Updated on May 15, 2023
Customer support is the backbone of any successful business, as it directly impacts customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention. In today’s digital age, most of the communication happens virtually. To meet and exceed customer expectations, customer support teams must possess a range of skills.
This can vary from effective communication and problem-solving to cultural awareness and emotional intelligence. However, acquiring and maintaining these skills is not easy, as it requires continuous learning and development.
Continuous learning is essential for customer support teams to keep up with evolving customer needs, industry trends, and technological advancements. It enables them to stay ahead of the competition, innovate, and adapt to changing circumstances.
Fortunately, continuous learning is possible today irrespective of time or location. Online courses allow employees to learn at their own pace, on their own time, and often at no cost.
Online courses have proven to be an excellent source to get hands-on practical knowledge about the nuances of customer service. To sweeten the deal, one can easily access these online courses from anywhere in the world. This makes them ideal for remote and distributed teams.
In this blog post, we’ll highlight the top 10 free online courses that can help your customer support team improve their skills and enhance their performance.
1. Customer Service Fundamental by Knowledge Accelerators (Coursera)
Customer Service Fundamentals is a free online course by Knowledge Accelerators on Coursera. This course equips customer support teams with basic skills and knowledge about:
- Process management,
- Communication,
- Problem-solving, and
- IT customer support.
The course consists of four modules, which takes place in a time frame of four weeks. Users can complete the course at their own pace and takes approximately 23 hours to complete. These modules include customer communication skills, problem-solving techniques, personality traits for customer service, etc.
They also include process control, and the use of Service Level Agreements in the service industry. Upon completion of the course, students will receive a certificate of completion. They can add this certification to their resume or LinkedIn profile.
2. Active Listening Masterclass (Udemy)
It is no secret that active listening is a key ingredient to customer support success. Active Listening Masterclass by Udemy is a course designed to help customer support professionals develop active listening skills that will enable them to better understand customer needs and communicate more effectively.
Throughout the course, students will learn techniques for active listening, how to listen with their eyes, ears, and heart and to focus on the customer problem at hand.
The course division is seven sections and includes a total of 14 lectures. One can complete it in less than an hour if you dedicate your undivided attention. The course material includes a combination of video lectures and eight downloadable resources. Upon completion of the course, students will receive a certificate of completion.
3. Writing Skills Training for Customer Service by Think Human
Email, chat, or social media communication has become the first line of contact with customers. Customer support professionals must have exceptional written skills to meet their customer’s expectations.
Writing Skills Training for Customer Service is an online course designed to help customer support professionals improve their written communication with customers.
The course is divided into 5 hours of video, 33 unique lessons, and 45+ video guides.
It will cover topics such as the basics of effective writing, tone and voice, email etiquette, and grammar and punctuation. The course emphasizes the importance of clear, concise, and customer-focused writing.
Throughout the course, students will learn techniques for organizing their writing, choosing the appropriate tone, and conveying empathy and understanding in their messages. The course also covers common grammar and punctuation errors and provides practical tips for avoiding them.
This course is an excellent resource for anyone who wants to improve their writing skills in a customer support context, from entry-level support agents to experienced professionals.
4. Cultivating Cultural Competence and Inclusion (LinkedIn)
Cultivating Cultural Competence and Inclusion is an online course by LinkedIn Learning. This course is is for individuals and organizations looking to develop the skills and knowledge to build a more inclusive and culturally competent workplace. This course also helps deliver a positive customer experience without letting cultural barriers come in between.
The course is division is into four sections and covers topics such as the basics of cultural competence, identifying and addressing bias, creating inclusive communication, and promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
This course emphasizes the importance of understanding and valuing diversity and creating a culture of inclusion.
Throughout the course, students will learn techniques for developing cultural competence, including strategies for building relationships across cultures and identifying and addressing bias.
Cultivating Cultural Competence and Inclusion is a self-paced course that you can complete in less than an hour. It includes a combination of video lectures, five quizzes, and one practical exercise to reinforce learning.
