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Handling Complaints: The HEAT Model

Project Overview

Format: 25-minute microlearning course (Articulate Rise + Vyond animations)

This interactive course helps customer service professionals develop empathy-driven communication skills to handle complaints effectively. Through animated scenarios, practical tips, and hands-on activities, learners practice active listening, validating customer concerns, and offering solutions with confidence.

Key Outcomes

Tools & Platforms: Articulate Rise, Vyond, LMS (SCORM/xAPI compatible)

Project Summary: Handling Customer Complaints with Empathy

Project Name: Handling Customer Complaints with Empathy

Target Audience: Frontline customer service representatives, support agents, and team leads. Typically 25–50 employees per department, spread across multiple locations (North America / Europe).

Project Duration: ~25 minutes (scrolly microlearning format)

Project Purpose

This project is designed to equip customer-facing employees with practical skills to handle complaints empathetically, reduce conflict, and improve customer satisfaction. By the end of the module, learners will understand key empathy techniques, how to actively listen, validate concerns, offer appropriate solutions, and follow up effectively.

Learning Objectives

  • Understand why empathy is critical in customer interactions.
  • Learn and apply active listening techniques.
  • Validate customer feelings and respond appropriately.
  • Practice structured complaint-handling using realistic scenarios.
  • Increase customer satisfaction (CSAT) and reduce escalations.

Course Structure

  • Format: Scrolling microlearning course built in Articulate Rise.
  • Content Components: Text lessons, embedded Vyond animations, interactive scenarios, knowledge checks, downloadable resources (quick guide, email templates).
  • Engagement Features: Clickable tips, drag-and-drop, multiple-choice scenarios with instant feedback, branching scenarios.

Business Impact

  • Reduce customer escalations by standardizing empathetic response techniques.
  • Improve team confidence in handling difficult customer interactions.
  • Support company KPIs: higher CSAT scores, fewer repeat complaints, improved customer loyalty.

Platform & Technical Notes

  • Scrolly course: Articulate Rise.
  • Animations: Vyond for realistic scenarios.
  • Interactivity: quizzes, drag-and-drop.
  • Assessment & Reporting: Knowledge check scores tracked via LMS; branching outcomes captured in SCORM/xAPI.
  • Accessibility: Keyboard navigable, high contrast and readable typography.
Detailed Case Study

Target Audience: Customer Support Teams, Sales Representatives.

Tools Used: Articulate Rise 360, Canva, Miro.

The Challenge: Reduce average handling time of conflict calls while maintaining high CSAT scores.