: Why a Customer Service Rep should not use Scripted Responses

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(426 Words)
Many companies have customer service reps who use scripted responses. The company may do this in an effort to streamline their responses, however the strategy can backfire. The responses are oftentimes not the best to give, and can lead to bad customer service. The following are arguments against using such tools.
The customer can often tell that it is scripted response
It is usually not too difficult to tell a scripted response from one that is natural. When the customer hears this, they are likely to think that the customer service rep is less skilled. If the company does not even trust them to give their own responses, then there is little reason for the customer to feel faith in them. They may feel like they are just giving a blanket response and not addressing their exact particular issue. They may get frustrated. They may be uncomfortable that someone is reading something to them instead of giving a response because they understand the problem.
It may not fully address the person’s complaint
In most customer service departments, customers call for a wide variety of complaints. There are only so many scripted responses that you can give and the customer service rep may have to pick the one that is closest even if it does not exactly answer the person’s question. The customer may not be able to get their issue resolved in this case.
If a customer service rep is used to a script and not knowledgeable they may not know how to branch off in order to address the person’s complaint. The customer may be more likely to want to speak to a manger immediately. They may also tell others about their poor experience with the company.
It may waste everyone’s time
If the customer service rep has to follow a script then they may waste everyone’s time and anger the customer. For instance, let’s say that the customer is having a problem with a machine and told you that he already unplugged it and plugged it back in. A customer service rep may say to do that again if it is in the script even though the customer already said they did it. The customer may get frustrated and feel like the rep is not listening to them. Also, the scripts are often too long and go over things that are not necessary in all complaints.
Although scripts may seem like a good idea for a customer service rep, they are often very negative. For the above reasons, you may want to consider alternatives.