Customer Service Cover Letter

To land a good job as a customer service representative in 2023, you’ll need a great cover letter to make your job application stand out to employers. The demand for customer service professionals is projected to decrease by 4% through 2031 as the industry implements AI technology that reduces the need for human workers.

But even though the number of available jobs may decrease, you can still get a customer service gig as long as you know how to write a great cover letter.

Here are three tips to help you write a customer service cover letter that convinces employers you’re the right person for the job:

1. Highlight your customer service skills

As a customer service specialist, you need both hard and soft skills to do the job effectively. Your hard skills are abilities you learned through training, such as customer service chat software. Whereas soft skills are personality traits that help you manage your work and interact with others.

The best customer service representatives use soft skills like patience and empathy to relate to customers, and know how to be persuasive without seeming pushy.

Here are some customer service skills to include in your cover letter to get employers interested in your application:

2. Give examples of your achievements (with hard numbers)

Show employers you have the right customer service skills to excel by giving examples of your accomplishments in your cover letter. And use numbers wherever possible to give employers a clear picture of what you accomplished.

Here are good examples of some customer service achievements in a cover letter backed up with hard numbers:

Even if the job description asks you to write a simple, short cover letter, you should include hard numbers to make your application stand out.

3. Show your passion for customer service

Customer service employers prefer to hire candidates who are passionate about ensuring every customer has an excellent experience. Companies also want to work with people who are genuinely excited about their brand — a fact that’s especially true for customer service specialists who speak directly to clients.

Use your cover letter to show employers that you truly care about your work, and that you’d be a great brand representative. Here are three strategies for conveying passion in your customer service cover letter:

Storytelling

Consider opening your cover letter with a storytelling approach to connect a personal passion to the company or role. Don’t sell yourself too hard, though. Sounding too “salesy” is the easiest way to turn off an employer.

Here’s an example of an over-the-top storytelling opening, followed by a more appropriate rewrite:

Too salesy

ChocoChunk candy bars are all I ever eat. Seriously, I’m on the verge of developing diabetes as a direct result of my love for your products. But I don’t care. I’d rather eat your delicious chocolatey goodness and die happy than cut it from my diet — and that’s why I’d be a perfect ChocoChunk Retail Sales Representative.

Appropriately passionate

Every Christmas and Easter when I was a kid, my parents gave me ChocoChunk candy bars. Your delicious offerings have a nostalgic place in my heart, and they’re still my go-to sweet treat. True appreciation for your products and my customer service experience make me an ideal candidate for your open Retail Sales Representative position.

Research-based

The best cover letters include research about the company. Check your target company’s website and social media accounts, and find a way to connect your talents to the company’s vision and values, like this:

I’ve been keeping up with JaneVision’s recent rebranding, and I believe I’m the perfect candidate to help you on the front lines as a Customer Service Specialist. My current company implemented a similar repositioning strategy in 2020, and I led a special task force responsible for explaining our rebrand to customers.

Persuasive

Be authentic but also use persuasion in your cover letter. Think about how you’d close a sale in person, and use the same techniques to make your cover letter for customer service work. Keep your tone personable, but focus on addressing the company’s needs and offering the best solutions to their problems.

Here’s an example from a persuasive cover letter ending:

Your job ad said you’re looking for an “individual with a passion for helping others understand new social media technology.” Considering the skills and achievements outlined above, I’m confident I’m the perfect match for this particular role. I’m excited to connect with you and discuss my qualifications further in a Zoom interview or in person.