“When customers share their story, they’re not just sharing pain points. They’re actually teaching you how to make your product, service, and business better. Your customer service organization should be designed to efficiently communicate those issues.”– Kristin Smaby
Customer criticism and complaints are an inevitable part of any business, irrespective of how well run and streamlined it may be. Many businesses make the colossal mistake of viewing customer criticism as frustrating, onerous and a waste of time. However, customer criticism if ignored or dismissed as unserviceable could cost a business heavily since customers would believe that the company does not value them or their feedback. Customer criticism (and compliments) must not only be acknowledged, they must also be dealt with swiftly and effectively. The very survival of a business depends on its customers – putting together and managing an efficient system to take cognizance of customer complaints and provide solutions will help retain customers.
Businesses grow when customers are loyal, provide repeat business, and become willing brand advocates, thereby encouraging others to provide business. Customer criticism is part of this growth, however, those that choose to view this criticism negatively and choose to ignore or respond poorly, could adversely affect their growth potential. Customer criticism must be viewed as feedback and opportunities to learn and improve. We agree that no one likes to hear criticism – it is hard. However, in business customer criticism is a reality since it is impossible to please all of them at all times. Business owners must learn the ‘art’ of dealing with it, learn from it, and move ahead with even more zest and enthusiasm to serve customers.
With the rise of the internet, customers are more in control now. Statistics show that a satisfied customer would possibly share their experience with 3-4 people, while an angry customer could potentially let about 3000 associates know via social media. Worse still are the silent customers – they do not complain or criticize but stop doing business with a company and never return. Such statistics prove that it is in the best interest of a business to not just pay attention to negative feedback but also actually solicit the customer’s opinions even if it could potentially be criticism. Businesses, which are able to handle customer criticism and quickly resolve the issues, are often able to turn the complaining customers loyal and willing brand ambassadors. Customer criticism can actually become hugely profitable for a company if managed efficiently and swiftly.
The fact is that if a customer is making the time to provide feedback, especially negative, it means that they are still interested in doing business with you. Customers know best what they want and if they are not getting it, their feedback should be used to tackle the issues and problems that stand in the way of providing them with top class customer service. The good news is that with so many customer relationship management tools it is now possible for companies to collect, collate, and manage large amounts of customer information and feedback – negative and positive. When a company receives positive feedback, these can be displayed online and in-store and their offices, paving the path to attract more customers. By handling customer criticism well, a business would be able to fix problems and provide the kind of service that customers expect – this too makes for happy customers, who would then let others know, which in turn could potentially gain more customers.
A report revealed that the top reason for a customer to leave a brand or business and switch to a competitor is rude and shoddy customer service. Most customers may not even bother to complain. The ones that do complain would either post their negative experiences via social media or connect with the company directly to air their annoyance. When dealing with complaints and customer criticism, it is crucial to understand first your company’s service quality, the response times, the manner of dealing with similar complaints, clarity of the messages that go out and several such internal factors. It is equally important to analyse the customer criticism, the reasons for the complaint, the customer making the complaint and the frequency at which the customer usually complains. By understanding all these factors, it would be easier to put in place the necessary steps to prevent further occurrences of the complaint. Does your company / business deal effectively with customer criticism or do you view them as a futile exercise? Your business could grow even more if you can take customer criticism positively.
It is important to take customer criticism impersonally, even though your business is personal to you. From your perspective, whatever you do to run your business is your best effort however, it is critical to view your business from the customer’s standpoint, since they are the end users. Customer criticism must instead be used to customize your business, its products, and service according to the needs and expectations of the customer. By listening to customers, a company is able to gather vital clues about its business and would be able to use the feedback to remove any inefficiency and keep improving.
The next step post listening to customer criticism is the response – it must be swift and efficient. Your company’s response must let customers know that their feedback is of value and that the company would do whatever it takes to ensure that they receive better service going forward. When customers perceive that their criticism has been received in a positive manner, they are more likely to provide consistently feedback and suggestions on how a company can serve them better. With time, customers become more engaged and interested in growing the business because they view it as something in which they have invested effort and time.
Customers know that given the human factor, mistakes would be inevitable. They make mistakes too. It is a fact that customers do not expect perfection – but what they do expect is that when they express their frustration and problems, the company would swing into action to put them at ease. It is imperative that when customers complain, the company and its representatives apologize and accept the inconvenience caused to the customer due to some fault of the company. Admitting to mistakes, even on highly visible platforms shows a company’s confidence in its abilities and that it is not afraid of facing challenges. Studies show that customers, who complained online and then received a public apology, readily changed their review and accepted the company’s efforts of resolving the issue. Customer criticism, in fact, is easily done away with when a business acknowledges it and accepts responsibility for it.
When dealing with customer criticism, it is important however, to protect the esteem and interest of your representatives too. Criticism must be constructive – if it crosses the line towards insulting and abusive, the business must respond accordingly. Many customers could also exaggerate to the point of lying when placing their complaints, in a bid to receive more benefits and favours than is due to them. The company must train its employees to understand the difference between unjustified and constructive customer criticism, and deal with each in the most appropriate manner.
For sustained business growth, a company must be able to display its commitment to customer satisfaction and happiness. By managing even customer criticism professionally, your company would be able to influence positively both the existing and potential customer bases. You may not always be able to prevent unpleasant and poor experiences for the customers, but it is completely in your control to accept customer criticism and do everything in your power to salvage the negative experiences.
