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Customer Service vocabulary · Polite & Empathetic Language

Empathy

Meaning in customer service, with examples

/ˈempəθi/nounCore term

In customer service, empathy means: The ability to understand and share another person's feelings, and to show them that you understand.

In Turkish: empati, anlayış

How it is used

A key skill in customer service training. Agents show empathy with phrases such as "I can understand how frustrating that must be" or "I'd feel the same in your position." These empathy statements are taught as part of complaint handling. The verb is empathize with someone.

Example sentences

  1. Showing empathy at the start of the call often calms the customer down.

  2. The agent handled the complaint with a lot of empathy and patience.

Common collocations

  • show empathy
  • empathy statement
  • express empathy
  • lack of empathy
  • active listeningListening with full attention, checking that you have understood and showing the speaker that you are following.
  • acknowledgeTo show or say that you have noticed or accepted something, such as a customer's feelings, a problem or a message.
  • apologizeTo say that you are sorry for something that went wrong or caused a problem for someone.
  • de-escalateTo make a tense or angry situation calmer and less serious, for example during a difficult call.
  • toneThe way something is said or written that shows feelings and attitude, such as friendly, formal, impatient or rude.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Polite & Empathetic Language

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