I don’t know about you, but sometimes, when I’m working on tickets, I get into a flow state. I’m researching issues, solving problems, and collaborating with the engineering and product teams, all the while watching my ticket number tick down until I hit inbox zero.
And most of the time, this is great. Over the years, I’ve developed my unique agent personality, and often that’s enough to get the job done.
However, just getting the job done isn’t necessarily providing the best support, and even after more than a decade of helping customers, I can let the rhythm of answering tickets get in the way of connecting meaningfully with my customers.
I have to slow down and be intentional about how I phrase my responses so that users know they’re not just a faceless number ticking down in the inbox but a cherished part of my company’s business.
When we talk about using positive language in customer service and conversations, that’s really what we mean: being mindful and deliberate with our words so that we can form a human connection with customers.
That connection will ensure they feel heard, prioritized, and encouraged to reach out for help whenever they need it. In this post, I’m going to share best practices and examples of how to do this.
Best Practices for Positive Customer Service Language
Building a deep connection with customers is a lofty goal, but what is positive language in customer service, more exactly?
Let’s make this concept more concrete by breaking customer-friendly language down into discrete categories.
Positive language in customer service:
Is human. In the age of AI, don’t let customers wonder whether they’re talking to a human or a bot. Be yourself, have a sense of humor, and cultivate your own personality when writing and talking to customers.
Is empathetic. Be curious about and attentive to your customer’s concerns and feelings, and validate those feelings when you can. This works when things are going well and when they aren’t; knowing that you understand why they’re frustrated or upset will generate a lot of customer goodwill during difficult conversations.
Matches tone and urgency. Being empathetic naturally helps you do this. Because you’re actively paying attention to your customers’ feelings and concerns, you can identify when they’re open to joking around or too frustrated for a prolonged back-and-forth and then adjust your communication style accordingly.
Prioritizes clarity and confirms understanding. Repeat the customer’s problem in your own words to make sure you understand it properly. Use simple language that breaks down information into digestible chunks. Finally, a simple “Does that make sense?” is a great way to check for understanding and invite clarifying questions.
Focuses on the positive rather than the negative. This doesn’t mean that you should gloss over difficult topics, only that you should focus on what can be done for the customer instead of emphasizing what can’t. Instead of apologizing for a delay, thank the customer for their patience. Rather than reject a refund request, offer a replacement or a future credit. This allows you to be solution-oriented and makes the customer a partner in finding that solution.
Positive Language in Customer Service Examples
I’ve always found that real-life examples are the most effective way to demonstrate a concept. It’s so much more helpful to show than tell!
So, let’s see positive, customer-friendly language in action.
For when you’re explaining how to do something
When you’re walking a customer through how to do a new task or explaining a new concept, remember that a good foundation is key.
If they’ll need to have access to a specific device or download an app, start with that and then work your way through each step needed to accomplish the task.
Also, never assume that a customer has a product or technical knowledge or use phrases like “just toggle this setting on.” If a task were as easy as “just” doing something, the customer wouldn’t be reaching out.
Keep your explanations simple and steps short, and make sure to spell out any acronyms and explain new terminology.
“Before we go over how to set that up, here’s what you’ll need to have ready.”
“Here’s what that acronym stands for, in case you haven’t encountered it before.”
“Let’s go step by step through this together.”
For taking feature requests
Feature requests can be tricky because you want customers to know that you and your product team care about their feedback, but you also don’t want to promise that it will happen or that it will happen on a specific timeline.
Focus on capturing the essence of their request, offering workarounds, and being clear about whether there’s an ETA associated with what they’re asking for.
“Thanks so much for sharing this feedback! It sounds like what you’re looking for is…”
“I’ve let our product team know that you’d like to see that. In the meantime, you might be able to accomplish this by…”
“I don’t have an ETA to share for this request, but I can confirm that our product team is considering it for the future.”
“We’ve got that on our roadmap now, and we’ll update you when it’s available.”
How to use positive language in customer service to refuse a customer
Unfortunately, it’s not possible to implement every feature request. Likewise, sometimes customers want other things – like a refund or a discount – that you just can’t accommodate.
Whenever possible, explain why you’re saying no and offer alternatives to the customer’s request.
It’s also helpful to acknowledge disappointment or that it’s not the customer’s desired outcome but to avoid over-apologizing.
Rules are rules, and it’s healthy to establish reasonable boundaries with customers.
“We don’t have any plans for that feature at this time, but we’ll let you know if that changes. It’s not exactly what you’re asking for, but you could try this…”
“We’re halfway through your monthly subscription, so I’m not able to offer a refund for this month. I’m happy to cancel your subscription so that you can use the tool until [DATE]. Would you like me to do that for you?”
“We don’t have any discounts available for that product right now, but our Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales are coming up soon.”
“I’m not able to offer a return for that product, but I’d love to understand what issues you’re having with it so that I can help you get the most out of it.”
How to use positive language in client support when a customer is upset
It’s easy to forget in the midst of a difficult conversation, but we often have no idea what customers have experienced before they contact us.
Maybe they’ve had many problems with our product, or maybe they’ve just had a bad day – either way, they deserve our compassion and consideration.
Whenever you can, acknowledge their feelings and be human – if you’d feel the same way in their shoes, say so.
That doesn’t mean that customers are allowed to be abusive, however. It’s important to have some canned responses ready to correct bad behavior and get customers back on track so that you can help them.
“That sounds really frustrating. I’m here to help you fix this step by step.”
