I will go barefoot, or how (not) to respond to complaints.

Everyone repeats like a mantra that a complaint is a key point of contact, it is of great importance for building experience (customer experience) customer with the brand. So much for the declarations, but what are the facts?

Our analyses show that many customers associate complaints with an unequal battle. It's a small customer versus a large company. Many customers, fearing failure, refrain from filing a complaint, thinking, "It won't help anyway."

What do companies say about this? Customers sometimes abuse their rights. On the other hand, after the initial negative response, they give up pursuing their rights. Therefore, companies sometimes prefer to respond in a way that the customer doesn't understand, as a precautionary measure to "defend" their position.

Today, we present the example of Mr. Tomek. This is a real-life situation involving a well-known brand present in many locations across Poland. Approximately eight months after purchase, the paint on Mr. Tomek's shoes began to chip. He filed a complaint, describing the defect and returning the goods to the seller. He received a response within just three days. He was surprised by the speed of the response (positively) and the content (negatively):

"The questioned changes are the result of the progressive wear and tear of the product, which occurs in individual operating conditions. Footwear wears out gradually, depending on the method and conditions of use. The reported damage occurred in circumstances beyond the control of the seller and manufacturer. The complaint is unfounded.”

To avoid being swayed by Mr. Tomek's emotional opinion, we decided to investigate the reaction of selected potential clients to this answer. We asked three questions: What's your first impression? What do you think of the company? What do you plan to do?

We don't decide who is right, the customer or the company. But we believe the answer should be: (1) fast and (2) understandable to the customer  and (3) and contain information about next stepsIn this case, only one of the three conditions was met – speed. That's good too. J

Why did we cite this example? Because this type of response is typical for many companies. And it often has a business justification. Of course, the trick isn't to positively consider every complaint, but rather to craft a good response when a complaint is rejected.

More and more organizations are able to explain the reasons for rejection to customers. They are implementing projects to simplify communication to create the best possible experience. This is an important element of customer experience management (customer experience management). We invite you to discuss and benefit from our experience in building greater customer satisfaction.