One of your customers just had a problem. What are they going to do about it? Will they go to another company? Is this the straw that broke the camel’s back? At one time, they might have called your company and talked to your customer service department to complain and get their problem resolved.
Today, they might just post their complaint online, on a social media outlet, and let the rest of the world in on it. What do you do about it? Here are a few tips to lighten that camel’s load.
Monitor
The first thing to remember is you can only work on problems you know about. With the many different social media outlets, as well as channels to contact you directly, make sure you do what is necessary to know when a customer complaint appears no matter what channel or forum is used.
Stay Calm
Never respond to a customer complaint if you are angry or upset. Take a bit of time to calm down and see the problem from your customer’s point of view. Just that shift in perspective can help sooth your angry response.
Even when the complaint is unfair or unkind, remember the customer’s emotional response to their problem prompted them to complain in that way. If the complaint is angry, the problem caused the customer to become angry. Answering in a similar way will only fan the flames.
Respond Quickly
Despite taking time to calm your feelings about the complaint, you need to craft a response to a complaint quickly. Taking a day or two to deal with the issue is no longer the customer’s standard. Replies within an hour are expected in many forums. Don’t take too long to get back to your customer, that only makes a bad situation worse.
Even if all you can say is you are sorry it happened and are investigating the problem, this is better than no reply at all. When you can’t solve the problem immediately, include that in your reply along with how long it will take to get a more authoritative reply.
Talk Privately
Airing your dirty laundry in public is never a good idea. Offer to discuss your customer’s problem in a more private venue, a phone call, email, or chat. Not only does this take any further discussion out of the public eye, it also can speed the exchange of information between company and customer. One on one, customers can be more reasonable and more amenable to working with you to find a solution. Taking them, and you, out of the limelight lets you deal with their issue rather than spending time considering appearances.
Fix The Problem
The most important part of any complaint is solving the underlying problem. Whether that is reimbursing the customer for their purchase or even offering a gift or future discount, always remember to keep working until you have addressed what the customer sees as the problem. Just fixing the technical issue or the mistake may not deal with what the customer sees as the central issue.
Refunding their purchase may not be enough if they believe there is a fundamental problem with your ordering system. Dig deep into the issue and see it through your customer’s eyes. Then work to resolve not only your business problem, but also the issue as your customer sees it.
Stay in Touch
If you think once you’ve solved the problem you’ve done it all, you are mistaken. Following up with customers to see that they are satisfied with your solution is as important fixing the problem itself. Keeping track of customer complaints and solutions through customer support software will make it easier to get back in touch and check on their satisfaction. It can also help you collect new and better solutions to problems and fix the underlying processes to prevent those issues from ever occurring.
Even more, tracking and graphing the types of complaints you get can show you areas of your business that aren’t performing up to standard and let you work to improve them. Customer complaints are a gift, pointing out flaws in your business where you can make improvements.
Conclusion
Don’t dread seeing another customer complaint in a social media outlet. Look at the opportunity to fix their problem as a way to create a lifelong customer, show your responsiveness, and keep ahead of your competition. Remember the advantages of resolving customer complaints. Giving a full refund to a customer might seem expensive, but consider the difference in cost between retaining an existing customer and finding a new one.
Compared to your marketing budget, a simple refund can seem like a bargain. As long as you can spot the complaint, address it quickly, fix it to the customer’s satisfaction, and follow up appropriately, you can turn complaints into opportunities, and angry customers into company cheerleaders. Who will now speak glowingly of your business in the same social media channel where they made the complaint. Dealing with complaints is turning straw into gold.
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