Want to start sounding more human in your customer support responses? Start using emojis!
John, is that you? (ok, maybe your name isn’t John)
But surely you want to make an impression like John did here. You’ve dealt with an angry customer of two? Then you’ll know this fact …
…Every customer is a small puppy and a fierce lion at the same time. It all depends on the way YOU approach him/her. Tweet this quote
You’ve got this “fierce lion” side of a customer at least once?
Then read on … we might help you …
There’s been a lot of research done on this topic, so we’ve dug deeper and found some easy hacks around making customer support more interesting & effective.
You can start increasing your customer loyalty today with a simple change that’ll go a long way.
As well as, decrease the number of dissatisfied customers greatly.
Genesis global survey had come to conclusion that 40 % of the customers claim that the biggest improvement in customer support can be done in “better human service”
Furthermore, top two reasons for customer loss are:
Customer FEELS poorly treated
Failure to solve a problem in a timely manner
As you can see, the biggest CHALLENGE in customer support today is to humanize the relationship with customers.
Here is the twist: Using EMOJIS/EMOTICONS in customer support will make your job so much easier and humanize your relationship with customers online!
If you’re still not up to date with this trend, fasten your seat belts, you’re about to go on a customer support fast track!
The problem with de-humanized customer support is that it’s become “normal”. All that lines of plain text are killing both you and the customer.
People are visual creatures. If you doubt that, just go to the nearest bar with your friends and tell the waiter to bring you three beers and show him four fingers.
He will most likely bring you four beers, which isn’t that bad after all, that’s just the way we communicate.
The same goes for emoticons/emojis, they are highly visual and impactful for humans.
Emojis are a great way to get your customers involved on a subconscious level, and that’s always a great way to go!
Actually, Penn State did an interesting study, and I couldn’t help but notice a few crucial facts/points:
- The emoticon is even more powerful than the picture
- Emoticon makes customers feel like the customer agent has an emotional presence
- Emoticons can be effective vehicles for expression of empathy in customer relations, especially in the mobile e-commerce context
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Agents who responded more quickly to customers during the chat were rated more positively than those who did not
Here is what customer service and experience expert and New York Times bestselling author, Shep Hyken, had to say about this topic and research:
“The emoji is just another way to rate a customer’s satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) about service or product. The difference between a one-to-ten type of rating is that the emoji also expresses the emotion behind the rating. Happy, sad, glad and more are ways to gain insight into the customer’s emotional connection to the brand.” Tweet this quote
We’ve gone in depth on this subject and want to speed up the process along for you.
I bet that you’ll find this article useful as hell and this is why…
Here is what you’ll get in this blog post so that you can quickly scan it for what you need:
- How emoticons/emojis can greatly improve your customer support
- If you don’t follow these simple RULES to using emojis/emoticons in the customer support, you’ll do more damage than good
- Tools that are most suited fo using emoticons/emojis in customer support
How Emojis Can Greatly Improve Your Customer Support
Only 1 in 10 of customers who could complain about something will, actually, do it. So, make sure that you do EVERYTHING to resolve that issue.
When you have superior customer support, people are more likely to go and share the positive experience with their friends.
The fact of the matter is that the 90 % of the positive reaction of a customer like this begins with an overly frustrated customer who sought your help.
Make sure that you have a SUPERIOR customer support and focus on every little detail to ensure customer satisfaction.
Emoticons/emojis are just that, a detail that only the superior customer supports focus and insist on.
We’ve asked Matthew Larner, the director of clicksend.com (Business SMS gateway, voice, fax, email), to give us his take on emojis in customer support. Here’s what he said:
“I think emojis are a great way to make customer support more personal. They should be used sparingly though, as some customers still feel it’s unprofessional.” Tweet this quote
The proper use of emoticons will improve your customer support in these 5 aspects:
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Using emojis will make it easy for your interaction to be perceived by the customer as genuine.The best way to make the interaction genuine is with video chatting options, but most of the time that’s not an option and all you are left with is text chat tools.
Well, winners use whatever situation they have and make it as good as they can. Be genuine – USE emoticons.
By using emojis you’ll emphasize that you understand that your customer is a human and make it easier for them to understand that, you are also a human.
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Emoticons convey social POWER! There is a huge correlation between using the emoticons (especially the positive ones) and the social influence that one has on social media.
Customer support on social media is huge today! You can prevent so many unsatisfied customers with having a strong influence in social media.
Kind people from The University of Cambridge did this study and proven that emoticons are a really powerful way of communication in today’s society.