5. Great Customer Service with Emotional Intelligence
This is an online course offered by Udemy designed to help customer service professionals develop emotional intelligence skills that will enable them to provide exceptional customer service.
It is divided into four sections and includes a total of 18 lectures that can be consumed in less than 2 hours. It covers topics such as the basics of emotional intelligence, the 4 emotional skills, empathy, communication, and handling difficult customers.
Throughout the course, students will learn techniques for developing emotional intelligence, including how to manage their own emotions and respond empathetically to customers.
By completing this course, students will be able to manage their own emotions more effectively, respond empathetically to customers, and create a more positive and satisfying customer experience.
6. Customer Service Skills by Alison
Customer Service Skills” is an online course by Alison that will help customer service professionals develop the skills and knowledge needed to provide excellent customer service.
There are four modules and it covers topics such as
- Basics of customer service,
- Understanding the customer,
- Providing support over the telephone, and
- Handling customer complaints.
The runtime for the course depends on individual users and you can be complete it in approximately 2-3 hours. It also comes with a CDP accreditation.
This course is an excellent resource for anyone who wants to improve their customer service skills, from entry-level support agents to experienced professionals. By completing this course, students will be able to communicate more effectively with customers, handle difficult situations with confidence, and provide a more positive and satisfying customer experience.
7. Culture of Services: New Perspective on Customer Relations
This course is for individuals and organizations to develop a customer-centric mindset. Creating a culture of service excellence is also one of the objectives.
The course consists of four modules and covers topics such as the basics of service culture, customer-centric leadership, customer experience design, and service innovation. Compared to most customer support courses, this is a slightly longer course that will take at least eight weeks (about 2-3 hours per week) to complete.
Throughout the course, students will learn techniques for creating a culture of service excellence, including strategies for aligning organizational values with customer needs and developing a customer-centric mindset.
This course is an excellent resource for anyone who wants to create a customer-centric culture within their organization, from business leaders to customer service professionals.
8. A+ Customer Care by WorkLifeBalance
This course is for customer service professionals who want to develop the skills and knowledge needed to provide excellent customer service.
The course covers a range of topics related to customer service, including communication skills, understanding customers’ business needs, listening with focus, accepting responsibility for conflict resolution, and being a positive ambassador of customer support.
9. Customer Success Management Certification by The Success League
The Customer Success Management Certification From The Success League is designed to help customer success professionals develop the skills and knowledge needed to build and maintain long-term customer relationships and ensure the success of their clients.
It offers expert-led classes hosted by CS leaders who have experience in a variety of CS roles, from executive roles to senior leadership. The course covers a range of topics related to customer success, including customer segmentation, onboarding, adoption, retention, and expansion.
The course has a 15-class series that delves deep into knowledge and tools that customer support professionals need to excel in their roles. This is not a free course and comes with a price tag of $1795.
10. Attitudes for Service by Dale Carnegie
Dale Carnegie needs no introduction to the world of sales training and customer support training. Even today, decades after his passing away, he is regarded as a shining example of professional training. This course, ‘Attitudes for Service’ aims to teach customer support professionals on the nuances of serving customers in a low-pressure, high-touch way in every interaction.
The course spans 3-hours and includes 90 minutes of live online instruction and 90 minutes of self-directed learning. It is an online course and does not need any onsite participation or presence.
The learning path forward
Continuous learning is crucial for the growth and success of any customer support team. Investing in free online courses is an excellent way to upskill employees and create a culture of learning within the organization.
The ten online courses listed above should help you level up your customer support team. It will inculcate skills such as active listening, emotional intelligence, and cultural competence. They will empower you to deliver exceptional customer service and create a positive customer experience at every customer touchpoint.
Have you undertaken any other course that has delivered value to you as a customer support professional? Let us know in the comments.
At Kommunicate, we envision a world-beating customer support solution to empower the new era of customer support. We would love to have you on board to have a first-hand experience of Kommunicate. You can signup here and start delighting your customers right away.
