. (Source: The State of Customer Care Survey 2022, McKinsey & Company)
• 72% of shoppers have concerns about the ethics behind companies’ use of AI. (Source: The State of Customer Care Survey 2022, McKinsey & Company)
• 69% of customers are open to the use of AI if it can improve their experiences. (Source: The State of Customer Care Survey 2022, McKinsey & Company)

• Only 20% of online support interactions are completely self-serviced and unassisted. (Source: The State of Customer Care Survey 2022, McKinsey & Company)
• Nearly two-thirds of customer care leaders say that higher-quality self-service options have contributed significantly to reduced call volumes. (Source: The State of Customer Care Survey 2022, McKinsey & Company)

• 88% of consumers expect brands to have self-service support tools. (Source: Statista)

• In 2022, 58% of customers have used chatbots for simple customer service. (Source: State of the Connect Customer report, Salesforce)
• In 2022, 65% of customers reported having used self-service account portals for service. (Source: State of the Connect Customer report, Salesforce)

• 66% of Millennials prefer self-service for simple support cases, compared to 61% of Gen Zers, 59% of Gen Xers, and 49% of Baby Boomers. (Source: State of the Connect Customer report, Salesforce)

The future of customer service

Anticipating future trends and advancements can help you stay ahead of the curve. Customer expectations will continue to rise, touchpoints will become increasingly complex, and AI will play a growing role in delivering top-notch service. 

• 58% of service leaders believe call center volumes will continue to increase over the next 18 months. (Source: The State of Customer Care Survey 2022, McKinsey & Company)
• Digital channels will become increasingly important. Millennials and Gen Zers are the most digitally savvy. Each of these generations, for example, is 1.6x more likely than Baby Boomers to prefer digital channels. (Source: State of the Connect Customer report, Salesforce)

• AI-powered self-service options are also going to grow. Nearly 80% of businesses have experienced an increase in customer adoption of self-service customer support channels, including chatbots. (Source: State of the Connect Customer report, Salesforce)

Are you ready to improve your customer service in 2023?

Now that you know the latest customer experience statistics in 2023, check out our list of customer service best practices to put this knowledge into action and become a more customer-centric company to attract and retain loyal customers.

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In customer service, you can find a wide variety of job titles, each with a unique set of key responsibilities — everything from answering phones at a call center to setting up automations, developing strategies for customer retention, and much more.  

If you’re looking for a job in customer service, you’re in the right spot. Customer support can be a great way to transition industries and work your way toward a satisfying and rewarding career. Below, you’ll learn about 7 types of customer service roles, including typical daily duties and qualifications. 

If you’re hiring customer support team members, you can also adapt the job posting templates to help you find talented new employees. Plus, you’ll hear from a couple of top ecommerce brands about why it’s important to give everyone on your team some customer service responsibilities, regardless of their role. 

Customer Service Agent (or Representative)

Customer Service Agents (or Customer Service Representatives) are the most junior role on a customer support team. Support Representatives are customer-facing employees on the frontline. They receive incoming support messages and calls, answer basic questions, and pass along complex or technical questions as needed. 

Of course, even at this stage, Agents can play a major role in helping improve workflows, tagging and organizing incoming support requests, passing along customer feedback, and more. 

If you’re a recent graduate or trying to pivot to a career in customer service, becoming an Agent is a great option. 

Customer Service Representative job description template

We are seeking a dedicated and friendly Customer Service Agent to join our team. In this role, you will be the face of our company, assisting customers with their inquiries, resolving any issues, and ensuring a positive customer experience. 

The ideal candidate will have excellent communication skills, problem-solving abilities, and a passion for delivering exceptional customer service.

Duties and responsibilities

• Provide prompt and efficient responses to customer questions via phone, email, social media, and chat
• Address and resolve customer complaints or concerns in a professional and timely manner
• Maintain a high level of company product knowledge to effectively answer customer queries
• Identify opportunities to upsell or cross-sell products and services to customers
• Collaborate with other team members and departments to ensure customer satisfaction
• Keep accurate records of customer interactions and transactions in the CRM system
• Follow company policies and procedures when handling customer requests and issues
• Continuously strive to improve customer service skills and knowledge through training programs

Qualifications and requirements

• Previous experience in customer service or a related field is preferred
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, plus active listening skills
• Experience with a helpdesk, CRM software, and other customer service tools
• Ability to multitask and prioritize tasks effectively in a fast-paced environment
• Strong problem-solving and decision-making abilities
• A positive and empathetic attitude toward customers
• Availability to work flexible shifts, including evenings, weekends, and holidays
• High school diploma or equivalent work experience
• Additional certifications in customer service or related fields are a plus

Benefits

• Competitive salary ($40,000 – $55,000)
• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) retirement plan
• Paid time off (15 days) plus holidays and sick days
• Ongoing training and development opportunities

How to apply

Interested candidates should submit their resume and cover letter to [email].

How Gorgias supports this role

Gorgias is chock-full of features and automations to help Customer Service Agents offer quick, helpful responses. 

For instance, Gorgias centralizes messages from all communication channels (email support, live chat support, social media support, SMS support, WhatsApp support, and more) into one shared inbox so Agents don’t have to spend all day switching tabs. This helps your team offer omnichannel customer service. 

Also, when Agents are answering incoming support tickets, Gorgias displays customer information (including past conversations and orders) to give Agents all the context they need to answer the question. This also helps Agents offer personalized customer service. 

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Customer Service Specialist (or Level 2 Agent)

Customer Service Specialists have many of the same day-to-day responsibilities as Representatives. The main difference is that Specialists typically have more experience, know more customer service techniques, and can handle more complex, sensitive, and challenging interactions with customers. 

In most teams, tickets get “escalated” to Level 2 Agents (or Specialists) if they’re beyond the skillset of an Agent. Often, Agents get promoted to Specialists once they understand the company’s policies, procedures, and products. It can be a great stepping stone to managing a team.

Customer Service Specialist job description template

We are seeking a Customer Service Specialist to join our team who will respond to customer inquiries by phone call, email, or chat. As a Specialist, you will be responsible for resolving mostly routine customer inquiries with some non-routine, more complex problems. 

The ideal candidate will have excellent communication skills, problem-solving abilities, and a passion for delivering exceptional customer service — including to angry or escalated customers.

Duties and responsibilities

• Provide excellent customer service by responding to customer inquiries by phone, email, social media, SMS, or chat in a friendly and professional manner
• Analyze customer service needs and refer to other service or technical departments for follow up as needed
• Use customer relationship applications or databases to record activities and research product information
• Resolve mostly routine and some non-routine, more complex problems like processing orders and multitasking
• Document customer inquiries and monitor responses for quality assurance purposes
• Proactively engage with customers, identifying opportunities for improvements and suggesting potential solutions
• Stay up-to-date with industry trends and best practices in customer service

Qualifications and requirements

• 1-3 years of related experience preferred, or additional specialized training and/or certification
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Ability to empathize with customers and remain calm and composed in difficult situations
• Strong problem-solving abilities with a focus on finding effective solutions for customers
• Familiarity with CRM systems and other relevant software tools
• Availability to work flexible hours, including evenings and weekends
• High school diploma or equivalent work experience
• Additional education or certification in customer service is a plus

Benefits

• Competitive salary ($45,000 – $60,000)
• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) retirement plan
• Paid time off (15 days) plus holidays and sick days
• Ongoing training and development opportunities

How to Apply

To apply, please submit your resume and a cover letter detailing your relevant experience to [email].

How Gorgias supports this role

Gorgias makes escalating tickets to Level 2 agents extremely easy. You can even set Gorgias up to automatically assign angry customers to certain agents — this works because Gorgias scans the sentiment and intent of every incoming ticket, and can assign, tag, and even respond automatically based on what it finds. 

Here’s a visualization to help explain how Gorgias can automatically detect the contents of a ticket, and assign or tag it however works best for your team.

Customer Service Team Lead

The Customer Service Team Lead is directly responsible for managing a team of Agents. As a Team Lead, you’ll spend less (or no) time answering tickets, and more time hiring, onboarding, and training new support agents. ’

In some companies, the Customer Service Team Lead also acts as the Customer Service Manager (which we’ll cover below). But most companies separate the roles: The Team Lead manages the people, while the Manager manages the strategy and business impact. 

Customer Service Team Lead job description template

We are seeking a customer service team lead to join our team. Reporting to the customer service team manager, the Customer Service Team Lead will be responsible for leading Customer Support Agents to provide the highest level of support and service to all internal and external customers. 

The ideal candidate will have experience in team leadership, customer service, and problem-solving, with an understanding of industry best practices.

Duties and responsibilities

• Lead the customer service team to achieve key performance indicators (KPIs) and customer satisfaction goals
• Develop and implement departmental systems, policies, and procedures to maintain a high level of service
• Identify opportunities to enhance internal processes and promote best practices that lead to overall performance improvement and organizational efficiency
• Monitor and evaluate customer feedback to ensure that the team exceeds customer expectations
• Assist with the recruitment and selection of new team members
• Provide onboarding, coaching, and mentoring to new and existing team members
• Conduct regular performance evaluations and provide development plans that encourage employee engagement
• Plan team rotas to ensure adequate coverage at all times
• Administer the Time Management System (TMS), recording holiday and sickness absences
• Support the team in answering customer inquiries by phone, email, or chat
• Monitor and coordinate the post-sales support process, ensuring all orders are reconciled accurately and progressed through the system correctly
• Evaluate trends in customer inquiries and identify ways to improve customer satisfaction and retention
• Collaborate with other departments to handle customer complaints and issues
• Produce written reports when required to do so

Qualifications and requirements

• Proven experience as a customer service team lead or a relevant leadership role (3+ years)
• A minimum of a high school diploma or equivalent; additional education/training in customer service, leadership, or a related field preferred
• Excellent organizational and problem-solving skills, with a focus on finding effective solutions for customers
• Exceptional verbal and written communication abilities and a customer-centric mindset
• Strong interpersonal skills and experience working as part of a team
• Experience with a helpdesk, CRM software, and other customer service tools

Benefits

• Competitive salary ($55,000 – $70,000)
• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) retirement plan
• Paid time off (15 days) plus holidays and sick days
• Ongoing training and development opportunities

How to apply

To apply, please submit your resume and a cover letter detailing your relevant experience to [email].

How Gorgias supports this role

Gorgias gives Team Leads a helpful overview of the team’s performance. Specifically, you can see each agent’s essential metrics — like CSAT, response times, resolution time, conversion rate, and more. 

You can use these metrics to evaluate each agent and inform the type of training and coaching each one needs. Speaking of training, Gorgias also offers Gorgias Academy, which features dozens of courses to help teach your agents how to upskill, including how to use the helpdesk. 

Customer Service Manager

Customer Service Managers are responsible for implementing the department’s tools and strategies. Unlike Team Leads, who are responsible for people management and coaching, Customer Service Managers are more responsible for setting up tools and automation, making sure the team is working toward business goals, and generating reports about the state of the department. 

Customer Service Manager job description template

We are seeking a highly motivated and experienced Customer Service Manager to oversee our customer service operations and ensure the highest level of customer satisfaction. The Customer Service Manager will be responsible for leading a team of customer service representatives, implementing effective strategies, and continuously improving customer service processes. 

The ideal candidate will have a strong background in customer service, excellent leadership skills, and a passion for delivering exceptional customer experiences.

