Tell-Tale Signs Your Customer is Confused, Upset, or Dissatisfied

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February 23, 2022
Author: Lorman Education

Why Customer Mood Matters

Customer satisfaction is a key performance indicator in businesses and is a crucial marker of competition among companies in the market.

Considering the importance of customer satisfaction to the health of a company, it is essential for companies to have a reliable and efficient team of customer service representatives. These customer service representatives have to posses a specific skill set to provide their customers with impeccable service.

Maybe the most crucial skill that these personnel must posses is perception. They must perceive what the customer needs and if the customer is dissatisfied or confused. Luckily, there are several tell-tale signs of confusion or dissatisfaction.

4 Signs of a Confused Customer:

  1. A confused customer won't follow an obvious lead process. They may click aimlessly through a website with no clear end goal.
  2. One kind of confused customer is an indecisive customer. They will change their mind multiple times, even after fixing on what they want to buy, or whether they want to buy anything at all. This may appear as frequent cart abandonment.
  3. Some customers just struggle to navigate a website or page. You may see them return to a page several times. 
  4. A customer may have a specific budget in mind. Because many companies offer a range of products or services, an initial search might not represent common pricing for your company. Highlighting several different product types and learning the customer's expectations can be helpful.

2 Signs of a Dissatisfied Customer:

  1. A dissatisfied customer is usually not as aggressive as an upset customer.
  2. The customer will usually engage in a long conversation with staff members, explaining their problems at length. The rep must be patient and hear them out fully.

3 Signs of an Upset Customer:

  1. The first sign of an upset customer is the use of a loud voice.
  2. An upset customer may turn aggressive. In this case he will be disrespectful, and will demand to speak to a higher authority.
  3. Some upset customers express themselves more passively. If they continue to try reframing their situation, it's important to listen and not close out the call until their satisfied.

It's important to act quickly when dealing with a confused, dissatisfied, or upset customer because these situations only tend to escalate. When a customer reaches a certain level of frustration, you'll lose them, so don't let it get to that point.

For More Information

Learn more about key customer service skills. Browse dozens of live and ondemand customer service courses on the Lorman Learning Platform.

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