Life is not perfect and things happen. It's always nice to hear your customers saying good things about you, but when things don't go well...what do you do? Whether it's your fault, someone else's fault or no one's fault, customers should always have a way to let you know so you can make things right. A satisfied customer following a complaint will have a great story to tell and it will carry more weight knowing you are there to help.
Here are the ABC's for responding to customer complaints that could help in setting up a plan to address this very important aspect of your business:
Accepting a Complaint
An important part of a customer complaint is that the customer should clearly know where and how to communicate with you. That means easy to find contact information like an email address or phone number. If this is something you are not comfortable giving out, have a form on your site that is easy to find and submit.
Being Responsive
The second step is to be responsive to the customer complaint. Ignoring the complaint for any reason says that you do not care. The key to being responsive is that you may not always have to solve a problem, but just letting the customer know that you heard them, you care and you will do your best to resolve their issue. No matter whose fault it is, it is critical that your customer know that an action is being taken and understand the next steps.
Closing the Complaint
Now that you know the issue and what happened, it should be easy to close the complaint. Closing the complaint could be as easy as just listening to your customer. You know your business well, so make the best decision that makes your customer feel that there is closure. There are several ways to achieve this:
- Offer a discount on a future purchase
- Replace the item
- Ask for suggestions
- Just be nice and understanding
A satisfied and happy customer is your best testimonial. Always ask for their help in referrals to their friends and family. You will get more success out of these referrals because everyone will know how much you care for your customers and how well you take care of them.
Here are a couple of great related articles on dealing with customer complaints:
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1 Comment
I’d add just one more to this excellent summary: “D” for Decide: you get to decide who is actually a customer, and who is not. I’ve only had to do it a few times, but I have “fired” a customer or two who seemed determined to be unsatisfied; no amount of action on my part was helping, and they were not going to be pleasant to work with. I let them go with a pleasantly-said, “I’m not the best fit for your needs—thanks for the opportunity, and I hope you’ll find some other good options.”
Knowing it’s okay to decide against someone as a customer is a really great thing about working independently!