Duties and responsibilities

• Lead and manage a team of Customer Service Representatives and Team Leads, providing guidance, training, and support
• Develop and implement customer service standards, policies, and procedures to ensure consistent and high-quality service delivery
• Handle escalated customer inquiries or complaints, resolving issues and ensuring customer satisfaction
• Monitor and analyze customer service metrics, identify areas for improvement, and implement strategies to enhance performance
• Collaborate with other departments to improve customer service processes and optimize customer interactions
• Identify training needs and provide ongoing coaching and development opportunities for the customer service team
• Stay up-to-date with industry trends and best practices in customer service management
• Conduct regular performance evaluations and provide feedback and recognition to team members
• Foster a positive and collaborative work environment, promoting teamwork and employee engagement
• Implement customer feedback mechanisms to gather insights and make data-driven decisions

Qualifications and requirements

• Proven experience in a customer service management role (5+ years)
• Strong leadership skills with the ability to motivate and inspire a team
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written
• Strong problem-solving and decision-making abilities
• Proficient in customer service software and CRM systems
• Experience in analyzing customer data and using it to drive improvements
• Excellent organizational and time management skills
• Ability to work well under pressure and meet deadlines
• Customer-centric mindset with a passion for delivering exceptional service
• Bachelor's degree in business administration, communications, or a related field (preferred), or equivalent work experience

Benefits

• Competitive salary ($65,000 – $80,000)
• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) retirement plan
• Paid time off (15 days) plus holidays and sick days
• Ongoing training and development opportunities

How to apply

To apply, please submit your resume and a cover letter detailing your relevant experience to [email].

How Gorgias supports this role

Gorgias is full of automations that Customer Service Managers can set up to make their team more efficient and productive. 

For instance, imagine you’re a Customer Service Manager looking for solutions to answer more tickets without hiring additional agents. You could set up Gorgias Automate to let customers answer FAQs, track orders, request returns, and more in the chat widget and Help Center. 

The Manager can also review the performance of these (and other) automations to understand the impact and find areas for improvement.

Technical Support Engineer

Technical Support Engineers provide support to customers experiencing issues with software and other IT equipment. Most Technical Support Engineers are hired for Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies or universities, hospitals, and other large companies that need support for technical equipment and issues.

Note: Gorgias is 100% built for ecommerce. You can send images, videos, and other files to solve complex issues, but the tool isn’t built for software companies that need to offer very technical support. Check out our list of the best customer service software if you’re a non-ecommerce company.

Technical Support Engineer job description template

We are seeking a skilled and customer-oriented Technical Support Engineer to join our team. The Technical Support Engineer will be responsible for providing technical assistance and support to our customers, ensuring timely resolution of technical issues, and delivering exceptional customer service. 

The ideal candidate will have a strong technical background, excellent problem-solving skills, and a passion for helping customers.

Duties and responsibilities

• Take ownership of customer issues reported and see problems through to resolution
• Research, diagnose, troubleshoot, and identify solutions to resolve system issues
• Follow standard procedures for proper escalation of unresolved issues to the appropriate internal teams
• Provide enterprise-level technical assistance to customers, including software and hardware support
• Resolve network issues and configure operating systems as needed
• Use remote desktop connections, email, and chat applications to provide immediate support and answer client queries
• Ask customers targeted questions to quickly understand the root cause of the problem
• Track computer system issues through to resolution, within agreed time limits
• Properly escalate unresolved issues to the appropriate internal teams for further investigation and resolution
• Provide prompt and accurate feedback to customers
• Refer to internal databases or external resources to provide accurate technical solutions
• Ensure all customer issues are properly logged and prioritized
• Manage and prioritize multiple open issues at a time
• Follow up with clients to ensure their IT systems are fully functional after troubleshooting
• Prepare accurate and timely reports
• Document technical knowledge by creating notes and manuals
• Maintain positive and professional relationships with clients

Qualifications and requirements

• Proven work experience as a Technical Support Engineer, Desktop Support Engineer, IT Help Desk Technician, or similar role
• Hands-on experience with Windows/Linux/Mac OS environments
• Good understanding of computer systems, mobile devices, and other tech products
• Ability to diagnose and troubleshoot basic technical issues
• Familiarity with remote desktop applications and helpdesk software
• Excellent problem-solving and communication skills
• Ability to provide step-by-step technical help, both written and verbal
• Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, or a relevant field, or equivalent work experience
• Additional certification in Microsoft, Linux, Cisco, or similar technologies is a plus

Benefits

• Competitive salary ($75,000 – $90,000)
• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) retirement plan
• Paid time off (15 days) plus holidays and sick days
• Ongoing training and development opportunities

How to apply

To apply, please submit your resume and a cover letter detailing your relevant experience to [email].

Customer Success Manager

Customer Success Managers are responsible for maintaining client relationships. They don’t answer tickets at all — instead, they meet regularly with clients to understand their business goals, help implement solutions, and ensure the client remains happy and satisfied. 

Most Customer Sucess Managers work for Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) companies, agencies, and other kinds of client-based companies. Because Gorgias is built for ecommerce support teams, it’s not recommended for Customer Success Managers. 

Customer Success Manager job description template

Duties and responsibilities

• Establish clear client retention goals and develop strategies to achieve them
• Collaborate with sales and account management teams to onboard new customers and ensure a smooth transition
• Analyze customer data to gain insights and identify opportunities for improving customer experience and increasing revenue
• Conduct product demonstrations and train customers on how to effectively use our products or services
• Upsell additional services and products that align with customer needs and company offerings
• Act as the main point of contact for customer inquiries, concerns, and escalations, and ensure timely resolution
• Regularly engage with customers to check on their satisfaction, gather feedback, and identify areas for improvement
• Create and deliver customer success metrics and reports to internal stakeholders
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to implement solutions that address customer needs and enhance their experience
• Assist in creating training courses and educational materials to help customers optimize their usage of our products or services
• Monitor customer health metrics and proactively intervene to prevent churn and increase customer loyalty

Qualifications and requirements

• Proven work experience as a Customer Success Manager or similar role
• Strong track record in managing and growing customer accounts
• Exceptional communication and relationship-building skills
• Technical aptitude with the ability to understand and explain complex products or services
• Experience in promoting and delivering value through exceptional customer experiences
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a dynamic, fast-paced environment
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills
• Ability to build and maintain long-term relationships with clients
• Proficient in using CRM software and tools for tracking customer interactions and metrics
• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Marketing, or a related field, or equivalent work experience

Benefits

• Competitive salary ($85,000 – $100,000)
• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) retirement plan
• Paid time off (15 days) plus holidays and sick days
• Ongoing training and development opportunities

How to apply

To apply, please submit your resume and a cover letter detailing your relevant experience to [email].

Director of Customer Service

The Director of Customer Service oversees the entire department and reports directly to executive leadership. They are responsible for managing the budget, reporting to executive management, and shaping the future of the department. 

Director of Customer Service is the most senior role we’ll cover in this article. But depending on your business’s size and makeup, you could hire additional executive-level roles like Vice President of Customer Experience or Chief Customer Officer (CCO). 

Director of Customer Service job description template

We are seeking a skilled and experienced Director of Customer Service to oversee our company's customer service policies, initiatives, and operations. 

The ideal candidate will possess a deep understanding of customer needs and expectations, a passion for delivering exceptional customer experiences, and a proven track record of managing high-performing customer service teams.

Duties and responsibilities

• Direct and oversee all aspects of the company's customer service policies, initiatives, and operations
• Develop service level standards to improve response times, reduce customer complaints, and increase customer satisfaction
• Establish and implement best practices to improve service delivery quality, efficiency, and effectiveness
• Develop and institute systems to capture and analyze customer feedback, service metrics, and trends
• Manage resource allocation and budgeting to ensure the delivery of world-class customer service across all communication channels
• Align customer service activities with business objectives and support cross-functional initiatives
• Manage and coach customer service staff and enhance their skills delivery for excellent customer service
• Regularly report to top management and inform them of the progress on customer service KPIs and metrics
• Collaborate with other departments to identify areas for improving customer experience
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of industry trends in customer service management, customer support software and industry software.

Qualifications and requirements

• 7+ years of progressive management experience in customer service, preferably at a leadership level
• Deep knowledge of best practices in customer service experience management
• Proficient in using and managing customer services systems
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, and conflict resolution skills
• Deep understanding of customer needs and expectations
• Excellent problem-solving skills
• Proven track record collaborating with other internal departments
• Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Customer Services Management, or related fields, or equivalent work experience

Benefits

• Competitive salary ($95,000 – $110,000)
• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• 401(k) retirement plan
• Paid time off (15 days) plus holidays and sick days
• Ongoing training and development opportunities

How to apply

To apply, please submit your resume and a cover letter detailing your relevant experience to [email].

How Gorgias supports this role

Gorgias features a suite of tools and dashboards that the Director can use to communicate the department’s performance to executive leadership. On top of Agent Performance, which we mentioned above, you can see a variety of other data. 

For example, you can see an overview of your support performance, benchmarked against other support teams in your industry:

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You can also see data about your team’s contribution to revenue, to run and report on experiments like using chat campaigns or live chat to generate sales.

Tip: Get your whole company involved in customer support

While you’re building a dedicated customer service team, consider requiring non-support team members to spend some time answering support tickets — either during onboarding or periodically as ongoing training. This helps non-support members:

• Understand your customers: Customer support speaks directly to customers, and it’s a great way to gain a first-hand understanding of their challenges, preferences, and more. Non-support team members can take these insights back to their own roles. 
• Answer questions during busy seasons: If non-support team members understand customer support best practices and already know how to use your helpdesk, they can step in during Black Friday — Cyber Monday and other busy seasons. 
• Learn the value of good customer support: Often, businesses take customer support for granted. They don’t understand the skill good customer service requires, and they don’t always understand the insights and feedback support conversations can provide. 

If you use Gorgias, you’re in luck. While nearly every other helpdesk charges for additional seats, Gorgias gives you unlimited seats so everyone can make a profile and get involved with support at no extra cost.

Plus, Gorgias is easy for anyone — even non-support folks — to pick up and use. Here’s what a Marketing employee at Chomps, a Gorgias user, says:

“As a non-CX'r, Gorgias has made helping out the CX team so much easier. The platform is intuitive. And because our team has built out many Macros, I can easily answer common questions and concerns. Although I'm not on the platform every day, I can toggle between open and closed tickets if I need to reference an old situation and get up to speed quickly and efficiently.”

Read more about how Chomps uses Gorgias to share customer insights across the whole company. 

Manage all your customer service roles inside Gorgias

Gorgias is a customer service platform built for teams of all sizes. And to accommodate all the different roles and responsibilities, Gorgias lets you select a role for each user, giving them (only) the permissions they need to do their jobs. 

This helps keep everyone focused on their role’s scope, and ensure privacy and security — especially if you outsource customer service and want to limit access to sensitive information. 

User Roles include:

• Observer agent: View customers and tickets and add internal notes.
• Lite agent: Modify (but not delete) customers and tickets and send messages.
• Basic agent: Modify (and delete) customers and tickets and send messages. Delete customers and tickets. 
• Lead agent: Manage customers, tickets, and tags; send messages; and manage the Help Center.
• Admin: Manage everything. 

Want to learn about how Gorgias can help you make your customer service team more efficient and effective? Claim your demo today.

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‍TL;DR:

• Live chat is the fastest way to help shoppers. It gives customers real-time answers and prevents drop-off.
• You don’t need a 24/7 team to run live chat. Automate FAQs and set clear hours to keep it manageable.
• Live chat improves conversions and customer loyalty. Shoppers who chat are more likely to make a purchase and return to your store.
• Start by automating questions like order tracking and returns. These are easy to answer and make up most of your volume.
• Gorgias makes it easy to launch and scale live chat. You can integrate with your store and go live in under a day.

