20 Call Center Scripts with Examples and Templates
Call center scripts assist support agents in providing the best customer experience in the unpredictable environment of customer service interactions. They can also help prevent customers from having a bad experience, which can increase customer loyalty.
Without call center customer service scripts, agents might find themselves lost for words or unable to know how to handle a situation, increasing stress and potentially employee turnover.
Photo Attribution: ArtHub01/Shutterstock.com
In this article, we have put together a list of 20 call center scripts with actionable advice and dynamic templates that you can use to train and empower agents.
What is a Call Center Script?
Call center scripts are small, quick-reference guides that agents should use to ensure they're saying and doing the right things on every call. They can be considered "canned responses", although they are just examples and templates, and agents do need to be flexible because not all situations will exactly follow the script.
Whether your agents (or reps) are in customer service, sales, or complaints roles, every call center function has specific protocols and workflows when calls come in, and most customer interactions will fall into these scenarios. For example, very often customers either want to sign-up for a new service, get a problem resolved, make a payment, or lodge a complaint.
Why Train Agents With Call Center Scripts Examples?
Conversations with customers are dynamic. No two calls are the same. So, when we think about the term "script," we should think of "call center call flow", and having them written down and easy to access is essential for agents, especially newer ones. More experienced agents won't need to refer to them as much.
Call center scripts help ensure that agents:
- Cover the basics, such as security and account access
- Collect all of the necessary information for the call and any follow-up actions
- Manage customer expectations
- Solve the problem and take any action a customer needs
- Keep positive language and avoid negative phrases
- Hit Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), like First Call Resolution (FCR), and other quality-based metrics
20 Sample Call Center Scripts: Workflow Examples and Templates
Here are 20 call center scripts, workflows, and templates. All of them are dynamic and either industry-specific (e.g., healthcare, retail, or IT service management) or generic and can be used in any industry.
Intake and Passing Security Script
- Take two other pre-security details to identify them
Once a customer has been identified:
- Ask one or two security questions to gain access to the account (unless they've been automatically pre-verified before coming through)
- Confirm they're through security
- Move onto identifying the purpose of the call
Script to Confirm the Issue
- Practice active listening
- Take notes
- Repeat or paraphrase the customer's response so you can confirm what problem they want to be solved
- Find the relevant information within their account and/or internal knowledge base or other systems to provide a resolution
Script for Getting More Information
- Briefly tell me what happened when you last called us. I'm checking the notes as we speak too.
- Explain what happened when you tried [something the customer has mentioned].
- Tell me more about [something the customer has mentioned] and why that didn't work?"
- Practice active listening
- Take notes
- Check the account notes, knowledge base, and other systems as needed while speaking to the customer.
Script for Putting a Customer on Hold
- Make sure to keep coming back to them if you have not found the answer so that the customer doesn't feel like you've abandoned them.
Script for a Warm Transfer: Another Team/Department
- Put them on hold
- Call the relevant team
- Go through account verification with the other agent and explain the issue
- Go back to the customer
- Warm transfer them through
Script for a Warm Transfer: Sales or Retentions
Script for a Warm Transfer: Complaints
Script for a New Account Signup
- Name
- DOB
- Address
- Contact information
- Debit, credit card, or bank/other payment details
Account signup calls are always upsell opportunities, so make sure to offer them other relevant products or services to maximize the value of every call. If your company is running promotional offers for new customers, then make sure to mention these, too.
Script for Handling an Unhappy Customer
- Practice active listening and empathy
- Take notes, check the account notes
- Ask to put them on hold while you determine the most effective and quickest resolution.
Script and Best Practice for When There's Nothing You Can Do
- Listen to what the customer says next
- And then take any other actions you can within internal policy frameworks, e.g., escalating to complaints or a manager
Supercharge your call center agents and team performance with Giva's Customer Service Software.
Script for Apologizing, Complaints Handling
- Log the issue as a formal complaint
- Review procedures for finding a resolution, e.g., giving the customer a refund or goodwill gesture, such as money off their next bill or a one-off payment
- Aim to solve the problem
- Ensure the customer is happier at the end of the call than at the start.
Script for Sharing Information, Resources
- If they say yes, then advise them where these resources can be found
- Send them a link to their phone or email
Script for Healthcare
- Take two other pre-security details to identify them
Once a customer has been identified:
- Ask one or two security questions to gain access to the account (unless they've been automatically pre-verified before coming through)
- Confirm they're through security
- Move onto identifying the purpose of the call
- Check notes/medical records
- Check resources based on what a customer is saying
- Book, change, or cancel an appointment
- Or put a customer/patient through to the relevant team using a warm transfer
Script for ITSM (IT Service Management)
Script for Retail/eCommerce Returned Items
- Look into the issue
- Advise next steps
- Provide a refund or account credit whenever possible (you might need supervisor/managerial approval)
Script for Processing Payments
Script for a Customer Questioning a Bill
- Check the bill
- Compare it against previous bills
- Identify why it's higher (or the particular issue a customer is questioning)
- Explain once you come off hold