I've been watching a lot of Ted Lasso lately, and I can't help thinking he's got a personality built for customer service. Picture it: every interaction would be packed with warmth, optimism, and just the right amount of folksy wisdom. Customers would leave every conversation feeling like they just got a pep talk from their favorite coach—smiling, seen, and maybe even craving a biscuit.
Great customer service isn't just about solving problems—it's about creating moments that make customers feel valued and delighted. Whether you're responding to a support ticket, handling a tricky complaint, or just answering a simple question, the right approach can turn a routine exchange into a memorable experience.
So, grab your metaphorical mustache and a cup of tea (or coffee—no judgment), and let's dive into eight customer service tips from industry experts that will make your customers feel like MVPs.
Table of contents:
Anticipate customer pain points
If you've worked in customer support for long, you know it's not just a reactive job. Half the battle is preventing customer complaints from happening in the first place.
"In VoIP services, where call quality, uptime, and configuration issues can make or break a business, waiting for complaints to arrive isn't enough," says Karina Baskakova, the Head of Customer Care at MightyCall. "By analyzing common support ticket topics, proactively sharing customer feedback with our product and developer teams, and educating customers on best practices (like personal call forwarding settings or call flow configurations), I've found that we can prevent many issues before they become major frustrations."
Karina says this method has benefits both her customers and her team. "This approach helps not only improve customer satisfaction but also reduce ticket volumes, allowing my team to focus on more complex cases. In short: great support isn't just reactive, it's proactive."
Make it personal
In the power rankings of worst customer service experiences, feeling like just a number is second only to being on hold for hours with easy-listening jazz on a loop in your ear. By adding a bit of personalization, you can level up every customer's experience and really make them feel seen.
"One of the most impactful lessons I've learned in our company is the power of the personal touch," says Leslie Omaña Begert, co-founder and developer at FabuLingua." This can be especially true in an online environment, where customer interactions may feel impersonal—customers truly appreciate feeling seen and valued."
Leslie stresses, "You won't always remember a person's name or face, but little, thoughtful gestures leave a big imprint. By personalizing data-driven communications, such as using a recipient's name in email threads, referring back to their past interactions, or remembering particular details about their preferences, organizations can take bland exchanges and turn them into more meaningful connections."
At the core of it, "The key here is to approach every interaction with authenticity. Talk to customers like you're a person, not a script. Nobody wants to feel like they're just another component in the machine."
Understand the customer's real needs
I spend a lot of my disposable income at running stores, and nothing turns me into a loyal customer faster than showing you get me (and my almost medically concerning flat arches). Angelique Kreller, an interior designer at Yabby, knows any customer-facing job is just as much about them as it is the service or product you provide. "In this industry, one of the biggest lessons I've learned is that most clients don't just want a beautiful home—they want to feel heard and understood so they can bring their vision to life."
Angelique continues, "I've found that most of the time, clients will come to me thinking they know exactly what they want—but after a bit of conversation, it becomes clear that they're not certain and are overwhelmed by the whole process. For me, I've found that the key to working around this isn't just listening to what they say but to what they don't say by learning the nuances of body language. By being able to pick up on small hesitations or the way they talk, you can pick up on what they actually need versus what they think they need."
Stick to the facts
If you've ever watched reality TV (or grown up with a sibling), you know how easy it is for conflict to devolve into a heated, emotional battle that makes everyone come out looking worse. While explosive fights can be fun to watch on television, they can also teach us a lesson about what not to do. "Emotions easily take over a conversation," says Cassie Downing, the Director of Customer Experience at 3 Men Movers. "My job is to stick to the facts despite the customer's emotions. Customers reach out frustrated, confrontational, or angry. Their anger is rarely personal. It's directed at the situation, the delay, inconvenience, or the roadblock they encountered before reaching out."
Cassie elaborates, "If you react emotionally, the conversation becomes a battle rather than a resolution. Let the customer vent. Take notes on what they say and how they say it. When it's my turn to respond, I stick with facts: the policies, the solutions available, and what I can do to help. Since I learned this, I've resolved more issues without burnout."
Her top tip? "When dealing with a frustrated customer, resist the urge to engage or defend. Let them speak without interruption. Listen to their key complaints and bring the conversation back to the facts. You'll maintain control of the conversation and get a suitable outcome for everyone."
Never assume, always ask
You know what they say about assumptions, right? …They're not a good idea. Jumping to conclusions about what a customer wants or feels is a recipe for disaster. Instead of trying to cut to the chase with a solution (or worse, a defensive response), take the time to fully understand your customer first.
