
47 Pro Tips on How to Talk to Customers
Great communication is both an art and a science.
There are certainly guidelines you can stick to to communicate well, but in the end, making a human connection is what really makes communication powerful.
When you’re thoughtful about the way you convey information to (and receive feedback from) customers, it will yield better results than any splashy new logo or 20 percent off coupon ever could.
But what does “thoughtful” communication mean when you’re talking to a customer? What ’s the strategy behind successful conversations?
World-class customer service begins with treating humans like humans. Follow the tips on how to talk to customers in this guide, and we guarantee you’ll be on your way to delighting your customers.
Maintaining a consistent tone
In music, if the singer’s tone is off, the whole piece falls flat, and it’s the same in customer service. For example, “Anything else?” and “What else can I help you with?” ask the same question, but they are wildly different in terms of tone.
As you define your support team’s collective voice, develop a set of standards for personal and human conversations. This allows each member to maintain their unique voice without sounding like they’re talking from a script.
1. Think of tone on a spectrum
Take the examples above: “Anything else?” and “What else can I help you with?”

One is clearly sliding into bitter-sounding territory while the other feels friendly but still professional. That’s where you’ll want to be for the large majority of customer interactions.
For example

2. Use positive language
Positive language keeps the conversation moving forward and prevents accidental conflicts due to miscommunication. Words like can’t, won’t, and didn’t — and phrases like “you have to” or “you need to” — are usually interpreted as negative.
Focus on how you’re going to fix the problem and avoid words that cause knee-jerk reactions.
For example

Say one of your products is backordered for a month and you need to relay this information to a customer immediately. Consider the following responses.

Redirecting the conversation from negative to positive places focus on the proposed solution. When the outcome takes center stage, it reduces the odds that customers will be upset.
Customers don’t care about what you can’t do; they want to hear what’s going to be done.
For those tricky situations where customers “have to” do something, you can use positive language to remind them (and yourself) that this is a team effort.

