Complaints management: how to properly deal with customer complaints
Satisfied customers talk to an average of three people about a positive shopping experience, while dissatisfied customers talk to nine people about negative events.
This fact sufficiently describes the importance of well thought-out and sophisticated complaint management (synonym: complaint management). Even a single, poorly handled complaint can result in many dissatisfied customers and clients. Work invested in this topic is therefore definitely worthwhile!
Goals of complaint management: High customer satisfaction, good customer service
In order to avoid reputational damage and customer losses, a focus should therefore be placed on complaint management and the prevention of cancellations. However, complaints not only serve to retain customers, they also offer an opportunity to increase customer loyalty and sales. Well thought-out customer care processes and structured tasks can prevent negative complaint experiences and turn every complaint into an opportunity for the company.
Satisfaction levels change depending on whether efforts are made to offer the customer an optimal solution to the complaint. If the approach is effective, it even increases. However, if complaints are not dealt with adequately, it is all the more likely that customers will turn away from the company forever. So it's time to rethink your company's complaint management!
The right way to handle a customer complaint
1. keep calm and take customers seriously
As soon as you receive (constructive) complaints, you should take the time to address the customer's concerns. It is best to contact the customer in person to get a clear picture of the situation. Email or phone calls should be avoided, as people express themselves best when they speak to each other in person. This is essential for good complaint management and sustainably stable customer relationships.
2 Apologize and provide alternatives
What customers want to hear is an apology. Put yourself in the other person's shoes so that you can better understand the situation. As compensation, you can, for example, refund the customer the price of the product/service or give them a free product. However, a voucher is particularly effective after a complaint. This not only increases the likelihood of a repeat purchase, but also offers the company the opportunity to convince the customer once again. These options should be considered in complaint management.
3. Customer communication: learning from mistakes and recording data
As only around 5% of all dissatisfied customers complain, it is all the more important to identify errors in the company and rectify them - in other words, to have a good complaints management system with a sophisticated complaints management process. You should therefore always view complaints as positive, as they provide suggestions for improvement for your own company.
Feedback functions in customer loyalty apps, which are increasingly being used, are particularly suitable for determining the optimization potential of the customer relationship. In order to encourage customers to write reviews for their own company, reward points can be awarded, for example, which provide purchasing benefits (e.g. discounts, vouchers, etc.). This results in a win-win situation: not only are customers happy, but the company is also satisfied and can thus successfully manage complaints.
Take complaint management tasks seriously!
Overall, it is important for companies to take complaint management seriously and use customer complaints as an opportunity to improve customer service. By rewarding their customers with discounts or vouchers, companies can create a win-win situation in which both providers and customers are satisfied with the outcome.
