As a business owner, you should know that no matter how you set up your business perfectly, there’s always a chance that you will receive complaints.
Customers who don’t complain and simply leave are risky to business because you won’t know where you fell short. On the other hand, patrons who air their concerns about your goods and services are actually good for improving your services.
Handling customer complaints positively can enhance your service and result in an effective consumer experience. Unhappy customers may still want to do business with you.
For instance, customers who are satisfied with how you address their concerns may become loyal customers and even brand advocates.
They may end up sticking with your brand and telling others about it. This can ultimately expand your customer base.
The key to making this happen is to manage customer complaints efficiently and effectively.
What are customer complaints?
Customer complaints indicate a mismatch between customer expectations and what was delivered.
Sometimes complaints result from unreasonable expectations or faulty assumptions on the part of the consumer. In some cases, it is due to a mistake made by your company. For instance, it could be a problem beyond your control (e.g., transportation or delivery delays).
A customer complaint could also result from misrepresenting your product or service.
Complaint handling policy
A complaint handling policy provides you and your clients a streamlined method for managing and resolving customer complaints. Typically, this is explained on your website or within your business location.
How do you make one? Include reassurances that you value consumer feedback and are committed to resolving issues fairly, timely, and effectively.
You must also do the following:
- Describe how consumers can file an official complaint
- Specify the actions you will take to discuss, address, and resolve complaints
- List some of the remedies you offer to resolve customer complaints
- Inform customers of your dedication to continuous enhancement
Moreover, this policy will enable you to handle customer complaints confidently.
6 quick steps to handle customer complaints
After establishing a policy, you can develop a procedure for handling complaints. The complaint management process should be straightforward for the entire staff to understand.
Follow these six steps to help you handle customer complaints effectively:
1. Listen to the complaint
Handle customer complaints attentively. Customers are aware of when you are attentive, and they will be the first to observe when you are not. Note that your customer base has spending power and can work with your competitors instead of you.
Therefore, you must always listen to your consumers to fully understand where they are coming from, and arrive at a more suitable solution.
2. Dig deeper, ask the right questions
Complaints, even from angry customers, can contain insights, and it is your responsibility to locate the source of dissatisfaction.
To effectively handle customer complaints, ask your prospect questions like:
- What exactly do you mean by…?
- Could you provide an example?
- Could you elaborate on that point?
- What additional information do I require?
Asking the appropriate questions allows you to act in the following process:
- Get to the heart of the complaint
- Establish whether there is a solution
- Evaluate if the complaint contains truly relevant input
3. Identify the customer who files complaints
To effectively handle customer complaints, you must identify the type of consumers you are dealing with. Keep in mind that consumers come with their own beliefs, attitudes, and needs.
Customers who file complaints could be one of the following:
- Customers who aren’t afraid to express their dissatisfaction. Avoid answering their aggressive approach with the same aggressive response; always answer with strong formality.
- Customers who pay a premium for premium support. Consider developing a VIP folder and protocol to make identifying and responding to their problems more manageable.
- Customers who contact you regularly. When replying to these consumers, be patient and avoid appearing irritated.
- Customers who do not want to complain. You must actively seek out these clients to solicit and resolve their issues; otherwise, you may never hear from them. As noted earlier, this type of consumer could make or break your business.
Further, being aware of different persona types will help you respond in the most suitable way.
4. Respond to customers immediately
Complainants tend to escalate if you delay resolving their issues for too long. When it comes to dissatisfied consumers, a prompt response is no longer a luxury but a necessity. Aim for a quick resolution for the issue.
5. Act according to what you promise to resolve
Ensure that the solution you suggested indeed fixed the problem. Keep the consumer updated on any delays in processing their request.
Do not give the complainant promises you can’t keep, especially promising to solve the problem immediately.
6. Keep the thread and track trends
If you receive multiple messages from different customers with the same complaint, you should retain the threads of these complaints. In the future, these threads may be beneficial for resolving recurring product issues.
Additionally, you can use the same complaints to develop new strategies for enhancing your services.
Manage customer complaints the right way
Complaints give businesses a unique opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of their customers and enhance the customer service experience.
Depending on how you handle customer complaints, they can actually be a blessing in disguise to improve your business processes.
Therefore, you must have a solid complaints management process that will enable you to transform complaints into superb growth opportunities.
Follow these simple measures to enhance how your organization handles customer complaints.
