Complaining can be good for your customers – and good for you

Citation

Stewart, B. (2002), "Complaining can be good for your customers – and good for you", Measuring Business Excellence, Vol. 6 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/mbe.2002.26706dab.002

Complaining can be good for your customers – and good for you

Why do we complain about poor product quality or lousy service? Is it because we want some kind of reparation or redress? Or is it because we want to vent our anger and frustration at the firm responsible? Nyer reports that some research indicates that the most common reason for complaining "… was to vent negative emotions".

We also read that bottling up those negative emotions can cause stress and could contribute to "… long-term health problems". We do not want bad service nor do we expect it, so when firms let us down we are angry – complaining allows us to release those negative feelings and, we hope, get a resolution to or apology for the cause of upset.

All this seems common sense and – since mistakes and problems are endemic in business – requires the clear understanding of management. Yet many firms simply dismiss complaints and even fail to apologize for any upset caused. Fisher et al. (1999) reported, in an investigation of complaints to the Better Business Bureau branch in St Louis, that firms failed to offer any redress, refused to accept that they had done anything wrong and above all completely failed to say sorry.

Dealing with complaints is not fun!

We do not like complaints and, in many cases, customers do not like complaining. As we have already noted, dissatisfaction is stressful and, for many people, going to complain is stressful. This problem is made worse by the attitude of employees receiving complaints – too often such people seem not to care about the problems faced by the customer.

So what contributes to this negative response when people raise complaints? Here are some thoughts:

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  We do not like admitting a mistake – give the customer a load of excuses.

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  The mistake was by somebody else – why should you deal with the problem?

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  The customer does not understand how we work – this kind of thing happens all the time and other people do not whinge.

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  People who complain are all the same – they are just trying to rip us off and get something for free.

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  We are not responsible for the error – that was a different organization.

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  The customer is being unreasonable – there is nothing wrong with what we have done.

We do not enjoy it when our customers complain but, at the same time, we often fail to appreciate that failing to sort out the problem and mollify the customer will result in an unhappy ex-customer. And that customer will be telling friends and relations just how lousy our firm is.

There is now so much evidence of the negative impact of failing to deal with complaints adequately that firms not handling complaints effectively deserve the loss of business. And, in addition to these findings, we know that dealing with complaints well results in satisfied – even enthusiastic – customers. So why don't we do it?

Catharsis for customers – the role of complaints

The dissatisfied customer is angry – or at least this is a safe assumption for the marketer. If they do not vent their anger on you they will let rip somewhere else. If you do not want your customers to bore their friends and relations rigid with their tale of your useless service, then you have to offer catharsis – you must encourage customers to raise complaints, problems and concerns.

Nyer demonstrates that unhappy customers, when "asked to express their feelings and thoughts experienced greater increases in satisfaction and product evaluation than those who were not asked to express their comments and complaints". Making it easy to complain is positive – even where you deliver perfect service. The customer likes to know you welcome their comments and feedback.

While catharsis – the opportunity to vent feelings – is a good start, it does not necessarily solve your problem. Nyer points out that "giving customers the chance to vent or even offering them an apology may not compensate for the failure to provide them with a refund or exchange if that is what the unhappy consumer wants". Listening to the customer and saying sorry are a good start but you may need to do more to repair your relationship with that customer.

Doing things right – a strategy for handling complaints

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  Start with the fact that the customer is upset. It does not matter whether their anger is fair or justified – it is sufficient that they are cross.

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  Listen to what the customer has to say. Do not have a mechanistic response to complaints or a rigid policy on redress – this may not be what the customer wants. And if all the experts in the world say you have got the right policy, that does not make a bit of difference to your customer. They are still upset.

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  Say sorry. In so many cases an apology is all the customer wants and preferably an apology that is not followed by a catalogue of explanations, caveats and excuses. Just say you are sorry and leave it at that.

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  Find out what you can do to repair the situation – a refund, exchange, redoing the work, free product. Remember that, if you get the response right, that customer will be satisfied and will return to buy again. Ask the customer what they want and, so far as is possible, give it to them.

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  Record the details of the complaint and investigate why the product or service failed. You will never eliminate errors but, by addressing problems as they arise, you will avoid the disaster of a customer experiencing the same mistake twice.

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  Be prepared to train staff in complaint handling and insist that dealing with customers' problems is a priority.

There is no excuse for failing to address customer complaints. And, since complaining can increase"… satisfaction, product evaluations and purchasing likelihood" you should make it as easy as you can for customers to raise their concerns and have them addressed.

Reference

Fisher, J.E., Garrett, D.E., Arnold, M.J. and Ferris, M.E. (1999), "Dissatisfied consumers who complain to the Better Business Bureau", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 16 No. 6, pp.’576-89. This is a shortened version of the article "An investigation into whether complaining can cause increased consumer satisfaction".

Nyer, P..U. (2000), "An investigation into whether complaining can cause increased consumer satisfaction", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 17 No. 1.

Comment: A well-written critique on a number of techniques used for adding value to your customer experience.