In a past-faced industry like ours, customer service representatives and managers have to keep their skills up to scratch.
Taking an online customer service course is a great way to show your company that you care about delivering excellent customer service. No matter if you’re looking for new customer service positions, or aiming for a raise at your current one.
In this article, we’ll take a look at free online courses in customer service you can take to improve your skill set and, well… help you to help customers.
The best free customer service courses
- HubSpot Academy: Delivering Exceptional Customer Support
- Alison: Diploma in Customer Service
- Setting Up the Purrfect Customer Service QA Program
- Oxford Home Study Center: Diploma in Customer Services
- LinkedIn Learning: Customer Service Foundations
- Harvard Business School: Understanding Customer Needs
- Coursera: Improving Communication Skills
- EdApp: Dealing with Difficult Customers
- Udemy: Customer Support Skills
- Saylor Academy: Customer Service Course
HubSpot Academy: Delivering Exceptional Customer Support
This customer service training within HubSpot’s extensive list of online courses teaches you how to reach your full potential as a customer support representative. The 4-lesson schedule focuses on developing your essential customer service skills and competencies, including analyzing support cases, managing your time, and adhering to service level agreements (SLAs).
Who’s it for?
Customer service reps who are just starting out in their careers will benefit the most from this training program.
Customer service training highlights
- Comes with a workbook that you can read as you learn and return back to
- Created as a series of videos that are engaging to watch
- Includes quizzes at the end of each lesson to test yourself on what you’ve learned so far
Alison: Diploma in Customer Service
This free online course teaches you all the fundamentals of what makes customers happy: communicating and collaborating to turn customers into loyal superfans. It shows you how to radically improve your company’s customer service program, with a special focus on the hospitality and retail industries.
Who’s it for?
This customer support certification is mainly targeted at business owners, managers, and entrepreneurs who want to deliver excellent customer service.
Online training highlights
- Earns you a CPD-accredited diploma from Alison
- An extensive course with 6-10 hours of learning
- Shows you how to apply customer service strategies to specific industries
Setting Up the Purrfect Customer Service QA Program
Want to be able to assess and improve support quality at your company? This 12-lesson, free online course shows you how to start from scratch with a customer service QA program. The purrriculum is designed to boost your team’s potential by implementing conversation reviews.
Who’s it for?
This online customer service training is mainly intended for customer service managers who want to drive their teams toward a standard of excellence.
Customer service training highlights
- Shares the wisdom of QA specialists on how they apply internal assurance strategies
- Breaks down all the steps toward building a successful QA program
- Arms you with ways to ensure your team is achieving its goals and meeting customer expectations
Oxford Home Study Center: Diploma in Customer Services
This free customer service certification program is created by leading academics. It combines 3 short courses from Oxford Home Study Center: Communication Skills, Understanding Body Language, and Customer Services. The 8 training modules focus on learning to better understand customers, create an effective customer service strategy for your business, handle unsatisfied customers, and more.
Who’s it for?
Business owners or managers who want to set their customer service goals, build strong relationships with customers, handle customer complaints, and develop the customer service skills of their teams.
Customer service training highlights
- Extensive training that you can complete at your own pace
- You’ll come away with a CPD-accredited diploma
- Based on the same materials that you’d learn in their paid courses
LinkedIn Learning: Customer Service Foundations
Sign up for your first month free on LinkedIn Learning and take this nicely thought-out training program. Customer service professional Jeff Toister shares knowledge on 3 vital skill sets you need in the industry: how to provide excellent customer service, build rapport, and deal with angry customers. You’ll learn cool things like how to increase your like-ability, how to empathize with customers, and a whole lot more.
Who’s it for?
This course is designed for every new customer service rep who wants to learn the fundamentals of providing excellent customer service.
Customer service training highlights
- Earn a completion certificate that you can share on your LinkedIn page to wow your current or future employers
- Access the customer service course on a desktop, tablet, or phone
- Quizzes test your knowledge as you go
Harvard Business School: Understanding Customer Needs
This one’s just a 15-minute lesson, but heck, it’s from Harvard Business School! Clayton Christensen is a professor at Harvard Business School who’ll teach you the importance of anticipating your customers’ needs and expectations. Learn how to keep up with the changing needs of customers, discover why people buy certain things, and see how to create products and services that solve customer issues.
Who’s it for?
This is an introductory-level lesson that’s for support reps who want to improve their customer service skills and develop within their industry.
Customer service training highlights
- Learn from an exceptionally knowledgeable Harvard professor
- Only takes 15 minutes of your time
- Available for access anytime you’re ready
Coursera: Improving Communication Skills
To work in customer service, you need to have excellent communication skills. This 4-week course by the Wharton University of Pennsylvania on the Coursera platform helps you hone those skills. Award-winning Wharton professor Maurice Schweitzer gives you tools and strategies for developing trust, asking effective questions, developing problem-solving skills, active listening, and more.
Who’s it for?
This is free online customer service training that’s perfect for beginners in the industry. Anyone who starts in a customer-facing role can benefit from it.
Customer service training highlights
- In-depth learning over the course of 4 weeks (9 hours in total)
- Earn a shareable certificate when you complete the course
- Learn from a respected and knowledgeable teacher
EdApp: Dealing with Difficult Customers
Purrhaps the most unpleasant part of working in customer service is handling difficult cases and customer complaints. This 4-part course helps prepare customer service professionals for the worst by giving them essential strategies for dealing with unhappy customers. It focuses primarily on the food and hospitality industries — 2 fields where customers tend to be the most stand-offish.
Who’s it for?
This free training is meant for customer service managers to share with their teams to improve their problem-solving, communication, and customer service skills.
Online course highlights
- Completely editable: you can add your own slides, update the text, or slap your brand on the whole course
- Intended for mobile use, making it engaging and easy to access
- Helps your team members build confidence and communication skills
Udemy: Customer Support Skills
This free training course on Udemy teaches you the basic customer service skills you need to excel in the customer support industry. It’s a great way to learn the fundamentals of how to make a customer feel valued, how to write customer support emails, and how to handle conversations that are not going so well.
Who’s it for?
Customer support representatives who want to expand their skill set and impress both their bosses and customers.
Customer service training course highlights
- Made up of bite-sized, 4 or 5-minute chunks of learning that you can take in whenever is convenient for you
- A very helpful section on delivering good support on social media
- Teaches you how to deal with the motivation issues that can stem from having a repetitive job
Saylor Academy: Customer Service Course
This extensive and totally free customer service certification program introduces customer service professionals to the industry. It touches on everything from essential business skills to improving customer experience and career advancement. The 25-hour course is separated into 7 units of 3 or 4 hours each that you can complete at your own pace.
Who’s it for?
This free online course is intended for absolute newcomers and has everything you need when accepting any customer service position.
Customer service training course highlights
- Earn a credit-recommended course completion certificate that looks great on a resume
- Learn strategies for improving customer satisfaction… and your own career path
- Create a customer service training manual to refer back to in the future
Master customer service skills online — for free!
Customer service can be a difficult industry to work in if you don’t have the right skills. When looking at new customer service positions, taking one (or a few) of these online courses will prepare you for success in the workplace. Employers will be impressed by your commitment to developing your customer service skills.
What are you waiting for? These courses are completely free, so start your learning journey today!
