Telephone skills matter. See how a simple smile and positive vocabulary can elevate customer experience and increase repeat business.
Why ‘Smiling’ is good for your business
If you’ve ever worked in telemarketing or cold calling, you might have had your supervisor come by and remind you to put on a smile when you’re on the phone with customers.
Obnoxious? Yes.
Weird? Kind of.
But not without its merits. “Smile while you dial” is the ultimate customer service best practice, and it’s more important today than ever before.
Why? Because, believe it or not, customers can hear you smile. As humans, we pick up on vibes and adjust our own behavior to other people’s emotional cues. We adapt to what is being said to us while we carefully construct our responses.
This you may already know, after all, just think of the calls you’ve had where you could sense whether the other party was angry or elated.
When you handle a query with a positive attitude, not only do you get a happy customer base that will be cheerfully responsive to your reverts, but most importantly, will continue to be an active contributor to your revenue, as 89% of customers are inclined to make a repeated purchase on the back of a happy customer experience.
The Science of Smile and How It Can Empower Revenue
Back in 2002, Harrah’s Entertainment (now Caesar’s Entertainment), the company behind some of the world’s biggest and most popular casinos, began the transition to a new corporate culture.
During this period, Harrah’s management started pushing the idea that tipped casino employees would earn higher tips if they exceeded customer expectations with an upbeat and positive attitude. The employees pushed back. Many of the long-time table games dealers insisted that they were tipped for doing their job (i.e., dealing the game) and that their tips were simply a result of each customer’s generosity.
So Harrah’s management launched a small experiment to find out who was right: the Upbeat & Positive Attitude (UPA) experiment. The results were clear for all to see.
The question they put was this: “Could an employee with an upbeat and positive attitude change the outcome of an otherwise standard interaction?”
First, they found that compared to general niceties (such as giving a warm welcome, making eye contact, smiling), UPA had the most significant impact on customer satisfaction ratings:
“The use of enthusiastic, energetic tone (volume and inflection) AND gestures to convey positive energy.”
In a split test, they found that employees who demonstrated an upbeat attitude earned, on average, 51% more in tips, compared to those who demonstrated only mediocre behavior. In other words, customers responded really well, and with their wallets, to employees who made them feel good.
Remove the Distance Between Your Team and Your Customers
The most positive-toned employees received dramatically higher customer satisfaction ratings (56%) than their average counterparts (12%), even when wait times were the same, so why was this?
The facts, demonstrated by customer tips, showed that being happy and upbeat when you work with customers is directly linked to positive association and higher customer satisfaction with both the individual and the company.
Put simply, customers like to be in the company of people who make them feel happy and positive, whether that’s their partner, their date for the night, or the people who are serving them at a casino or other place of work.
What Does “Talking Happy” Actually Mean?
In simple terms, talking happily means conveying a positive tone and energy to make your customers feel good when they speak to you.
At Buffer, they like to call it “the warm fuzzies.”
Austin Powers likes to call it “feeling groovy.”
However you want to look at it, when you’re a support rep or customer service agent, your words set the tone for the way you interact with customers and for every interaction after that.
All it takes is a simple upgrade of positive vocabulary, where you interchange some passive-aggressive sentiments with inviting words.
This not only boosts the mood of the entire conversation but also helps keep the customer engaged, thereby enhancing your chances of retention and encouraging advocacy of your customer service process.
The Challenges of Staying Positive in Customer Service
Not every day you’ll be at your A-game. Because let’s face it, dealing with customers day in, day out can be taxing, and there might be times when staying positive might be more complex than ever.
While it is a double-edged sword, walking the tight rope of interacting with customers when the representatives themselves are having a hard time.
This is why many companies nowadays are investing in emotional intelligence development, which helps employees in a healthy way. The program is designed to help focus on work while not being overtly emotional owing to external factors.
With the help of simulation techniques and tactical responsive play, these positivity sessions have helped customer representation management take a step up towards providing more tangible results.
Why is talking happy and providing great customer service more important than ever before?