According to 2025 Gorgias data, chat inquiries are resolved in 24 minutes versus two days on email. It’s no wonder customers prefer live chat over any other support channel.

If you aren’t already offering live chat, it might feel like a big commitment. But when the end product is happier customers, it’s high time to catch up.

Thinking about offering live chat? Learn more about the benefits of live chat customer support, how it differs from chatbots, when and how to use it, and the best live chat tools to use based on your team’s needs.

What is live chat support?

Live chat support is a form of customer service that uses a chat widget to intake customer inquiries. Ecommerce websites, browser-based tools, and mobile apps typically offer live chat in combination with other customer service channels like email, phone, and social media.

Depending on the business, live chat support availability can vary. Some businesses choose to run live chat within their operating hours, while others extend 24/7 availability with the help of automation, conversational AI, or a dedicated off-hours team.

Related: Customer service messaging: Tips and templates for SMS + conversational channels

How does live chat support differ from a chatbot?

The main difference between live chat and chatbots is the option to speak to a live human agent.

With live chat support, customers always have the option of speaking to a live human agent. Meanwhile, chatbots can only provide customers with automated responses, whether preconfigured or generated by AI.

Why should you offer live chat support?

Live chat doesn’t just make support faster—it helps you close more sales.

Aside from quick answers, customers want confidence to buy. In fact, Hiver reports that 63% of consumers prefer live chat over phone and social media, mainly because they get instant answers while they’re still browsing.

Here are the benefits of implementing live chat for your business:

• Customer satisfaction: Customers get the clarity they need while shopping
• Higher conversions: Live chat removes friction at checkout by resolving doubts in real time
• Faster resolutions: Support teams close tickets faster by solving issues right away
• Revenue retention: Agents can recommend the right product, reducing the chance of returns later

Read more: A guide to resolution time: How to measure and lower it

When does live chat make the biggest impact?

Live chat shines in situations where timing directly impacts whether a customer buys your product or walks away. These conversations often happen before a purchase, like when a shopper is deciding between products, has concerns about shipping, or wants to confirm your return policy.

Use live chat in these moments:

How automation makes live chat support scalable

You don’t need a large support team to offer high-quality live chat support. Sure, live chat can feel risky if you’re a brand with a lean CX team or high ticket volume, but when you automate the right types of conversations, it becomes one of the most impactful support channels.

What to automate first

Start with high-frequency, low-complexity inquiries. These are repetitive questions that don’t require an agent to resolve:

• Order tracking (where is my order)
• Shipping, return, exchange, and cancellation policies
• Basic troubleshooting
• Product education, like sizing or fit guides

These types of tickets typically make up the bulk of your live chat volume. Automating them clears the way for agents to focus on conversations that require more specialized knowledge and nuance.

Automation features that help you scale

The best live chat isn’t only a messaging tool, it also comes with features that make the support agents using it more productive.

Here are the top automation features to improve live chat:

• Macros: One-click prewritten replies to common questions that agents can send manually or automatically.
• Customer and product variables: Dynamic details—like name, order number, and delivery date—pulled from your ecommerce platform and inserted into messages can easily make interactions more personalized.
• Flows: Interactive Q&A scenarios that automatically answer customer questions in the chat widget.
• Routing: Prioritize or assign tickets to agents based on topic, urgency, or language for maximum efficiency.
• Conversational AI: Leave live chat on 24/7 with tools like Gorgias AI Agent to answer repetitive questions and update orders—even when your team is offline.

The dos and don’ts of replying to a live chat message

Good live chat messages are quick, helpful, and easy to follow. Poor live chat messages are slow, robotic, or long-winded.

Follow these guidelines to help keep your replies effective and consistent:

How to set up live chat without overwhelming your team

Adding live chat for the first time or want to make your current setup more manageable? Start with these five steps:

1. Set live chat hours

You don’t need to be online at all times to offer live chat. Start by choosing live chat hours that reflect your team’s availability and peak shopping hours.

Remember to display your availability on your website clearly to manage customer expectations.

2. Prioritize live chat tickets in your inbox

Customers who reach out to you via chat are active on your site and often close to purchasing. 

Create rules in your helpdesk that flag live chat conversations as urgent, so they don’t get buried under slower channels like email. If you have a dedicated agent who handles chat, route all chat tickets to them for instant visibility.

3. Automate your first reply

Set up an auto-response that triggers immediately when someone starts a chat. Even a short message like “Hey! Thanks for your message, an agent will be right with you,” can reduce drop-off and give your team time to prep.

4. Edit your macros for live chat

Templates that work in email may be too wordy in chat. Shorten your macros, simplify the tone, and make sure each response fits cleanly into a chat window. Use dynamic variables to pull in details like order number or shipping status without slowing down your agents.

5. Capture customer emails when live chat is offline

Customers don't stop having problems when your team clocks out. When someone tries to chat outside business hours, collect their email so an agent can follow up once your support team is back online.

Best live chat tools for CX and support teams

If you’re evaluating live chat software, here are five solid options to start with. Each one fits different team sizes and priorities.

Deliver faster support without adding headcount

Gorgias helps ecommerce brands deliver fast support without cutting into your budget. Automate common questions with conversational AI, resolve tickets in seconds, support and sell, and give your team the context they need to handle complex conversations with one tool.

Want live chat that takes support to the next level? Book a demo.

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TL;DR:

• Acknowledge the issue, apologize sincerely, and offer a clear solution
• Aim for a 1-hour response time, even for acknowledgements
• Use templates to maintain consistency and save time, but personalize each response with customer details
• Take ownership with "I" or "we" statements and avoid blaming the customer or making excuses
• Follow up after resolution to confirm satisfaction and prevent future complaints

Customer complaints arrive from every channel, often when you're least prepared. Your response can either salvage the relationship or push a shopper to a competitor. This guide provides a step-by-step process and templates for handling common complaints effectively.

How to respond to customer complaints (step-by-step)

Handling customer complaints follows a consistent framework, regardless of the issue. Following these five steps ensures you address concerns professionally while maintaining customer trust. Apply this process to every complaint, then customize your response using the templates below.

1. Acknowledge the complaint immediately

‍Respond within one hour when possible. Send a quick acknowledgment even if you need time to investigate. This lets the shopper know you received their message and are working on it.

2. Listen and gather context

Read or listen to the full complaint without interrupting. Review the customer's order history, past interactions, and account details. Ask clarifying questions if needed, but avoid making assumptions about what went wrong.

3. Apologize sincerely and take ownership

Use "I" or "we" statements like "We apologize for this error" instead of "I'm sorry you feel that way." Don't blame the customer, make excuses, or deflect responsibility to another team or system. For example: "I apologize for this shipping delay. We should have communicated the extended timeline upfront." This takes ownership rather than saying "Unfortunately, the carrier experienced delays."

4. Offer a clear solution with timeline

Provide specific next steps (refund, replacement, credit, etc.) and set realistic expectations for when the issue will be resolved. Give options when possible so the customer feels in control. For example: "I can either ship a replacement with expedited delivery (arrives in two business days) or process a full refund today. Which would you prefer?"

5. Follow up after resolution

Confirm the issue is resolved to the customer's satisfaction. Ask for feedback on how you handled the complaint. Use these insights to prevent similar issues in the future.

Use the "feel, felt, found" framework to show empathy:

"I understand how you feel about receiving the wrong item. Other customers have felt the same way when this happened. What they found was that our express replacement process resolved the issue within 48 hours. That's exactly what I've set up for you."

This framework validates the customer's emotions, normalizes their experience, and redirects toward a positive outcome.

Email templates for common customer complaints

Delayed shipping

Use this template when a customer's order is delayed beyond the expected delivery date.

Hi [First name],

I'm sorry your order hasn't arrived yet. I know this is frustrating.

I've tracked your package via [carrier], and it's currently listed as "[status]." You can track it here: [tracking link]

Based on the current status, your order should arrive by [updated delivery date]. If it doesn't arrive by then, please contact me directly at [email/phone] and I'll make it right.

Thanks for your patience,

[Agent name]

With Gorgias Macros, you can automatically pull tracking data and delivery dates into this template. This saves time while personalizing each response.

No shipping info / tracking

Use this template when a customer didn't receive shipping confirmation or tracking information.

Hi [First name],

I apologize — you should have received shipping confirmation by now.

Your order shipped on [date] via [carrier]. Here's your tracking number: [tracking number]. You can track it here: [tracking link]

Your order should arrive by [delivery date]. I've also set up automated shipping notifications for your account so you'll get updates on future orders.

Let me know if you have any questions,

[Agent name]

Wrong, missing, or damaged items

Use this template when a customer receives the wrong item, is missing items from their order, or receives damaged goods.

Hi [First name],

I'm so sorry about this mix-up. This shouldn't have happened.

[If damaged: Could you please send a photo of the damaged item to this email? This helps us improve our packaging process.]

Here's what I'm doing to fix this:

‍‍‍Shipping the correct item today with expedited delivery at no extra cost

[If wrong item: You can keep or donate the incorrect item. There is no need to return it.]

[If damaged: Processing a full refund/replacement once I receive your photo]

You'll receive tracking information within the next few hours. If you have any other questions, reply to this email or call me at [phone].

Thanks for your patience,

[Agent name]

Poor service interaction

Use this template when a customer complains about a negative interaction with your support team.

Hi [First name],

I'm sorry you had that experience with our team. That's not the level of service we expect from ourselves, and I take full responsibility.

I've forwarded your feedback to our customer experience team and the agent's manager. We're using this to improve our training so it doesn't happen again.

I'd like to make it up to you with [discount code / store credit / free shipping on next order]. Here's your code: [code]

Thank you for letting us know. Your feedback helps us get better.

[Agent name]

Did you know? Gorgias Auto QA uses AI to score every support interaction, helping managers identify and coach agents who need additional training.

Unavailable / out of stock

Use this template when a customer wants a product that's currently unavailable or out of stock.

Hi [First name],

Thanks for your interest in [product name]. Unfortunately, it's currently out of stock.

[If restock date known: We're expecting new inventory by [date]. I can add you to our waitlist and send you an email as soon as it's back in stock.]

[If no restock date: I don't have a confirmed restock date yet, but I can add you to our waitlist and notify you as soon as it's available.]

In the meantime, here are some similar products you might like: [product links]

Let me know if you'd like me to add you to the waitlist or if you have any questions about the alternatives.

[Agent name]

Slow / no response from support

Use this template when a customer is following up on an unanswered inquiry or complaining about slow response times.

Hi [First name],

I'm sorry for the delay in getting back to you. Your message deserved a faster response.

[Address their original question/issue here with specific solution]

I've also added my direct contact info, so you can reach me immediately at my email, [email], or by phone at [phone].

As an apology for the delay, here's [discount code / store credit]: [code]

Thanks for your patience,

[Agent name]

Billing or overcharge issue

Use this template when a customer was charged incorrectly or sees an unexpected charge on their account.

Hi [First name],

You're right — you shouldn't have been charged [amount/description].

I've processed a full refund of [amount]. It should appear in your account within [number] business days, depending on your bank.

I've also updated your account to prevent this from happening again. [If applicable: Here's what caused the error: [brief explanation]]

If you notice anything else unusual or have questions about the refund, please let me know.

[Agent name]

Technical issue / bug report

Use this template when a customer reports a technical problem with your website, app, or product functionality.

Hi [First name],

Thanks for reporting this issue. I'm sorry you're experiencing this problem.