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Emoticons make your customer feel like they are in a real conversation and that you are in the same place in dealing with an issue.
You know what I’m talking about for sure. It’s like chatting with a friend and you feel like he really gets you. THAT is the exact same effect you should strive towards in your customer relationships
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Emoticons will soften up the relationship andYOUwill feel so much more at ease with dealing with customers!
That’s the most important thing of all. If people that work with customers are not satisfied and happy, then they’ll rub that off on customers.
Emoticons ——> Superior customer relations -
Emoticons will make your customers feel special and important.
Let’s be honest, it’s not an everyday thing to use emoticons/emojis with your customers. They will notice that and nobody will be bothered by them, ok maybe a few will, but that’s why you should read our rules that we’ve put together for you.
Simple RULES to Using Emojis/Emoticons in Customer Support
OK, I can’t give you all the goodies (RULES) without first introducing most powerful and simple weapon from our “arsenal” of this super weapon – EMOTICONS.
With these, you can show every kind of emotion to your customer easier. Feel free to comment if you feel that there is more to this list 
| What we want to convey | Emoticon | Example |
| Disappointment | :/ | Testing you issue right now, sorry for the late reply. The “chat service” has been weird on my end :/ |
| Happiness | |
It’s done
|
| Excitement |  |
You’re welcome And if you need anything else, please do tell
|
| Apologetic and or sympathy |  |
I’m really sorry to hear that but … |
Six simple rules to follow with emoticons in CS
1. Don’t overuse emoticons
Overusing anything is bad for you, you can do more harm than good. BALANCE is the key here, use your emoticons wisely.
2. Signal basic emotions with them
Emoticons are great for getting some context between you and your customer, but keep it simple. You will never have a perplexed relationship with your customer, stick to the basics and you’re good.
3. Don’t use them on the first contact
When first addressing the customer the ball is in your court. Don’t blow it on the first hit. Return a safe ball first and then ping of the reaction of your customer.
4. Think about who you’re talking to
This one is huge! Know your customer persona in depth! Are they likely to use emoticons in their day to day life? If yes, then you’re set to get some extra points with them
5. Don’t use them with customer who’s really pissed of
You need to use your EQ wisely with the matter of emoticons. If you see by the tone of the message that the customer is super agitated, don’t experiment on them! Mirror them in a way and again, ping off of their reactions.
6. And the BIGGEST of them all, when in doubt – DON’T use emoticons at all!
Let’s be honest, most of you have high IQ and EQ, or you wouldn’t be dealing with the customers.
Put that high IQ and EQ to use with emoticons! And do it wisely, you know what uncle Ben had told us: “ With great power, comes great responsibility”.
Tools That Are Most Suited for Using Emojis/ Emoticons in Customer Support
There is a lot of subjectivity when it comes to using tools, right? Everybody has their own unique situation in terms of tools and that’s fine.
Here are three tools that have helped us achieve a lot of great things with our customers and we’ve used emoticons in all of them.
Wonder how?
Read on …
1. Intercom
Intercom aims to change the way you communicate with customers and they are doing a hell of a good job at it.
This is an all in one tool that’s simple for teams to use! Intercom Acquire helps you with their easy to use direct communication with the customer and it’s a mix of formal and casual interactions.
Intercom great way to provide superior customer service to your customers.
This is, in a nutshell, what Intercom does.
2. Olark
Those customers, ha? They are some pretty sensitive people. Did you know that 53% of customers are irritated if they don’t speak with a real person right away?
Well, there is this awesome tool which will help you prevent those irritations and let you get on a winning streak with your customers.
Olark is one of the best tools for a quick response. It’s incredibly fast, you get a chance to improve your rates by 40% if you respond within two minutes time-frame.
One other advantage is that you can be a little more informal when you’re using this text chat app and utilize those emoticons.
3. Social media (Twitter is on the rise folks, AGAIN)
Even though social media is talked a lot as a means to getting customer satisfaction, only 26% of companies surveyed claim that their employees take social media seriously!
And while your may not get a lot of customer support requests from your social media channels, consequences can be brutal if you ignore or take too long to respond to inquiries.
According to Gartner.com, failure to respond to customer support requests on social media can lead to 15% increase in churn.
That's why it's important to take your social media channels seriously and use the right tools as well as rules and strategies we outlined above on emojis.
Wrapping Up
Using emojis is truly acceptable when providing customer support. What a great world we live in, eh?
I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences on emojis – do you use them in your organization? If so, how often?
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