“I’m sorry you experienced that; I’d be upset too. What can I do to make this better for you?”
“I totally understand why you’re angry, but we need to stay respectful and productive. Let’s work together to make this right.”
“I want to come up with a solution that works for you, but I can’t do that if you’re being abusive. If you can’t be respectful, we’ll need to continue this conversation when you feel calmer.”
When either you or a customer made an error
We’re all human, and we all make mistakes.
If a support ticket is the result of a customer error, always focus on explaining the solution (and never try to assign blame).
If you or your company made an error during a customer conversation, own up to it as soon as possible.
Most customers know that you’re not perfect and appreciate it when you value them and their time enough to admit and fix your mistake quickly.
“Ah, it looks like this happened when you did X. You can fix that by…”
“I’m sorry, I messed up. I gave you the wrong steps. Here are the right ones.”
“Oops, that’s on us. We broke that when we tried to fix something else. We’re working on correcting it now.”
When the product is having technical problems or an outage
Speaking of errors, spend any amount of time supporting software, and eventually, you’ll run into bugs and outages.
What matters in these circumstances is good communication: acknowledging the problem quickly, sharing as much information as possible, keeping customers informed of any updates, and notifying them when the issue or outage is resolved.
More than that, avoid language like “We’re sorry for any inconvenience this has caused.” For one, it’s impersonal. Also, bugs and outages are always inconvenient.
And the last thing customers want after a disruption to their work is a non-apology apology.
Take responsibility for the disruption, explain what happened and how you’re addressing it, and give a genuine apology when it’s warranted.
“Thank you for reporting this! I’ve notified our engineers, and they’re investigating now.”
“We wanted to let you know that we’re having a partial outage affecting X part of the product, and this is the behavior you might be seeing as part of this outage. We’re investigating the cause now and will update you when we have more information.”
“We’ve identified the cause of the issue and are working on a fix. We’ll let you know when it’s been deployed.”
“We’ve fixed the bug causing the outage, and now we’re just monitoring to make sure everything is working and stable. Please let us know if you’re still having trouble.”
“We know this was a disruptive incident, and we apologize. Now that the outage is resolved, we’d like to explain what happened and what we’re doing to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Positive customer service language for following up with customers
It’s always great when you can resolve a ticket in one reply, but that’s not always going to be possible.
You might have to prompt an unresponsive customer for information, explain a delay in responding, or update a customer on the status of a long-standing bug.
In all of these scenarios, transparency and proactivity are the primary goals.
Provide clear explanations, share how you’re working to resolve the issue, and, as much as possible, provide an update to the customer before they have to ask for one.
“Hi there. We’re working on fixing the issue you reported a few weeks ago, but to do so, we need some more information from you. Can you share…”
“Thank you so much for your patience while I researched this. It’s turned out to be a tad more thorny than expected, but here’s what I found…”
“I just wanted to let you know that I’m still working on this for you. Our engineers have identified part of the problem, and now they’re working to understand what else might be causing this. I’ll check in with you again on [DATE] to let you know how things stand.”
Customer service language for handing off or escalating a ticket
Just as with following up with customers, handing off tickets to a colleague or escalating a ticket to another team requires special consideration.
Whenever I transfer or escalate tickets, I aim to avoid making customers repeat themselves, to adequately document what’s already been done and what needs to be done, and to facilitate communication between the customer and the new team.
“I’m copying Jane on my reply, as she’s the best person to help you understand this part of the product. She’ll take over the conversation from here. Jane, John explained that he’d like to better understand X. Thanks for your help.”
“Hi, Max. Thanks for taking this bug on. I’ve already confirmed that X is broken (screenshots and reproduction steps attached). Here’s how the customer described the issue. Please let me know if there’s any other information you need from the customer, and I’ll be happy to follow up with them.”
“Hi Pat, I’ve escalated this to my colleague Max in engineering, and they’re investigating it now. I’ll let you know if they have any questions and keep you updated as we know more.”
Notifying customers of updates to tickets
You likely have auto-responders set up that notify customers when their ticket is received, resolved, or closed.
I like to treat these auto-responders the same way I would a live response by practicing all of what I’ve talked about above: being transparent, sharing info proactively, and overall just sounding as human as possible.
“Thanks for reaching out! We’ve got your email, and we usually respond within an hour.”
“We’re glad we were able to solve your issue. We’re closing this ticket, but if you run into trouble again or have more questions, just reply to this email, and that will reopen it.”
“We haven’t heard from you in a while, so we’re going to go ahead and close this conversation. If you’re still having trouble, though, just reply to this email, and we’ll take another look.”
An Exercise in the Golden Rule
If you read through this best practices guide related to positive language in customer service and thought it could be boiled down to “treat customers the way you want to be treated,” that’s pretty on-target.
As customer experts, we have better insight into what makes customer-friendly than most.
Not just because we’ve worked hard to know our trade but also because there’s nothing like being a customer support pro to hone your preferences and expectations as a customer.
Whenever I struggle with how to respond to a customer, I ask myself: “What would I want to hear if I were in their shoes?” It’s remarkably effective for bringing out the humanity and empathy in my conversations.
And when that doesn’t work, you can always come back and reference the examples in this guide.
If you’re looking to improve overall customer satisfaction, Swifteq has tools that can help. Request a demo today!
Steph Lundberg
Steph is a writer and fractional Customer Support leader and consultant. You can usually find her crafting, hanging with her kids, or spending entirely too much time on Tumblr.