I've forwarded your report to our technical team. [If known: Here's what's causing the issue: [brief explanation]]

[If workaround available: In the meantime, here's a workaround you can try: [instructions]]

We're working on a fix and expect to have it resolved by [timeline]. I'll follow up with you once it's fixed.

Thanks for helping us improve,

[Agent name]

Best practices to handle customer complaints

Beyond following a process and using templates, these best practices help you handle complaints more effectively. Personalization and the right tools make the difference between a one-time fix and a long-term customer relationship. Apply these practices to every complaint response.

Personalize and take ownership

Use the customer's name throughout your response. Reference their specific order number, product, or issue details. This shows you read their complaint and aren't sending a generic copy-paste response.

Take responsibility with "I" or "we" statements like "We made a mistake" instead of "The system had an error." Don't blame the customer, deflect to another department, or make excuses. Even if the issue wasn't entirely your fault, act as the brand representative and own the resolution.

Avoid phrases like "I'm sorry you feel that way" or "Unfortunately, our policy states." These sound defensive and dismissive. Instead, say "I apologize for this error" and explain what you're doing to fix it.

Use the right tools (shared inbox, templates)

A shared inbox like Gorgias Helpdesk centralizes complaints from email, chat, social media, and Short Message Service (SMS) into one view. Your team can see who's handling each complaint, add internal notes, and collaborate without forwarding emails or switching tabs.

Macros (pre-written response templates) save time while maintaining personalization. They automatically fill in customer details like name, order number, and tracking links. You can create Macros for your most common complaint scenarios, then customize them for each customer.

Tags and Views help you organize complaints by type (shipping, billing, product quality) so you can spot patterns and prevent future issues. The AI Agent can handle repetitive complaints 24/7. It resolves issues like order tracking and returns instantly while escalating complex cases to your human team.

Automate complaint responses with Gorgias

Gorgias centralizes customer complaints from every channel into a single shared inbox. Your team sees the full shopper timeline, including past orders and conversations, so they have context before responding.

Macros let you create templates for common complaints and automatically fill in customer-specific details like name, order number, tracking links, and delivery dates. AI Agent takes this further by resolving repetitive complaints instantly, 24/7. It handles order tracking, returns, cancellations, and FAQs using your brand's voice and policies.

Gorgias integrates with Shopify, shipping carriers, and returns platforms like Loop. This means you can update orders, process refunds, and generate return labels directly from the helpdesk — no tab-switching required. Tags and reporting show you complaint trends over time, helping you identify and fix root causes.

See how Gorgias can transform your complaint handling. Book a demo to get started.

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The expansive terminology of customer service is ever-growing. Whether you’re venturing into the world as a new agent or you’re a seasoned support lead, our  comprehensive customer service glossary will provide you with precise definitions and examples to elevate your understanding of customer service.

The glossary is divided into seven categories, starting with basic customer service concepts and ending with technical terms related to metrics and KPIs. 

Start reading below and learn new and old customer service terms.

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The 100+ Most Important Customer Service Terms for Agents and Support Teams

Basic customer service concepts

1. Agent

An agent is a customer service representative who assists customers by addressing questions, inquiries, and fulfilling support requests. 

Interested in being an agent? You can start learning with Gorgias Academy’s Agent Training collection and earn your certification.

2. Abandoned cart

An abandoned cart occurs when a customer adds items to their online shopping cart but leaves the website without completing the purchase. Some causes of abandoned carts are high prices, customers preferring competitor products, and complicated checkout pages.

📚 Related reading: How to reduce cart abandonment in 12 ways

3. Channels

A communication platform through which customers can contact customer service agents for assistance. Examples of channels include email, live chat, SMS, and phone. Offering multiple channels lets customers contact a business more easily.

4. Complaint

A complaint is when a customer expresses dissatisfaction with a product, service, or experience. Support teams should aim to have little to no complaints. However, if you do receive a complaint, make sure to take notes as they can provide powerful insights to how your business can improve your process or products.

5. Consumer behavior

Consumer behavior is the pattern of actions that customers take before, during, and after purchasing a product. Companies can get consumer behavior data by interacting with customers and receiving survey answers.

6. Conversational customer service

Conversational customer service focuses on providing customers a relatable, human experience through conversation. This is achieved through the use of friendly, casual language and minimal use of automated responses.

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7. Crisis management

Crisis management is about effectively managing customer service during times of crisis or emergencies. A customer service team will need proper crisis management during unexpected events like power outages, product recalls, or staff shortages.

8. Customer-centric

Customer-centric refers to an approach that centers and prioritizes the customer’s needs, desires, and behaviors. For example, a customer-centric brand will regularly ask customers for feedback on their processes and decisions.

9. Customer engagement

Customer engagement refers to how involved a customer is with your business. Higher customer engagement leads to more trust, and potentially, more sales. You can increase customer engagement with more customer interactions and eye-catching marketing campaigns.

10. Customer experience

Customer experience is the overall impression a customer has about your company at all stages of the customer journey. An excellent customer experience occurs when customers feel that a business’ service is personalized to their needs and preferences.

11. Customer feedback

Customer feedback is input from customers about their experiences and is used by businesses to improve their customer service processes and products. Some ways to collect customer feedback is by sending email surveys, implementing website pop-up surveys, and adding reviews to product pages.

12. Customer journey

The customer journey is the path a customer takes from initial brand awareness, purchasing consideration, first purchase, retention, and advocacy.

13. Customer needs

Customer needs are things a customer wants, needs, and desires. Customer service teams should pay attention to customer needs to empathize and have successful communications with customers.

14. Customer retention

Customer retention is the process of maintaining relationships with customers to keep them purchasing and engaged with a business. Customer retention is easier and less costly to maintain than engaging new customers.

15. Customer segmentation

Customer segmentation is the process of dividing customers into groups based on common characteristics to provide targeted support.  For example, a clothing apparel company may divide customers by demographics in order to create suitable ad campaigns for each segment.

16. Customer service

Customer service is assistance and support provided to customers before, during, and after a purchase. Customer service is important for companies to invest in to grow their customers and instill trust in both potential and repeat customers.

17. Data privacy

Data privacy refers to protecting confidential customer data and information, such as full names, addresses, billing information, and phone numbers.

18. Feedback loop

Feedback loop is the cycle of collecting, reviewing, and applying customer feedback to improve products and customer services. The most important part of the loop is to apply customer feedback to demonstrate the importance of your customers’ opinions. 

19. Influencer marketing

Influencer marketing is a type of marketing that involves working with social media influencers to advertise a business’ products on their social channels. 

‍📚 Related reading: How Topicals increased sales by 78% through pre-sales customer conversations

20. Netiquette

Netiquette refers to the etiquette and guidelines for respectful communication online. For ecommerce stores, having proper netiquette includes writing messages with proper grammar and punctuation, refraining from sending too many promotional emails, and respecting customers’ privacy.

21. Personalized customer service

Personalized customer service is a type of customer service that focuses on customizing interactions and service based on a customer’s unique preferences. Creating individual experiences for customers allows them to feel understood on a personal level. 

🧠 Learn more: Why you should implement a personalized customer strategy

22. Proactive support

Proactive support is a customer support approach that anticipates customer needs before they raise a concern. Proactive support does not have to involve agent support and can be accomplished passively through self-service options, such as a chat widget or help center. 

23. Rapport

Rapport is the relationship businesses build with customers. Some characteristics that build good rapport are empathy, supportiveness, and honesty.

24. Reactive support

Reactive support refers to a customer support approach where assistance is provided in response to inquiries or issues as they arise, rather than proactively reaching out to customers.

25. Remote support

Remote support is a type of customer service where agents assist customers by using remote access tools, without needing to be physically present at the customer's location.

26. Resolution

Resolution is the successful solution to a customer’s request or inquiry. 

27. Satisfaction

Satisfaction is the level of contentment a customer experiences after interacting with a business, its products or services. Customer satisfaction is important in order to build trust and gain customer loyalty.

28. Service recovery paradox

Service recovery paradox is the phenomenon where a customer is more loyal after experiencing and having their issue resolved than if they had not encountered the issue in the first place.

29. Social media management

Social media management is the process of monitoring and responding to customer inquiries and feedback on social media platforms. Today, most businesses participate in social media management by being present on various social media platforms.

30. Subject matter expert (SME)

Subject matter experts or SMEs are individuals who specialize in or are highly educated in particular topics. In customer service, support teams can benefit from having subject matter experts who specialize in different topics, to serve different types of customers.

31. Touchpoint

A touchpoint is a point of contact or interaction between a customer and a business. For example, the customer journey has multiple touchpoints like the pre-purchase intent, purchasing decision, and post-purchase stage.

32. Voice of the customer (VoC)

The voice of the customer or VoC is a summary of a customer’s opinions, preferences, and dislikes about a company’s product. The VoC is used to inform and improve a company’s practices, products, and services.

Customer service actions

1. Benchmarking

Benchmarking is the process of comparing a company's performance or practices against industry standards to identify areas for improvement.

2. Conflict resolution

Conflict resolution is the process of finding a solution to a disagreement or dispute. In customer service, conflict resolution is important in order to maintain customer satisfaction and decrease the chance of losing customers. 

📚 Related reading: 17 ways to respond to an angry customer

3. Cross-selling

Cross-selling is the act of offering customers complementary products or services along with a product they are already considering.

4. Customer journey mapping

Customer journey mapping is a visual strategy that maps out a customer’s entire experience with a company. This strategy points out a customer’s needs and processes at every interaction with a company.

5. Digital transformation

Digital transformation is integrating digital technologies to a company’s customer service processes. For example, a brick-and-mortar store may undergo a digital transformation when they begin offering their products online orders.

6. Escalation

Escalation is the process of transferring a customer’s issue to a higher-level support agent who is more skilled at providing the proper solution. Escalation is necessary to address urgent tickets or high-priority customers. For example, a ticket from a loyal customer with a high lifetime value will likely need a higher-level agent.

7. Follow-up

A follow-up is communication meant for checking up on customers who have had a previous interaction with a company. Follow-ups are typically done when asking for customer feedback and reviews.

8. Service recovery

Service recovery is the process of regaining customer satisfaction after a negative experience. For example, service recovery is when a company provides a 50% off discount code due to delayed shipping.

9. Upselling

Upselling is the act of encouraging customers to purchase additional products or a higher-priced variant of a product, which can help increase your company’s revenue and average order value (AOV).

🧠 Learn more: How to upsell in 11 different ways

Customer service tools, types, and channels

1. Call center

A call center is a department that handles incoming and outgoing customer communications, often via telephone. Companies with large customer bases may outsource part of their customer service to a call center company.

2. Chatbot

A chatbot is an AI-powered, self-service feature that mimics human conversation. Chatbots can help agents from having to deal with repetitive inquiries or tickets. 

🧠 Learn more: What’s the difference between a chatbot and live chat?

3. Contact center

A contact center is a hub that manages customer interactions through various channels like email, phone, chat, and social media. Bigger companies may outsource their customer service to a contact center to address a greater number of customers.

4. Customer loyalty

Customer loyalty refers to how devoted a customer is to a business. Loyal customers are valuable to businesses because they result in more sales, higher customer lifetime value, and the potential for more customers through word–of-mouth marketing.

5. Customer persona

A customer persona, also known as a buyer persona, is a fictional representation of a customer, based on demographics, behaviors, and preferences. A business may create multiple customer personas in order to create suitable messaging and marketing materials. 

6. Customer portal

A customer portal is an online platform where customers can access their account information and support resources. Ecommerce stores benefit from customer portals by providing customers a self-service hub to manage orders and request returns or exchanges, without needing agent involvement.