Ever since the boom of the e-commerce industry with its coupling of digital presence, the power shift of the market is swift and, most importantly, fragile.
This phenomenon can be explained in two central pillars:
- The Rise of Online Shopping and the Many Options It Provides
Picture this stat for the impact: as of 2025, there are 2.25 billion global online shoppers, with e-commerce sales expected to pass $6.8 trillion by this year itself.
And, here are the other facts that can make or break a business: 34% of customers shop online once a week, while 99% look for reviews before finalizing an order.
Now, a review can contain anything, and it’s not limited to the product. It might also entail how good the customer service was when the purchase was made, and how effective the after-sales service was.
If a customer feels no connection during the entire journey, you might lose a significant portion of your brand loyalists, which defines the course of your business. Due to the availability of options, retaining customers becomes much harder, as any word-of-mouth, whether positive or negative, amplifies quickly, which brings us to our second pillar.
- The Role of Social Media
Social media is essentially the new bulletin board where people express their sentiments. From angry tweets and Facebook posts that go viral, it’s essential that you deal with every single customer communication promptly, effectively, and with a smile in your voice. In that way, even if a customer has encountered an initial problem, they’ll go away knowing they’ve spoken to a company that cares. That can turn into a good news story, rather than a social media disaster. According to a survey by McKinsey, half of the users tend to share their negative experiences on social media, while 81% simply do not recommend the brand anymore.
Ways to build a happier support Vocabulary
The importance of the right words can help a customer representative de-escalate a situation quickly and turn a miffed customer into a satisfied one. Although it’s not a quick turnaround and requires training and patience from stakeholders, the strategy ultimately pays off by setting the company apart from the competition and creating a loyal user base.
Some of the most helpful tips include using constructive words that keep your customer engaged, using the customer’s name, and avoiding being overtly technical, among others.
The Business Impact of Talking Happy
How you deal with your customers directly correlates to your revenue, and most importantly, your market presence in the company. Having positive conversations lays down the groundwork for a strong retention rate and a whopping 5.7x revenue compared to the competitors.
And the positive cycle just doesn’t stop there, as customers turn to brand advocacy and leave positive reviews, with word-of-mouth also being a significant contributor.
This makes a compelling case for companies to continue investing in employee tone & training, as it improves morale and service consistency. The way you talk and how you subsequently handle your user base as the interaction starts taking shape can become the secret sauce of your success.
The market has become very competitive. One small experience, good or bad, can start a chain reaction that will put your company in the spotlight. While one has to take the positive experience with the negative, customer representatives can adapt to how to subdue the situation when the tide is against them.
From being polite in approach to being an active listener, to having a positive vocabulary that gives hope rather than making the user feel despondent and angry, small changes in constructive interaction can make a significant difference. One that can easily transform your business into the most loved one from the lot while getting additional praise for the care that you put on display, all culminating in giving your brand an edge that many will look up to.
FAQs
- Why is vocabulary important in customer service?
The way you sound and the tone you convey signify the care that your company puts into its users. From hopeful words to engaging intent, a positive vocabulary helps in user retention, resulting in a positive step towards brand advocacy.
- What are examples of positive words to use in customer support?
There’s always a positive spin that customer representatives can opt for when talking to users. For instance, phrases like, “Here’s what I can do for you…”, “I completely understand your concern…”, “Let me find the best solution for you.”, goes a long way in pacifying a customer.
- What role does emotional intelligence play in customer service?
Emotional intelligence helps decode the customer’s moods and respond accordingly to the situation. This also helps prevent the problem from escalating while contributing to a genuine connection with the user.
- How does tone of voice affect customer experience?
Having a welcoming tone calms a user and makes them more willing to work towards a solution. When customers begin to feel valued and respected, they are more likely to return for a repeated purchase.
- Can customer service training improve brand loyalty?
Yes. According to a study, companies that invest in customer service training sessions focusing on happy conversations are likely to generate 5.7 times the revenue of their competitors.