Then, advisors may increase their knowledge of the customer’s functional and emotional needs, enabling them to offer the best possible service. Listening carefully to vocabulary and tone enables advisors to ask the best probing questions. In doing so, advisors can clarify the specifics of the issue, clear up grey areas and understand the customer’s ideal outcome. “If an advisor is ever unsure of the reasons and emotions that are driving a call, they can use probing questions to discover more,” adds Sara Odorisio, a customer service specialist at Hodos Training. Open questions like this are great for gathering uninhibited verbatim feedback. When a customer calls to complain, collecting feedback to pass on to management may help to devise actions that will improve future retention rates. What would make you consider using our product again? Asking questions like this helps advisors pair the customer up with a solution that suits them best. When discussing a service issue, advisors may soon realize that a customer has selected a product/service that does not meet their needs. What were your main attractions to product x?Ĭlarifying questions (open, closed and probing questions) add value to customer service conversations. If they do so, advisors can show empathy and deliver better customer service. Such a question may also encourage customers to open up and discuss the emotional impact it has caused. Understanding the extent of an issue guide advisors to an appropriate solution. When a customer response is vague and offers few specifics to drill into, this question helps advisors skip ahead to the heart of the issue. Which feature of the product is causing you trouble? The question can, therefore, work well as part of a greeting message. It gives customers the space to introduce their query and vent. Often, this is the only open question that advisors need to use. Questioning “why” a customer did something causes them to become defensive and adds a sour tone to the conversation. Just be careful about using open questions that begin with “why”.
With everything off the customer’s chest, advisors can acknowledge and empathize before refocusing the conversation towards a solution. Having listened to the customer vent about their problem, advisors may then appear supportive. Doing so helps to build rapport and changes the mindset of the customer. When asking these clarifying questions, advisors may also use verbal nods to show interest. Starting with words such as “how”, “when”, “where”, and “what”, they enable advisors to gather more information. Open questions give customers the space to fully explain their issues. We share examples of clarifying questions (open, closed and probing questions) that add value to customer service conversations.
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