7. Customer relationship management (CRM)

Customer relationship management, more commonly called CRM, or a CRM tool, refers to both software and strategies used to manage and analyze customer interactions and data.

8. Customer self-service portal

A customer self-service portal is a web-based platform that allows customers to find information and resolve issues on their own, without the help of an agent.

9. Helpdesk

A helpdesk is a hub for customer inquiries and technical support. Helpdesks manage customer data, orders, and inquiries in one platform. They can be operated by one person or a team of support agents.

🧠 Learn more: What is a helpdesk?

10. Interactive voice response (IVR)

Interactive voice response or IVR is an automated phone system that allows customers to get information from preset voice recordings.

11. Knowledge base

A knowledge base is a centralized database of information to help empower customers to learn about a product, service, or company on their own. Resources like instructional videos, FAQs, articles, and community posts can be found in a knowledge base.

12. Live chat

Live chat is a channel which connects customers with live agents. Live chat is a convenient option for ecommerce businesses with a high-traffic website.

13. Loyalty program

A loyalty program is a program designed to encourage customers to continue shopping with a brand through incentives like discounts, freebies, and exclusive access to products or services. An example of a loyalty program is a points-based reward program in which customers can redeem points in exchange for products.

‍📚 Related reading: How OLIPOP decreased their response time by 88% and resolution time by 91% with 25x ROI

14. Multi-channel support

Multi-channel support involves offering customer support through various channels like phone, email, and live chat.

15. Omnichannel support

Omnichannel support is the process of providing consistent customer support across multiple communication channels with the help of application add-ons. With Gorgias, support teams can integrate email, phone, SMS, live chat, and social media accounts to provide a seamless customer experience.

16. Self-service

Self-service options are customer support options that allow users to find answers or solutions independently, without contacting an agent. Self-service options include chat widgets, chatbots, and knowledge bases.

🧠 Learn more: Raise customer satisfaction with self-service options

17. Social listening

Social listening is the process of monitoring and analyzing social media platforms for mentions and comments about a company.

18. Survey

A survey is a set of questions that aims to collect customer feedback, opinions, and reviews about a company, product, or experience. In customer service, surveys are important to gauge overall customer satisfaction with a product.

19. Ticketing system

A ticketing system is a customer service software tool that manages customer support inquiries and improves agent workflow. Gorgias is a helpdesk with a ticketing system, which allows agents to handle customer inquiries by creating and resolving tickets.

📚 Related reading: Best practices for effective ticket management

20. Virtual assistant (VA)

Virtual assistants, also referred to as VAs, are individuals who work remotely and are contracted to assist a business with administrative and technical support. Companies may choose to hire a virtual assistant to increase efficiency, improve data organization, while reducing hiring costs. 

21. Voice

Voice refers to a support channel that uses telephone or voice messages to communicate. Having a voice channel can be a great way to reach customers who prefer to get support over the phone.

22. Widget

A widget is an interactive element on a website that provides an answer to customer inquiries. Widgets are a form of self-service customer service and can include chatbots and interactive quizzes.

Customer service operations and ticket management

1. Canned response

A canned response is a pre-written message that is used to reply to common inquiries and questions. Using canned responses is one way to increase first response times (FRT) and prevent your support team from doing repetitive work. 

2. Coaching

Coaching is the process of providing guidance, training, and feedback to customer service agents to develop their ability to engage with customers and deliver exceptional customer service.

3. Service-level agreement (SLA)

A service-level agreement or SLA is a contractually agreed-upon level of service, specifying response times and processes for customer support.

4. Macros

Macros are pre-made responses that can include important customer information pulled from ecommerce platforms like Shopify or BigCommerce. On Gorgias, Macros are advanced canned responses. 

5. Backlog

Backlog refers to customer inquiries or tickets that need attention and have yet to be acknowledged and resolved.

6. Business hours

Business hours refer to the designated working hours during which a company operates and provides customer service.

7. Closed tickets

Closed tickets represent customer inquiries that have been resolved or addressed to the customer's satisfaction.

8. Collision detection

Collision detection is a feature in Gorgias that prevents multiple agents from simultaneously working on the same customer ticket to avoid duplicate or conflicting responses.

9. Conversion rate

Conversion rate refers to the ratio between customers who interact or visit a website and customers who purchase a product or subscribe to a service. Conversion rate measures how effective a sales or marketing strategy is. In other words, it is the difference between window shoppers and first-time customers.

10. Customer intent

Customer intent refers to the underlying reason behind a customer's inquiry. Understanding every customer’s intent can give support teams insight into customer behavior and can highlight the strengths and weaknesses of a product.

11. Customer sentiment

Customer sentiment is the underlying connotation and overall mood of a support ticket or inquiry. Understanding customer sentiment is helpful to engage with customers in pleasant ways. Failing to match a customer’s sentiment may result in losing them as a customer due to a bad customer experience.

📚 Related reading: 15 customer phrases to use and 5 to avoid

12. Customer ticket lifecycle

The customer ticket lifecycle represents the different stages a customer support ticket goes through, from its creation to resolution.

13. Integration

Integration is the process of connecting different applications to a helpdesk, enabling them to share data and increase the efficiency of customer service operations.

14. Intent detection

Intent detection is a customer experience automation feature in Gorgias that automatically identifies a ticket's intent based on its messaging.

15. Onboarding

Onboarding is the process of guiding and assisting new customers to get acquainted with a product or service.

16. One-touch ticket

One-touch tickets are inquiries that can be resolved in a single interaction without requiring further follow-up.

17. Open tickets

An open ticket is a ticket that has not yet been answered or resolved by a customer service agent.

18. Outsourcing

Outsourcing is the practice of delegating specific tasks to third-party companies. For businesses, this can mean outsourcing some customer service tasks to a call center company.

19. Reassign

Reassigning a ticket means handing over the ownership of a ticket to another agent of the support team. Reassigning tickets is beneficial for balancing the workload or pairing a customer with an agent with more specialized knowledge.

20. Rules

Rules are customizable automations that trigger actions based on pre-set conditions. In Gorgias, Rules offload tedious work by automatically closing, tagging, or assigning tickets to particular agents.

21. Script

A script is a predefined response used by agents during frequent, predictable interactions. Customer service scripts are helpful for answering frequently asked questions, alleviating angry customers, or upselling new products.

22. Shared ownership

Shared ownership is when multiple team members collaborate and take collective responsibility for resolving a customer inquiry or ticket.

23. Ticket routing

Ticket routing is the automated process of transferring support tickets to the most appropriate customer service agent or team based on pre-set Rules.

24. Ticket status

Ticket status refers to the current state of a support ticket, indicating whether it is open, in progress, on hold, or closed.

25. Ticket views

Ticket views in Gorgias are customizable filters that help organize support tickets by certain criteria. For example, one ticket view can display only high-priority tickets, so agents can resolve urgent issues faster.

26. Unassigned ticket

An unassigned ticket is a customer inquiry that has not been assigned to a specific customer service agent for handling.

27. Variables

Variables refer to the elements or properties of a customer support ticket that can store different values or data. Some examples of ticket variables are customer intent, ticket status, and tags.

Gorgias also has a Ticket Fields feature that enables tickets to have custom variables. This allows support teams to label tickets according to their needs.

Customer service soft skills

1. Soft skills

Soft skills are non-technical skills, such as empathy and resourcefulness, that enable effective customer interactions.

2. Active listening

Active listening involves understanding, responding, and remembering what a customer is saying during a conversation.

3. Empathy

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of customers. Being empathetic is crucial to providing thoughtful customer service that puts the customer first. 

4. Proactive

Being proactive means taking initiative by anticipating potential customer issues, and acting in advance to prevent them from occurring.

5. Resourceful

Being resourceful means having the creativity and inventiveness to find solutions to customer problems. A resourceful agent consults all possible resources, including fellow teammates and team leads, to satisfy customers.

6. Social intelligence

Social intelligence is the capacity to navigate social situations and appropriately participate in interpersonal dynamics based on emotional awareness and empathy.

Metrics and KPIs

1. Key performance indicator (KPI)

Key performance indicators, known as KPIs, are used to evaluate the effectiveness of customer service efforts. KPIs help customer service teams to set goals, establish standards, and maintain excellent service.

2. Average first response time

Average first response time is the average time it takes for your customer service team to send the first response to a customer after receiving a request. 

3. Average handle time

Average handle time is the average time it takes for your customer service team to handle a case from start to finish. 

4. Average hold time

Average hold time is the average time a customer spends on hold before connecting with a support agent.

5. Average response time

Average response time, also known as average reply time, is the average time it takes for your customer service team to get back to a customer throughout an entire customer ticket lifecycle.

6. Call abandonment rate 

Call abandonment rate is the percentage of callers who hang up before speaking to a customer service representative.

7. Call monitoring

Call monitoring refers to listening in on calls to ensure company policies are being followed and agents are providing high-quality assistance. Monitoring calls can help teams collectively find better resolutions and can also prepare them for similar interactions in the future.

8. Call volume

Call volume is the total number of incoming customer calls received by a support team. 

9. Churn rate

Churn rate is the percentage of customers who stop doing business with a company over a specific period, such as over a month or year. Churn rate suggests customer dissatisfaction with a company’s product, service, or policies.

10. Customer effort score (CES)

Customer effort score or CES is a metric that assesses how much effort a customer has to put in to resolve their issue. CES is measured by sending customers a one-question survey asking how much effort was required of them to resolve their issue. Answers range from no effort to very high effort. A successful customer service operation will require little to no effort. 

11. Customer lifetime value (CLV)

Customer lifetime value (CLV) is the projected revenue a customer is expected to generate throughout their relationship with a company. Some ways to increase CLV involve improving customer touchpoints, upselling, reaching out to neutral and unsatisfied customers, and creating a loyalty program. 

12. Customer satisfaction score (CSAT)

Customer satisfaction or CSAT measures general customer satisfaction and happiness with your products or service. CSAT can be measured by collecting customer feedback from surveys and reviews.

🧠 Learn more: 9 ways to improve your CSAT score and response rate

13. Customer support metrics

Customer support metrics are measurements used to evaluate the effectiveness and quality of customer service interactions. Customer service teams can use metrics such as first response time, customer satisfaction scores, churn rate, and other indicators to assess the overall support experience.

14. First call resolution (FCR)

First call resolution (FCR), also known as first contact resolution, is a call center metric that measures the rate of resolving a customer inquiry within the first call. An excellent FCR rate indicates that a support team is well-trained to be able to solve issues quickly.

15. First response time (FRT)

First response time (FRT), sometimes called first reply time, is how quickly a customer inquiry is acknowledged. Customers expect their questions to be answered as quickly as possible, and FRT is a good measure of how responsive customer service teams are.

16. Net promoter score (NPS)

Net promoter score (NPS) measures customer loyalty and the likelihood of a customer recommending a company’s products or services to others. A high net promoter score can indicate high customer retention and loyalty. A low net promoter score can be a sign that your product or service is decreasing in quality.

17. Service level expectation (SLE)

A service level expectation (SLE) is an agreed-upon standard for the response or resolution time that a customer anticipates from a customer service team. It serves as a performance metric to ensure timely handling of customer inquiries.

18. Service level goal (SLG)

A service level goal (SLG) is the desired or targeted service level for responding to customer inquiries within a specific timeframe.

Service level objective (SLO)

Service level objectives (SLOs) are targets or thresholds for performance metrics like response times or resolution times. SLOs are used to track a team’s performance and ensure high-quality customer service. For example, a support team may be required to respond to emails in no longer than 24 hours. 

