The Userlike Audio Blog: All about customer communication.

Consumer minds of today are jaded. Discounts wait on every corner, the allure of a simple good deal has worn off. Still, no need to plunge into the price war. Let's look at the consumer’s softest spots, and how to play into them with clever incentives. This post was written by Sven Riehle and is read aloud by Michael Morella from Userlike, the live chat software for web and mobile support.

Customer service reps are often taught to be empathic, to put themselves in the customer's shoes. But research suggests empathy isn't the skill you're looking for.

Customer service values prepare your team for the job's specific challenges. Also, whenever values guide actions, culture is created. Employees move on, culture persists. It’s reliable. Or, as Walt Disney’s son Roy said: “When your values are clear, your decisions are easy.” Here are 5 tips to find your own customer service values.

Chatting seems easy. For many, it’s the main mode of casual communication with friends and family. You just type away and mechanically hit the send button. Not so in customer support. Here, the stakes are higher and the terrain is more demanding. To make sure you don’t stumble, here are the seven most common mistakes in chat support.

While a phone call can feel like you’re talking directly to someone, it lacks the visual feedback of face to face contact. What’s more, you’re not able to reread what was said – as in, say, live chat support. Let’s keep these unique qualities in mind as we go through these 7 customer service phone tips.

For a profit-oriented mind, nearly any tactic that leads to a sale is justifiable. Who cares if you persuade or manipulate prospects that are free to decline? Well, they do. We drew a line between good and bad influence, so you can create happy customers whom you can always look in the eye.

Of all customer service tools, only chat and phone are suitable for instant support. Still, many companies choose to stick to email only, thinking it’s cheaper. This ignores human’s deeply rooted desire for instant gratification – one of the main drivers behind consumer buying behavior.

Can you remember the last time you were convinced by somebody you disliked? Without goodwill, it’s hard to convince anybody of anything. So, building up comfort and liking in the customer is a worthwhile and necessary investment. Here are 11 pro tips for building rapport – for breaking the ice – in sales and support.

We all want to do the right thing: look at every customer without prejudice and serve each of them to their satisfaction. The approach is morally sound, but it often dashes against the reality of customer service. Hard. To prepare you for what's out there, here are the 11 universal types of customers you need to know.

The digital birth of your online helper opens new opportunities to assist customers, but it needs the right alias. I’ve compiled some useful steps you can take to find a clever, memorable bot name that will help make your customer service team more approachable.

In the uncanny valley of robotics, people like and accept robots as long as they clearly look like robots. Think Wall-E, or R2D2. Customer service enters the uncanny valley when it’s delivered by humans without humanity. Here's how to get out of it.

Most training programs prepare employees for the tricky scenarios — angry customers, customers asking for favors, etc. But how do you react when a customer crosses the line with racism, sexism, or plain out aggression? Or what if the customer is actually right, and your policy is wrong? Here are the 7 toughest customer service scenarios to prepare for.

It’s difficult to have a fruitful discussion. One that changes minds, instead of hardening them. While competitive discussions are about establishing mental dominance, collaborative ones are about getting closer to truth and understanding. If you care about the latter type, here are our 7 techniques for making your discussions fruitful.

You wouldn't wear a suit to a beach party, just like you wouldn't walk around in flip-flops at a funeral. Yet, in communication, such missteps happen all the time. We show you how to navigate between the different protocols for professional communication depending on national culture, industry, or organization.

Rude customers can really kill your vibe. They absorb your energy, darken your view on other customers and diminish your job satisfaction. If you let them. Here are some proven, partly-ancient strategies to deal with rude customers and protect yourself from harm.

Clear communication is crucial for success, especially in interaction-driven jobs like support and sales. But these skills don’t always come naturally, and they can be hard to train. Communication games are a fun way to learn through team interaction. Here are seven games you and your workers can play to improve your communication skills.

The wording of your customer service job titles might seem like the most trivial of details, but it actually conveys expectations of not just what someone in the position does, but of how they do it. Here is a blueprint for finding the perfect name.

Ever since our ancestors uttered their first grunts, miscommunication has been a part of our daily lives. More technology does not seem to be the solution. Here are 8 common causes of miscommunication and misunderstanding for you to work on.

One day consumers listen to their guts, the other to facts, then a mix of both. They read honest reviews and fake ones – and might still not know what they want. Also, sometimes, what they want is not what they need. So what do they expect, then? This post will clear things up for you. It was written by Sven Riehle and is read aloud by Michael Morella from Userlike, the live chat software for web and mobile support.

Performance in any field is guided by a few core principles and customer service is no exception. This post sets you up for an autonomous path of continuous improvement, enabling you to offer world class customer experience – every single day. It was written by Pascal van Opzeeland and is read aloud by Michael Morella from Userlike, the live chat software for web and mobile support.