If things go wrong for your customers, you need to fix them fast. Find out how you can improve how you handle customer complaints and keep your customers coming back for more.
Every business likes to think that they have happy customers. But the old adage that “you can’t please all the people all the time” is equally true in business as everywhere else.
So dealing with customer complaints will be one of the key elements of any successful company. You hope that you don’t have to do it too often, but how you deal with customer complaints is a key measure of success.
No matter how big or small your business, responding to customer complaints can always be improved. And there are some simple guidelines you can use to make sure you do it effectively.
Take complaints seriously
How many times have you heard employees who have received complaints say that someone who called you was “moaning” about your product or service? The answer to this should never be more than once – because anyone in your organisation who doesn’t take every complaint seriously needs to be told that’s not the way to do it.
Employees often feel defensive when talking to customers who are unhappy, which leads to this “they’re wrong” attitude. Make sure that your employees know that a complaining customer isn’t something to be defensive about: it’s an opportunity to improve what you do, and in the long run make more sales.
Encourage staff to take every complaint seriously. If that means they have to pass the complaint up to you, so be it – lead by example on this one.
Act fast
Every day that a complaint isn’t dealt with is a day where you have an unhappy customer. And every unhappy customer will tell all his friends that he’s had a bad experience dealing with your company. Research by the Technical Assistance Research Programs Institute shows that the average customer with an unresolved complaint tells 9-10 people about it – and all of these are potential lost customers.
Ask the customer what would make them happy
When dealing with customers, all too often the company is looking for a quick, simple outcome rather than the one that is right for the customer. So, once you have decided that a customer’s complaint is a valid one (and this should be your starting point) ask the customer what you can do to make them happy. Quite often, what a customer wants is actually something very simple, such as a prompt replacement rather than a refund.
Customers are human beings, and by buying your product in the first place, they have already made a choice in your favour. They want your product, and they want to deal with you – so they are unlikely to ask for something you can’t give them.
Log complaints
Problems which cause complaints fall into two categories: one-off mistakes, and endemic issues with a particular product or service.
If you want to find the latter, it is absolutely essential that every complaint, no matter how trivial, is logged in a way which makes it easy to find patterns in complaints. If, for example, many customer who ordered something on a particular day have not received their goods, you may have a serious problem with your fulfilment company.
Using a database or a customer relationship management tool is the best way to track complaints – so make sure this is set up and available to all employees who might take complaints.
Let everyone know about the complaint
As well as logging complaints, make sure that awareness of what’s happened is spread around your business. Use email to alert everyone, via a regular update – weekly or monthly, depending on the volume of customer and complaints you receive. And emphasise every time that's taken and acting on a complaint is something which should be rewarded, not avoided!
Remember where the buck stops!
You’re in charge of your business, and that means that the ultimate authority over any complaint should be you – and this is especially true in a small company. Set the tone for dealing with complaints, and make yourself some happy customers!
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