19. Retention rate

Customer retention rate is the percentage of existing customers that continue buying from your brand over a given period of time. It directly reflects a brand's ability to retain existing customers, which is more cost-effective than acquiring new customers.

20. Resolution time

Resolution time is the average time a customer spends interacting with a business’s customer support, helpdesk, or customer service team before their issue is solved. Agents should aim to have a low resolution time to secure higher customer satisfaction. 

21. Ticket volume

TIcket volume refers to the total number of tickets a customer service team receives in a specified amount of time, such as a day, week, or month. A high ticket volume may indicate unclear company policies or an uninformative website.

22. Turnaround time

Turnaround time is how long it takes for support teams to resolve a customer issue. Websites that offer support can display the turnaround time for each support channel to make customers aware of the approximate time they can receive an answer.

Level up your customer service with Gorgias

Gorgias offers a powerful solution to kickstart and streamline your customer service team. With the ability to automate repetitive tasks and integrate with popular ecommerce platforms like Shopify and Adobe Commerce, your agents can focus on providing personalized support to customers.

Additionally, Gorgias's real-time insights and advanced reporting tools allow you to track agent performance and identify revenue opportunities to keep your customers coming back.

If you’re ready to level up with Gorgias, the first step is to start agent training with Gorgias Academy. If you can’t wait, go ahead and book a demo.

TL;DR:

• Effective customer service hinges on excellent hiring, the right tools, clear processes, and an efficient training program.
• The ideal support agent should demonstrate patience, communication, adaptability in ambiguous situations, active listening, and empathy.
• Key indicators your customer service team needs training: negative feedback, disjointed communication, outdated information, compliance violations, inconsistent brand voice, and new tool adoption.

Your brand’s customer service team has a direct impact on the success of your business: 

• 94% of consumers are more likely to make another purchase after a positive experience, according to Statista.
• 73% of customers will leave your brand for a competitor after fewer than just three poor service experiences, according to Retail Dive.

Great customer service hinges on a few things: excellent hiring, the right tools, clear processes, strong leadership, and an effective customer service training program. How you prepare your support agents, from onboarding to ongoing coaching, will come to fruition in your brand’s growth (or lack thereof).

In this guide, we’ll cover the basics of customer service training, including the types of customer service training that directly impact revenue. We'll also give you 15 effective training activities to try.

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What is customer service training?

Customer service training is everything you, as a customer support leader, do to help customer service team members be as effective as possible. This includes onboarding agents, creating training resources, providing ongoing coaching, and more.

Customer service training is important because it’s one of the greatest levers you have to improve your team’s impact on the business. If customer service representatives are continuously building up their repertoire of customer service techniques and skills, they can handle customer service requests faster and with more accuracy, boost customer satisfaction, upsell customers get more reviews and referrals, and find new ways to provide an excellent customer service experience. 

7 areas to cover in your customer service training

Core customer service training curriculum should include modules on:

1. Product and service knowledge
2. Policy and process knowledge
3. Customer service tools
4. Technical skills
5. How to differentiate between repetitive and complex tickets
6. Brand voice and tone
7. Essential soft skills 

1) Product and service knowledge

Everyone on your customer support team should be an expert regarding your products and service offerings. Otherwise, start a team discussion to evaluate where your team is in terms of product and service knowledge. Then, focus on a particular area to equip them with the right information.

For example, make sure everyone knows how your referral program or exchange process works. 

2) Policy and process knowledge

Agents should know each of your policies and processes inside and out. In order to get new team members up to speed, train them on essential policies. Teach them how to handle things like: 

• Shipping questions 
• Returns
• Exchanges
• Order cancellation requests 
• Damaged items 

Once they have a solid understanding of policy, move on to processes like: 

• Handling complex tickets
• Upset customer escalation 
• Order cancellation

3) Customer service tools 

You’ll want to include any effective customer service tools currently used by the customer service team in training sessions. This could include a helpdesk, customer relationship management tool, Help Center, or other automation tools you use. 

If you’re still shopping for a customer support platform, consider seeking one with built-in agent training. This will help you train agents on your new system (and onboard new agents) much faster than creating your own training. 

At Gorgias, we offer a series of courses and customer service certifications called Gorgias Academy to help agents of all levels get more comfortable with the tool.

💡 Tip: It’s more important to hire agents with great soft skills and dedication to customer success than someone with helpdesk experience. So, be sure to cover the basics in your onboarding training, including where to find open tickets, how ticket assignment works, how to use templates, etc. 

4) Technical skills

Solid technical and problem-solving skills are extremely important for members of your customer service team — these skills will help make the entire customer service department run more smoothly and help support a great customer experience. 

Things like knowledge of the hardware your company uses, as well as processes within the company, can ensure customer issues are addressed quickly and correctly the first time. The most common example is following an internal escalation process to talk to the right person, be it the engineering team or the product developers This will help resolve issues quicker, which keeps customers happy.

5) How to differentiate between complex and repetitive tickets

Agents should be able to recognize repetitive tickets like WISMO (where is my order) inquiries and more complex tickets like questions from VIP customers. 

If you use Gorgias, you can set rules  recognize ticket intents and answer them accordingly. You can also set rules for which tickets it should always hand over to an agent.

6) Brand voice and tone

The way your reps respond to customers should always reflect your brand values and tone of voice. 

To scale these efforts, create voice and tone guidelines that explain your brand’s level of formality, certain phrases you like to use (and avoid), and anything else you’d like to standardize across the team.

If you use Gorgias, it’s as simple as customizing AI Agent with your brand’s unique tone of voice, whether that’s friendly, empathetic, snarky, bro-y –– you name it! 

7) Essential soft skills

The most effective agents exhibit exceptional soft skills like patience, effective communication, adaptability in ambiguous situations, active listening, and empathy, all of which contribute to building positive customer relationships.

📚 Recommended reading: Key customer service phrases and terms

15 customer service training activities for your team to try

Once you have the outline of your customer service training, you’ll want to plan certain activities to support each module. Here are some customer support training ideas, broken up by theme, that will boost quality customer service and serve as team building.

🔗 Jump to a section:

• Boost product knowledge
• Increase process knowledge 
• Enhance communication skills 
• Level-up listening skills
• Boost technical knowledge

Boost product knowledge

Support associates must be experts on the products customers are buying. Ensure your customer service reps are product experts using these training exercises. 

1) Review customer interactions 

Reviewing real customer interactions can help your agents get the most relevant training for your customer base. If you can, anonymize the customer interactions you share in the training.

2) Analyze product demos from the sales team

Conduct a deep dive into product demos to ensure your customer service team is well acquainted with what customers are experiencing on the sales side of the process. This can help you anticipate customer questions about the product.

3) Dedicate time to reading about your product

Have your reps set aside time each week to stay current on product knowledge. This could mean reading updated website information, briefs from other departments, and even blog posts published on your brand’s website. 

If you don’t already have a help center or knowledge base, consider creating one — both for customers to self-serve solutions and for agents to have access to up-to-date product and process knowledge.

4) Test out your company’s product or service 

If you’re a software company or provide a digital service, testing your product is the simplest way to put yourself in your customer's shoes. Run through typical use cases for your product from your customer's perspective and assess how it stacks up to common pain points.

5) Create a screen recording for new product updates

Each time you launch a new product, your agents are on the hook for understanding it and communicating clearly with new customers and repeat buyers. 

As a way to provide real-time training for any updates, create a screen recording that walks customer service agents through everything they need to know to meet customer needs. Depending on the product, this could be information about the product’s sizing, materials, pricing, or compatibility with other products.

Increase process knowledge

Boosting process knowledge is key when it comes to ongoing training methods.

6) Try to stump your agents

Give your customer service agents a challenging situation relating to shipping, returns, or exchanges to see whether they know how the business’s policy applies.

7) "Explain it like I’m five"

Good customer service is clear and jargon-free. Ask your agents to explain aspects of complicated company processes in the simplest way possible — like you're a five-year-old. While your ecommerce store should clearly state the policies, agents should be able to share need-to-know information in ways that everyone can understand. 

Enhance communication skills

Use these exercises to enhance your customer service reps’ communication skills. 

8) Study standout tickets 

Share and analyze tickets where agents navigated tricky questions or provided helpful answers. 

If you review and discuss difficult or complex situations, your service reps will have a reference point when they encounter tickets with similar complexity. In addition to regular reviews as a group, encourage agents to poke through your helpdesk and see how other agents handle interactions with customers.

Gorgias connects to email, voice, SMS, Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and more.

9) Build third-party online training courses into your program

Providing access to third-party training can be a helpful way for customer service reps to work on skills in between formal training sessions. Udemy and Coursera offer hundreds of courses, many of which are offered at a low cost, covering communication and soft skills in customer service. 

Here are a few examples:

• Improve Communication: Speak Smoothly, Clearly & Confidently
• Communication Fundamentals: How To Communicate Better
• The Power of Deep Listening 
• Listening Skills - The Ultimate Workplace Soft Skills

10) Roleplay as customers

Roleplaying is a tried and true exercise that can be extremely helpful in customer service training. Try leading a relevant simulated digital customer service interaction on social media, live chat, or SMS.

Level-up listening skills

Active listening is an imperative skill for your CX team to leverage in each conversation. Try out these active listening games with your team.  

11) Do the “draw that” activity

To help hone listening skills, play a game where one person has a photo of a design and describes to another person how to draw the design on a whiteboard without looking at it. The game requires both parties to be engaged and overly communicative to get the desired end result.  

12) Play a game of Hot or Cold

Even as an adult, a game of hot or cold can be a simple way to exercise communication and listening skills. One person closes their eyes while the rest of the team directs them to an object — but the catch is they can only say “hot” or “cold.” All players need to be alert and engaged with each other to keep the game going and ultimately help the blindfolded player find the object.

‍Boost technical skills

In-depth knowledge of the product and the ability to quickly manage technical troubleshooting will elevate a good customer experience to a great customer experience. Here are some ways to help customer service staff boost their technical skills. 

14) Host a TypeRacer challenge for your team

The faster someone can type without mistakes, the faster they can answer customer inquiries. As a fun way to boost your team’s typing speed (and encourage some healthy competition), run a TypeRacer challenge to see who can get the best score. 

15) Attend product meetings

Attending meetings with your product team is another way to ensure your team is up-to-date on product knowledge. If a cross-functional team is hosting an online or in-person meeting, encourage the team to attend to get product insights and ask questions. 

Signs your customer service team needs training

Beyond onboarding new employees, you should conduct customer service training regularly. There may also be times when you need to mitigate an issue with specific team-wide training.

Keep the following flags in mind to help you address potential customer experience issues before they get out of hand: 

• Your brand is getting negative customer feedback
• Customer communication is disjointed
• Agents are giving outdated product and process information
• You’ve violated HIPAA or other compliance regulations 
• You’ve recently updated your customer service tech stack

📚 Recommended reading: 9 ways to improve your CSAT score and response rate

Your brand is getting negative customer feedback

There will always be some customer complaints, but your customer service team will want to address these complaints internally in a reasonable amount of time. This is especially true when your team hears the same negative customer feedback repeatedly. 

Some leading indicators of this issue include low NPS scores, negative CSAT survey responses, and negative reviews of the company on public websites. If you notice any of these, look over your recent interactions with customers. 

If you’re not already sending CSAT surveys, a helpdesk like Gorgias can help you automatically send them after interactions and see trends in responses over time.

Customer communication is disjointed

If you’re noticing that the entire team runs into a lot of issues in their day-to-day ticket handling, you probably need to bolster your training program and create an internal knowledge base with helpful resources that detail customer communication guidelines.