Paulius Milisauskas, the VP of Customer Experience at Omnisend, agrees: "There's nothing worse than a customer support agent who thinks they understand what the client is talking about, only to offer solutions that are way off. If a customer is asking for a product improvement, ask how they would use it. If they're complaining about an issue, ask what result they're expecting. If they can't find a feature, ask what they want to accomplish. Always ask, never assume."
Match their energy
I avoid networking events like the plague, but even I've heard the old trick of subtly mirroring your conversation partner's energy and mannerisms to endear yourself to them faster. This advice actually works—and it's applicable to more than stuffy business conferences.
Yaniv Masjedi, Chief Marketing Officer at Nextiva, knows energy matching is a great trick for building trust with customers, too. "The idea is that people trust people who are similar to them. So if you work subtly, matching your tone, pace, and choice of words to their communication style, they're more likely to leave satisfied with your services."
What does this look like in practice? Yaniv explains, "If they're a slow talker, speaking fast and rushing through it all is not going to help. You need to make them comfortable by moving at their pace. For this, you need to practice empathy and awareness. If they're in a hurry, you should be able to catch it fast by observing their cues. Assure them that you'll wrap up in time and make sure to do it. However, be careful not to take it too far, turning it into full-blown mimicking."
Listen first, solve second
You might have noticed that many of these tips share a common theme: get out of your own head and really work to understand the customer. The more you can put them at the center of the interaction, the better the experience will be for everyone.
"One of the biggest lessons I've learned in customer service is that listening—really listening—can make all the difference," says Lama Fardon, a property advisor with Stage Properties Brokers LLC. "It's not just about hearing what the customer is saying; it's about understanding what they mean and how they feel. Early on, I thought great service meant responding quickly and solving problems fast. But I realized that customers don't just want answers; they want to know they're being heard."
How can you put this into action? "I remember one client who was upset about a delayed transaction," Lama recalls. "Instead of jumping in with a fix right away, I let them talk, acknowledged their frustration, and reassured them that I understood why they were upset. That small moment of patience completely changed the conversation. By the end, they felt more at ease and even thanked me for taking the time to listen. If there's one tip I'd share with anyone in customer service, it's this: listen first, solve second. Slow down, ask follow-up questions, and repeat back key points to show you're engaged. It's amazing how much smoother conversations go when customers feel truly heard."
Respect the power of silence
Coming from a loud family, it took me an embarrassingly long time to break the habit of filling every awkward silence with chatter. Now that I'm married to an introvert, though, I know how important it is to slow down and give people space to respond in their own time.
"Silence is just as powerful as words," says Moti Gamburd, Chief Executive Officer at Raya's Paradise. "In senior care, people come to us with heavy emotions like guilt, fear, and sadness. I thought I had to fill every pause with reassurance or facts about our facility. But I realized that sometimes, the best thing you can do is let the silence sit."
Gamburd shares, "I once sat with a woman who was struggling with the decision to move her father into our care. She wasn't asking questions, just staring at the floor, overwhelmed. Instead of rushing to say something, I stayed quiet. After a while, she took a deep breath and said she knew that was the right thing to do and just needed a second. That moment wasn't meant to convince her but to give her space to process."
As for actionable advice, Gamburd offers, "In customer service, especially in emotionally charged fields, we often think our job is to talk, to reassure, to explain. But sometimes, the most impactful thing you can do is say nothing at all. Let people gather their thoughts. Let them feel what they need to feel. When you respect that space, you build genuine trust."
Level up your customer service even more with automation
You don't need to have been a folksy soccer coach in another life to succeed in customer service. According to these experts, the key is to practice what makes Ted Lasso so endearing: active listening, personalization, and always approaching every interaction with compassion.
One way to connect with your customers more is to offload some of the routine administrative work involved in customer support. You can do that by connecting your customer support tools to Zapier to create a streamlined, efficient customer service process.
Automation lets you do things like create support tickets from form submissions, notify your team of time-sensitive issues, and even analyze customer interactions with AI to help track customer sentiment and feedback. Learn more about how to automate your customer support workflows, or get started with one of these pre-built templates.
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Zapier is the leader in workflow automation—integrating with thousands of apps from partners like Google, Salesforce, and Microsoft. Use interfaces, data tables, and logic to build secure, automated systems for your business-critical workflows across your organization's technology stack. Learn more.
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