Handling Difficult Customer Interactions
Role: Instructional Designer
Timeline: 2 months
Tools: Articulate 360, Final Cut Pro X, Google Workspace
Stakeholders: CS Training, Partner Management, CS Advisors
Problem: Advisors were transferring cases unnecessarily when users started to express anger or frustration.
Outcome: I built a 2-hour interactive workshop that helped to contextualize customer frustration and how to de-escalate conversations. I also created a mnemonic device for this workshop that is still used across the Customer Support org.
I wanted to center feelings in the workshop—how users feel before, during, and after an interaction that could escalate.
To do this, I tapped into the experiences of those in the classroom and leaned heavily on discussion.
The workshop starts with a short video compilation of customer service interactions in the media, and then references the characters from that video throughout the course by calling back to them.
The whole workshop is meant to focus more on how we deal with these types of interactions, rather than putting any kind of negative focus on the users themselves.
The Theme
I approached creating the deck for the workshop by considering calming colors—starting with a mid-tone blue and working in either direction to create the color palette.
The Characters
I wanted the advisors to share their experiences from the perspective of being an upset customer in order to keep from getting into a negative spiral.
To do that, I scoured the internet for media clips of poor customer service that they could discuss. Even though the situations were comical and exaggerated for film and television, the advisors loved the relatability of the video.