For example, if you don’t have clear tone of voice guidelines, you may run into responses that vary in quality or that aren’t on-brand. 

This is where a quality assurance process can come in handy. Gorgias offers automated QA, which supports teams in QAing ticket responses at scale.  

Additionally, using Macros can help speed up agents and reduce confusion by giving them a clear start for common issues. A Macro that automatically inserts a link to a customer's tracking URL, for example, could reduce inaccurate answers and time spent on WISMO requests.

💡 Tip: With Gorgias, you can see all of your agents’ metrics — like online time, tickets closed, and open tickets — at a glance. Use this view to see if any agents are lagging in terms of tickets closed for their number of hours worked.

Agents are giving outdated product and process information

The way your brand talks about products or services will inevitably change over time. But to achieve the highest customer satisfaction, your CX team needs to provide the most updated information to customers. If there’s a gap in the information that team members provide, it's time to set up internal training. 

One leading indicator of this issue is a high repeat contact rate.

You’ve violated HIPAA or other compliance regulations

A clear indicator that your team may need additional training is if you’ve been notified of a HIPAA or other compliance regulation breach. Violations are more common for healthcare and legal providers and usually include sharing private identifying information in public channels or leaving devices and documents unattended. 

Depending on the type of regulation, there are specific training courses to take as refreshers. For example, if your company must meet HIPAA guidelines, then HIPAA compliance officer training may be beneficial for your customer service team leaders. From there, they can monitor the agents on the team and provide feedback and additional training as needed. 

You’ve recently upgraded your customer service tech stack

If you’ve recently added a tool to your customer service team’s tech stack, it's important to get your agents up to speed as fast and efficiently as possible. This will help limit the number of mistakes made, increase the speed at which your agents can use the tool, and improve customer satisfaction.

5 Gorgias customer service training courses 

If you’ve recently started using Gorgias within your customer service team or are thinking of adopting the platform, include Gorgias Academy in your training materials to help your team get up to speed.

Addressing ongoing training needs within your customer service department helps your team keep up with customer expectations, especially as your brand and tech stack evolve.

To help develop your customer service training program, you can evaluate your current program using these best practices or get more practical support tips from the Gorgias customer support team.

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Customer service professionals (and the customer service skills they possess) are at the frontline of creating great brand experiences. 

All too often, customer service workers aren’t valued as truly skilled or strategic members of the business. It’s a shame (and a missed opportunity), given how big a role customer service agents play in the success of a business. 

According to 2022 McKinsey research, three out of five customer service leaders view attracting, training, and retaining skilled customer service workers as a top business priority.

My name is Deja Jefferson, and I’m the CX and Consumer Insights Manager at Topicals. We’ve upskilled our customer experience associates with both soft and hard skills to give our customers complete support and unwavering confidence when making a purchase.

Here are 16 of the most important hard and soft skills for customer support that we train for at Topicals, and that you should build your support team to possess. 

Top customer service soft skills to manage any situation

Customer service soft skills are the non-technical, interpersonal traits agents use while supporting shoppers. Ultimately, soft skills help to problem solve through good communication and clear thinking. 

These aren’t technical skills, nor are they easily quantifiable, but they are vitally important to improve customer communications.

1) Positive language

Your support agents need to have a firm understanding of how their tone of voice and word choice affect customer satisfaction. 

Using positive language is a valuable customer service technique that steers conversations toward positive emotions, which generate positive outcomes for customers and your business. 

Examples of positive language used in customer service

Here are some examples of how your team can use positive language in customer service situations.

• “Absolutely! We will definitely get this sorted out for you.“
• “Good idea! I will do everything I can to make it right.”
• “Oh, that certainly sounds like something I can help you with.”
• “I’m confident it will work out and we’ll get your product to you as soon as possible.”
• “Thanks! I hope you have a fantastic day. Please reach out again if I can assist you with anything else.”

For further clarification, here are a few examples of what these same interactions might look like using negative language instead:

• “Oh no! I’ll see if I can fix your problem.”
• “That sounds awful; I wish that didn’t happen.”
• “Ah, I’m not sure if I can fix it, but I’ll try.”
• “Don’t be upset; this is why I’m here.”
• “There you go. Let me know if anything else goes wrong.”

Tips to use positive language in your customer service communications 

You can get a sense of a person’s positive language skills early on, even during an interview when hiring for customer service roles. 

If your support agents need help using positive language for any scenario, write customer service scripts or Macros that incorporate positive language. This helps all your agents stay positive, whether they're brand-new employees or established team members.

“I ensure that customer service provided by Topicals not only exhibits empathy when issues arise but should be seamlessly integrated throughout the entire transaction process. Our priority is to ensure that our customers feel fully supported at every step.”

—Deja Jefferson, CX and Consumer Insights Manager at Topicals

2) Showing empathy

It's a key customer service skill to show empathy for a shopper, especially when a difficult situation comes up. 

When customers share their challenges and frustrations, it's essential for them to feel assured that their concerns are being understood by empathetic listeners. In the realm of targeted skincare for specific skin conditions, we must consider the vulnerability of consumers as they seek out new skincare solutions. Let's be honest — they've received recommendations from friends, witnessed numerous skin influencers endorse their preferred "featured" products for various skin types, and might be following advice from various dermatologists, (if they're lucky). I ensure that customer service provided by Topicals not only exhibits empathy when issues arise but should be seamlessly integrated throughout the entire transaction process. Our priority is to ensure that our customers feel fully supported at every step.

Examples of empathy in customer service

Take a look at this hypothetical customer issue with an angry customer:

• Hypothetical issue: “When my order arrived, it was three days late and broken. This was supposed to be a birthday gift for my daughter, and now I’m not going to have this in time to give it to her on that day. I’m angry, and I demand a refund.”
• Empathetic Response: “Wow. That does sound frustrating, and it’s not the experience you were hoping for when you chose to shop with us. I totally see why you’re angry. Let me find out what I can do for you.”

Tips to foster empathy among your customer service team 

Empathy is hard to teach. At Topicals, I train my team to get inside the customer’s mind. 

Our customers are real people facing challenging (and highly personal) skin issues, from Hyperpigmentation, Atrophic/Acne Scarring, Keratosis Pilaris, and so much more.

Sure, some customers lose their patience when they feel defeated — that’s unavoidable. But most of them are feeling frustrated and hopeless. And my team has an opportunity to give them hope that we can work together to help fix the customer’s issue. 

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3) Active listening skills

Whether in a physical retail setting or digital, active listening is a key step to adapting to nuanced questions or navigating tense situations with customers.

Active listening is listening with the intent to obtain information and understand it, rather than simply listening with the intent to reply. 

Examples of active listening in customer service

Active listening requires the agent to acknowledge that they understand our customers during a conversation, and provide feedback or ask follow-up questions when appropriate.

First, let’s look at a hypothetical customer issue:

• “Hey, I ordered the Post-Acne Kit several weeks ago and still haven’t received my package. I haven’t gotten an email with tracking updates. Can you tell me whether or not my order was shipped?”

Here’s what a generic, canned response looks like:

• “Thank you for contacting us. Did you receive a confirmation email with your order number?”

But when you use active listening skills, the reply becomes more like this:

• "Hi there, we apologize for the delay in your order. Rest assured, we're actively resolving the issue with our shipping partners to determine its status. If it's considered lost, we'll promptly send a replacement. It may take 24-48 hrs for us to hear back but we will provide and update to you tomorrow. We appreciate your patience and apologize for any inconvenience.”

The second example response showcases that the support agent has heard the problem and is actively looking for a solution.

Tips to incorporate active listening in your customer service strategy 

Use active listening alongside a helpdesk like Gorgias, which helps your customer service representatives “remember” past interactions. It’s like active listening but at scale.  

Gorgias displays customer information like past conversations and orders, current orders, and data from your other apps (like loyalty points or product review scores). 

Your agents can use this information to avoid asking for information the customer already gave, and automatically pull it into their responses with variables like [Last Order #] or [Shipping Address]. 

Related reading: Our full guide on personalized customer service

4) Time management

Time management is the ability to get the most important things done, with a limited number of hours in a day. 

As a customer service skill, it's make-or-break: The better an agent's time management, the quicker their first response time and the more tickets they can resolve.

Customer service response times tremendously impact your store’s bottom line. If a response to a query takes too long, customer satisfaction plummets. 

Examples of time management in customer service

In a customer support environment, managing time effectively allows an agent to handle a larger volume of tickets (without breaking their back).

Effective time management is a team sport. You need to make sure: 

• Your automations (like Rules) are saving your team from repetitive tasks
• Your team is using resources (like Macros) to avoid typing messages from scratch
• Your team is prioritizing customer service requests to handle the most important tickets first

Tips to improve time management with your customer service team 

Your agents have better things to do than copy/paste order statuses all day. We use Gorgias’s Automate at Topicals to handle repetitive questions (like “Where is my order?” or “Where do you ship?”) so that my team can spend their time on issues that need human attention. 

Plus, Automate helps customers, even when my team isn’t online. 

5) Patience and awareness of tense situations

Support services is an industry that is stressful by nature, largely because most shoppers’ problems are a little tense. 

Your agents need to understand when a situation is tense and what to do to defuse the emotional heat:

• Recognize the situation as emotionally tense
• Detach from taking anything said personally
• Maintain control over internal negative emotions
• Employ empathetic responses to the customer

Examples of patience and awareness of tense situations in customer service

We know we can’t make everyone happy, but we can always make sure people feel heard. In this example, a shopper shared on Instagram that the product we were featuring didn’t work for them. 

Instagram comments are public-facing and we always want to be sure we address feedback from disappointed customers in this kind of arena. 

So, we apologized and recognized what the commentator said. Then, we suggested carrying the conversation to a private DM so we could find a solution. 

Tips to boost patience and handle awareness of tense situations 

In addition, support agents need to care for themselves, drink plenty of water, and get enough rest. 

"People underestimate the emotional and mental resilience that working in CX requires. It’s hard not to take things personally sometimes."

—Grace Choi, Customer Experience Team Lead at TUSHY

When an agent takes time for self-care, they are prepared to be resilient to the job's stresses and approach customer problems with understanding. It’ll improve both a customer's patience with your rep as well as their ultimate satisfaction.

6) Reflecting

Reflecting is the act of repeating a concern to the person speaking — and it’s a crucial customer service skill your agents must master. 

It will make your shoppers feel heard, which is the foundation of a great experience.

Reflecting accomplishes three things:

1. Enables the speaker to hear their own thoughts spoken back to them so that they can focus on what they have to say and what they feel.
2. Displays empathy to the speaker, letting them know that you are trying to understand the concern at hand.
3. Encourages the speaker to continue expressing themselves.

Example of reflecting in customer service

Let’s see what reflecting looks like in action in a customer support context.

• Hypothetical issue: “I’ve been having trouble getting my Scar Primer to work properly. I’ve written in three times for help with the same problem, and it keeps happening. Does this product even work?”
• Reflective response: “Hi, I’m happy to help. Sounds like the Scar Primer is giving you trouble. Are you not seeing results, or is it causing a breakout? I’ve got some solutions to try for either.”

Tips to improve reflection in your customer service strategy 

Sometimes, the most challenging part of solving a problem is understanding what the problem actually is.

Here are a couple of clarifying phrases to keep in your back pocket. 

• “It sounds like ..., is this correct?” 
• “Did I miss anything?” 
• “Is there anything else you want to make sure I understand?” 

7) Maintaining brand voice

A strong brand voice is crucial for any brand, but keeping the brand tone consistent in customer comms is a challenge — especially for technical tickets.