Positive language keeps the door open for future interactions, and the customer won’t feel as though it was a waste of time to get in touch.
3. Be brief but not brusque
It doesn’t matter how amazing your reply is — most customers are going to ignore a 1,000-word email.
Keep sentences and paragraphs short; large blocks of text will get skipped right over. You can also use images, videos, and links to knowledge base articles to keep your replies concise.
Bonus: When your knowledge base is integrated with your help desk, the process is easy because you can pull in articles without exiting your reply!
The goals of a support reply are to answer the customer’s question and to make them feel heard. You might be able to answer a question with a link to an article in your knowledge base, but adding a sentence or two is more human.
4. Reply in a timely manner
When you can modify your saved reply with the customer’s name and an acknowledgment of their specific issue within 30 seconds, it can make some people wonder if their email even got read. It’s OK to let non-urgent emails sit a few extra minutes.
Of course, customers who are in a “pulling my hair out” situation want a resolution yesterday. Make responding to them a priority.
Try setting up a folder or custom view separate from the main support queue where you can filter urgent or upset messages. Here, the team can see immediately which emails are from customers who need help right away.
5. Always use your customer’s name
If you’re not using the customer’s name in your greeting, you’re missing an opportunity to use the psychology of consumer behavior to your advantage. Dale Carnegie advised readers to “Remember that a person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”
Your help desk should allow you to automate using the customer’s name.
Just be sure to get it right — use the name they use. Sérgio is Sérgio, not Sergio. Katie is Katie, not Kate. If you don’t have the person’s name, go with a friendly, generic greeting: “Hey there!”
6. Talk their talk
Mirroring your customer’s tone lets them know you’re on their side. If a customer is formal, for example, hold back on using internet shorthands like “lol” or “lmk.” If they’re more casual, you can relax your tone, too.
For a majority of interactions, the sweet spot is almost always “somewhat like your customer” but not a caricature of your customer.
One scenario where mirroring is not a good approach is when a customer is clearly angry. In this case, the goal is to de-escalate the situation. Keep your tone calm and your words free of defensive language.
7. Be careful with jokes
Gauge your rapport with the customer before attempting any jokes, sarcasm, or irony — they don’t translate easily through text, so your intent can easily be misunderstood.
While emojis and GIFs certainly help, there’s still no sarcasm font, so choose every word with thoughtfulness and care.
8. Create a support style guide
A style guide documents all the unique elements that make up your brand so everyone on your team can provide a consistent experience across the board. It should provide guidelines but not stifle creativity. Focus on the dos and don’ts of tone and language, and outline the sort of customer service you admire.
For instance, the style guide Help Scout’s support team uses covers everything from what to call emails from customers (“conversations,” not “tickets”) to words to avoid (“inconvenience,” “unfortunately”) to how to format telephone numbers.
Creating a distinct language or using specific phrases reflects and instills the values of the company across every team member, reminding them of what they represent and the standards by which they must abide.
Pro Tip: Develop your own vocabulary
Consider creating a “support lexicon” of phrases for your team to live by, such as “my pleasure” and “right away.” A support lexicon is like wearing your team’s colors. It signals, “This is who we are; this is how we do things.” When those values and beliefs are fostered at the start, it helps employees form an identity around these beliefs and behaviors, and remarkable service ensues.
9. Build templates for saved replies
A living database of saved replies that your team can actively build on saves time by streamlining how you answer common questions.
A new customer who needs to know how to reset her password still deserves help, but this is a conversation that warrants a template. You’ll gain more time to have high-value conversations, which result in real insights.
Establishing a relaxed set of guidelines encourages the team to use their guts to decide when a new saved reply needs to be added; “I feel like we get this question a lot” is often all the justification you need.
Pro Tip: Don't hold back on saved replies
Be liberal with adding new saved replies. There is little downside to having a large library of replies other than getting somewhat trigger-happy and ending up with replies you rarely use. However, it’s easy to access them via your shared inbox's search feature, so this won’t generally be a problem.
Want some tips on how to use saved replies? Check out these tips from the Help Scout support team.
10. Give directions chronologically
If you can do something for a customer, by all means, do it. The lower their perceived effort, the better they’ll rate your customer service.
When you really do need a customer to carry out a lengthy set of instructions on their own, use numbers or bullet points. Say, for instance, you need the customer to perform a traceroute to help you troubleshoot why a certain page is loading slowly, and you’ve already exhausted the other possibilities. You can advise something like the following:

11. Cross-check whole-company support replies
Whole-company support is fantastic for a number of reasons, but don’t let people who aren’t trained in the art of support fire off replies without the sign-off of a seasoned pro.
Have non-support folks use your help desk’s @mentions feature in an internal note to a support team member so they can quickly review your draft reply before shipping it. Remember, customer support is challenging, specialized work — not just anyone can do it.
12. Offer to help further
Avoid ending conversations so bluntly that the customer feels you are hurrying them out the door. Instead, invite them to continue the conversation.
“Let me know if there’s anything else I can do for you. I’m happy to help.”
Make sure your customer knows you’re happy to assist with any lingering concerns or answer questions they may feel are “silly.” There are no silly questions in support.
13. Show, don’t just tell
When possible, take a quick screen recording to show customers what to do versus typing it out in steps. This tip comes from Denise Twum, Customer Support at SmugMug:
Instead of telling customers what to do, show them! I use Recordit for screencasts — it’s free and generates a link, instead of having to attach a bulky file to your responses.
Now when someone writes in asking how to find a particular page in their account, I can log into the account and record the steps, versus typing out “1. Go here, 2. Click here, 3. Click this green button.”
It’s fast and doesn’t need to be super polished since it’s not for your knowledge base or a blog post. It saves a lot of back-and-forth and has made all the difference!

Denise Twum
SmugMug
14. Clarity, clarity, clarity
Use accessible, candid, precise, plain language. Avoid using passive-aggressive or didactic language (“actually,” “ought to,” “should”), slang, colloquialisms, and technical jargon. For a refresher on clarity, we recommend writing guides such as “The Elements of Style” or "On Writing Well."
Many support platforms also have AI tools that can help with message clarity. Features that can check your spelling and grammar, tweak a message's tone, or pare down wordy first drafts can ensure that the replies you send are always clear and concise.
15. Steer clear of customer service clichés
Which one of the following statements is more engaging?