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While it's
understandable that you will have customer complaints
from time to time, that doesn't mean you can't do
anything to try to prevent them. Most customers complain
not because something bad happened, but because they
feel like you could have done more to prevent it. By
taking some time to prevent bad things from happening as
well as practicing damage control once they do, you can
reduce those complaints into the single digits – and
that means your business is going to succeed even more.
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Test Your
Business
From time to time, you need to go into your business
website as though you were a customer yourself. This
will help you to see what is and what is not working for
your company – and what may need to be changed. By
taking time to look at your business from the customer's
viewpoint, you will often find that things are different
from what you see from your end. Go through the entire
website and all of the functions to be sure that you're
presenting the best case for your business.
Leave Room for Feedback
By creating a place for customers to complain or simply
to give comments, you will encourage customers to let
you know things that are problematic before they turn
into complaints. You might want to leave an email that's
just for complaints or you might want to have a forum
upon which customers can review their experiences. Of
course, you will need to read these pieces often and
respond to them immediately to be sure that customers
can tell that you're listening.
Apologize First…
Instead of immediately explaining what went wrong during
a transaction, you should apologize first. So often,
customers simply feel like you don't care about them
when something goes wrong – but when you apologize, you
are admitting that it was your fault. It's such a simply
thing, but it can help to immediately soften the tone of
your customer and allow for you to make reparations.
Explain Later
At the same time, you should explain to the customer
exactly what went wrong. Try not to include any excuses,
but rather talk to them about what happened from your
end of the transaction. Stick with the facts of what
happened and point out where things went wrong. This
will show that you care about the transaction and that
you have clear reference points from which to change the
issues so they don't occur again. In addition, when you
explaining what went wrong, give the customer a chance
to tell you whether you are 'getting' what they saw as
being wrong.
Make Reparations
The first thing you need to do when someone complains is
fix the problem. If something wasn't shipped quickly,
find a way to get it to them as quickly as possible. If
something was delivered, but it wasn't the right thing,
make sure to send the right thing. Fix whatever the
problem was immediately and then offer a discount or
something free in exchange if you can.
Thank People for their Comments and Complaints
While this sounds like an off tactic, when you (as a
business) take time out of your schedule to thank a
customer for bringing a problem to your attention, you
allow them to be a part of the solution. This shows that
you understand their part in the process and how
valuable the customer really is. Just be sure to thank
them at some point of the process in order to showcase
their value to you.
People are much less likely to complain when they feel
their opinion and their comments really make a
difference.
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