Example of maintaining brand voice in customer service

Skilled customer service reps know that maintaining brand voice in customer communications goes a long way toward improving customer experiences. 

Personalized Macros help brands plug in automated responses for commonly asked questions. You can build pre-made responses that are infused with your brand voice, so you can maintain fast and effective response times without sacrificing your core messaging.  

At Topicals, we use Macros to help maintain brand voice while handling a high volume of customer service tickets. We’ve built a library of templated responses based on our audience persona of skincare-obsessed Gen Z-ers and millennials.  

As a result, 69% of tickets at Topicals are now dealt with using automations.

Tips to encourage customer service reps to maintain brand voice 

In addition to Macros, consider following up with customers using SMS messaging. 

At Topicals, we tested out SMS so customer service reps could follow up with customers. The less formal format made it easy to keep up with our brand persona of Gen-Z and millennials who prefer quick messaging over emails or phone support.  

We were blown away by the positive response. Customers were willing to open up about their experiences and were happy to chat about how much they loved our products. 

Important hard skills for any customer service rep

Beyond the soft skills we’ve discussed above, there are hard skills every customer service representative needs to master.  

Customer service techniques or hard skills are defined as the hands-on, technical requirements of the job. This entails understanding the company's products and the tools and technology that your customer service team uses. 

8) Product knowledge 

The most obvious customer service skill your agents (and your virtual assistants) must possess is the ability to answer questions and communicate information about the products you sell. 

An essential part of customer service training is making sure your agents really understand the product, so they can answer in-depth questions and questions about how to use the product:

• “Can I use Faded with my retinol at night?”
• “How long will it take for me to see results?”
• “Will this work on my melasma?

If hiring, you may occasionally come across an applicant who has existing knowledge of your products, which is a bonus. Still, you should maintain a knowledge base that gives your support team (and your customers, if you chose to make your knowledge base public) easy access to the information they need.

Product knowledge includes product ingredients, uses, compatibility, troubleshooting, and more. Your training should also include process and policy information, like shipping times, packaging, returns and exchanges, and other common questions in ecommerce.

Tips to expand your product knowledge 

• Create a comprehensive knowledge base or FAQ page so support agents can easily access the product information they need.
• Have your product development team brief support agents on new products and product updates.
• Identify frequently asked product questions and ensure that your agents have canned responses to these questions.

↗️ Check out our Director of Support’s guide to customer service training for more guidance.

9) Language and grammar

Your support staff doesn’t need to illustrate beautiful images with their wordplay — actually, that risks confusing the customer. However, they do need a sharp understanding of the language they’re using and know how to use proper grammar and spelling.

Test your prospective agents on the following:

• Spelling
• Punctuation
• Word use

Tips for improving your language and grammar

If your agents are having trouble with spelling or grammar, consider giving them access to tools they can incorporate into their day-to-day work. 

A few great language and grammar tools to consider include:

• Gorgias, which includes spell check
• Grammarly
• ProWritingAid
• Hemingway App

10) Typing speed

Typing speed may not sound like the most crucial skill on this list, but when you break it down faster typing speed = faster response times. 

90% of customers rate an immediate response as "important" or "very important" when they have a support request. So, the faster you can move through tickets, the more satisfied your customers are likely to be.  

Tips to optimize typing speed

Take a typing speed test to know exactly how your typing ability stacks up. 

Generally speaking, here’s a ranking of words per minute (WPM): 

• Below average: 20 WPM or less 
• Average: Between 20 - 40 WPM
• Above average: 40 - 60 WPM 

If you’re a professional typist, you’re likely typing at a whopping 60 - 90 WPM (or more!) 

11) Email

A bulk of communication with your customers will take place via email. 

Make sure your support staff has excellent email communication skills in place and that they understand how to leverage your email platform’s features.        

One great way to make email customer support more streamlined and convenient for your team is to utilize a single platform for all of your customer support channels. 

With Gorgias, agents can respond to emails, SMS messages, and social media messages from a single, easy-to-use dashboard rather than having to master each channel individually. 

Tips for better emails

• Include the recipient’s name in the body of the email, and use a professional signature at the end of the message.
• Speed up your email response time with automated responses to common customer questions.
• Create an efficient system for responding to email inquiries so that nothing slips through the cracks.
• Limit back-and-forth responses and reduce your resolution times by requesting all necessary information in your initial email to the customer.

↗️ Check out our email templates for a way to scale quality email customer service.‍

‍12) Indirect channels (like social media)

Considering 59% of the world's population uses some form of social media, it makes sense to arm your support staff to field questions and concerns that come through your social media comments. 

Build a clear protocol to handle public tickets. Will you move the conversation to another communication platform or handle it where it starts? Your support agent should know what you expect as well as how to use the social media platforms you promote your brand on.

If you don’t have a helpdesk, you’re missing out on opportunities to provide great experiences and turn more casual browsers into loyal buyers:

“Gorgias has so much integration between Shopify, Instagram, and Facebook. The Facebook ad comment has been very interesting. People have been converting right there, thanks to simple social interaction.” —Cody Szymanski, Customer Experience Manager, Shinesty

↗️ Learn more about how Shinesty earns more sales and answers questions faster with Gorgias.

Tips for social media customer service teams

• Move public negative customer interactions to a private channel (like DMs) so that they don't damage your brand image.
• Don’t worry about being on every social media channel, only use the ones where your customers are the most active. 
• Monitor social conversations that are relevant to your brand with social listening tools.

↗️ Read our complete guide on social media and customer service for more tips.

13) Omnichannel customer service

Most customer relationships span multiple channels. As your brand grows, make sure your customer service agents are comfortable switching from one channel to the next. 

If you don’t have a helpdesk, this will require a bit of tab-shuffling throughout the day to respond to comments and messages from all these different platforms. 

That said, a helpdesk will save your agents hours every week by unifying your omnichannel approach to one platform, where agents can see every past interaction — be it an hour-long phone call or a 5-star review — and respond to customers without leaving the platform.

Tips for omnichannel customer support

Offering customer support via multiple channels such as live chat, email, call centers, and social media provides customers with more touchpoints for contacting your company. 

A helpdesk that can unify customer support interactions across channels in one view is helpful for agents because it reduces the amount of app swapping they have to do. It also gives every customer's entire interaction history with your brand across all channels. 

Here are a few effective tips to optimize your omnichannel support approach:

• Use a centralized customer support dashboard so support reps can access messages from multiple channels in a single location.
• Offer mobile-friendly customer support options.
• Create a system for efficiently transferring customer interactions between support channels.

↗️ Check out our complete guide to omnichannel customer service for more tips.

Ecommerce-specific customer service skills

The skills we’ve covered so far can apply to agents that work to manage customer issues for in-person or online experiences. 

For those agents who solely work in ecommerce, there are four more valuable skills to help improve customer satisfaction with your brand. 

14) Live chat

Nearly 80% of customers told PwC that a speedy, helpful answer is the most important aspect of good customer service. So, brands are turning to messaging-based customer support channels (like live chat support, WhatsApp, and SMS texting) to meet these customer expectations. 

If your support team isn’t trained on these fast-moving channels, your customers miss out on opportunities for sales. 

Answering live chat is more involved than you may think: Agents must incorporate previous customer context, pull up the right information, and be proactive to think about a forward resolution (like being able to answer customer follow-up questions) — all at a fast pace, and potentially handling other interactions at the same time. 

Example to incorporate live chat in your customer service communications 

Here’s what answering a live chat in Gorgias looks like:

In addition to the technical skill required to maneuver these channels within your helpdesk, your staff should refine their skillset to drive sales with live chat. Live chat can boost your conversion rate by 12%, and it’s made a huge difference in raising our purchase rate and lowering our return rate here at Topicals:

https://gorgias.wistia.com/medias/yok5z1e4uo

Tips for enhancing live chat skills

• Use templated Macros to help your live chat agents address customer questions more efficiently.
• Use automated responses to filter out repetitive questions for your agents.
• Ensure clear communication by prioritizing proper spelling and grammar.

Check out our detailed guide to live chat support for more tips and tricks. 

15) Decision making 

When talking directly with customers you need to be able to solve their issues quickly — and that involves fast decision-making. 

It’s the responsibility of the customer service rep to take care of the customer by providing the best possible solution to their problem right away.  

Example of decision-making in customer service

Sometimes what the customer wants isn’t beneficial to your business’s bottom line. If that happens, your agents need to be able to weigh this one issue with the customers’ entire lifetime value. 

Let’s look at a hypothetical example. 

• “Hey, I ordered the Faded serum in the mail. When it was delivered, the box was damaged. The serum works just fine, but considering the way it was delivered, I’d like my money back. 

While the delivery person didn't take great care to keep the packaging intact, the customer was clear that the serum works as advertised. It might not be realistic for your brand’s bottom line to offer a replacement in this case. 

Instead of giving the customer something that could hurt your bottom line, a strong customer service agent might make a quick decision:

• “Wow, I’m so sorry to hear the package was damaged — our packaging is really cute and we’re proud of the design work. Luckily, it sounds like our Faded serum is living up to its expectations, which we are so happy to hear. We are happy to offer you 30% off your next order with this special discount code.”  

Sometimes, bending your rules to keep a customer happy (even if it’s not the most cost-effective) can pay you back with repeat purchases, positive reviews, recommendations, and more. 

Tips to empower your customer service team to make informed decisions

In your customer service policies and training, be extremely clear about what kinds of situations are black-and-white, where the agent must follow company policy. 

But also be very clear where there's some gray area, where the agent can deviate from the stated policy to delight a customer or make sure an interaction ends positively. 

Make sure your customer service reps know what they are allowed to do on their own, and when they need a manager's review.

16) Pre-sales support 

In a physical retail setting, employees can welcome customers, ask if they need any help, and give customers the information (and encouragement) they need to make a purchase. 

Pre-sale support means you are able to communicate with a shopper during their browsing experience — helping the shopper make a confident purchasing decision before they click “checkout.” 

It's tricky to pull this off in an ecommerce setting, but it can have a huge impact on the ROI of your support team. That’s why it's important to think critically about how your brand offers pre-sale support and give agents the skills to pull it off.

Examples of pre-sales support in ecommerce customer service 

Empower your customer service reps to speak with shoppers during their browsing experience. 

At Topicals, we offer a lot of education about our products, so we can arm agents with the knowledge they need to talk about Topicals with customers. 

Here are a few examples of common pre-sale questions your agents might see: 

• Product questions: How does this product work? 
• Inventory questions: When will this product be back in stock? 
• Shipping questions: Do you ship to my location? 
• Technical questions: How do I use this product? 
• Sourcing or ethical questions: Do you use sustainably sourced materials? 
• Pricing questions: When will this item go on sale?  

Tips to establish pre-sale support in your customer service communications

For brands that use Gorgias, chat campaigns let you proactively reach out to customers based on their browsing behavior. 

This way, you can ask if the customer has questions, remind them of a timely promotion or free shipping offer, point them to a product recommendation quiz, or even offer a discount to nudge them toward a purchase. 

Level up your customer service skills with training 

When you’re looking for a new agent, it’s a great idea to hire for the skills in this list right out the gate. Then, continue to offer training opportunities for your customer service reps to master their craft. 

Training for the skills listed in this article has a great impact on your company’s reputation and revenue.

• If you’re trying to level up your agents, take a look at our Support Leader's Guide to Better Customer Service Training. 
• If you’re trying to level up your own skills, we’ve compiled a list of excellent resources to gain customer service certifications. 

Once you’re ready to put those skills to use, sign up for Gorgias to turn your customer support team into a revenue-generating machine.

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