Top 5 Customer Service Lessons for Online Educators

This week, I hosted the one-day virtual Second Brain Summit (you can get the replay here if you want). And as I’m writing this, we’re still in the middle of the launch of Cohort 17 of Building a Second Brain.

That means more customer service enquiries than usual!

Since we’re a small team at Forte Labs, we don’t have a dedicated customer support rep, but split the responsibility of answering these enquiries. (Thankfully, Help Scout makes this simple.)

After attending to hundreds of emails over the last couple of weeks, here are my top 5 customer service lessons for online educators.

1. No matter how low the price, there will be always someone who wants it for free

We priced the Second Brain Summit at an affordable $29. And still, people emailed us asking for (even demanding) free access. Setting a price for the event was deliberate since people tend to show up, participate, and interact more if they paid money for something. Having skin in the game is important!

Solution: I respectfully declined to grant free access and guided them to the free resources on our YouTube channel and blog.

2. People don’t read, they skim

We stated on our checkout page (twice) and on the confirmation page that we’d make the replay of the Summit available within 24 hours. And still, before the Summit had concluded, we started receiving emails asking for the replay. So even if you think you’ve explained everything clearly, you can’t assume that people will read everything carefully.

Solution: Repeat key important information over and over again. When you think it’s overkill, it’s probably just enough.

3. Thread the needle between pointing out their mistake without making them feel bad

We received an agitated sounding message from someone who didn’t get a confirmation email after they had purchased. As it turned out, the individual misspelled their own email address at checkout.

This is just one example of many issues that come down to user error. While I believe in truthfully stating what the problem was, I also want to do this delicately.

Solution: I answered the above with “It seems like an incorrect email address was entered.” Avoid the word “you,” which can sound accusatory.

4. Set clear expectations for when they can expect an answer

Last weekend, one person send follow-up emails every couple of hours since we did not respond straight away. That’s on us! We did not mention that our customer service was available only from Monday to Friday. But there’s an easy fix…

Solution: Implement an auto-responder that sets clear expectations for when they will hear back.

5. Not every email needs an answer

Ideally, I want to craft a thoughtful, tailored response to every single enquiry. Practically, this probably isn’t the best way to spend my time. Not every email needs an answer and you shouldn’t feel obligated to provide one.

Solution: We made a rule to only respond to messages that contain a direct question or ask.

No matter how big or small your business, everyone should answer customer service emails at some point. It’s a direct line to your audience’s concerns, questions, confusions, and hopes. When you listen carefully and implement what you learn, you can truly improve your business and serve your customers better.