by Erna George. How may companies find the balance between what’s good for the consumer and what’s good for the brand? Today I take a closer look at the “how to” of dealing with complaints.
The digital challenge
The first step is obvious: be on all channels — a call-centre is no longer enough. Only about 30% of brands have a dedicated customer-service handle on Twitter (source: www.getspokal.com). But digital presents challenges since, while consumers reasonably expect that call-centre consultants go to sleep, digital is “always on”.
There are too many examples of poor handling of complaints on Twitter. In one report, a customer tweeted about lost luggage on British Airways and its poor customer service. About eight hours later, BA apologised for the response-delay, stating its Twitter feed is open 9am-5pm.
Not only is it critical to be present on each channel but, in some industries, operating hours must be extended and response times must be faster. A large corporation that operates 24/7 is expected to offer more than office hours for Twitter.
How to behave
No matter the channel, there is a set of behaviors that is required in dealing with a complaint.
First, be positive. According to experts, expecting a positive outcome has an impact upon manner and responses that often delivers a positive process and outcome. Next, thank the customer for taking the time out to engage and apologise that the problem has occurred.
At all times be empathetic, listen and seek to understand. Get all the facts as this often diffuses the situation. When the customer feels truly heard and acknowledged, this reduces emotions and cuts through the layers to get to the heart of the issue — not at all like what happened when Chris Williams called the Amazon customer-care line, concerned about phishing as someone created an account using a near exact Gmail account name to his and he wanted the account to be deleted.
He provided his name, the account details and the story, only for the call-centre agent to ask some security questions along the lines of “Please provide your name and account?”, amid other faux pas, rounding it all up by calling him “ma’am”! Empathetic listening — a simple task, yet not easy to execute.
Correct the issue
Once the consumer feels heard and the crux of the matter has been identified, work upon correcting the issue or find someone to solve it (no passing the consumer from pillar to post).
Ensuring a speedy and suitable response to complaints is where many businesses do go wrong. Some jump too quickly to the free-gift offer and, while it is often easy and is what some consumers are looking for, it should never take the place of resolving the issue. Free gifts may make for greedy consumers who repeat-call or, as the problem is not fixed, leads to increased future complaints.
Other business responses are internally focused, providing feedback and solutions on their terms.
In a case where a customer informed a local Gauteng fast-food joint about an error with an ingredient, the company response started well, acknowledging, apologising and stating feedback had been given to management.
Don’t give too much detail
Where it went wrong, however, is that it provided an additional two-to-three paragraphs explaining in depth how staff at the branch were a disappointment and had failed to adhere to the strict protocols and the detail of steps being taken to rehabilitate the branch. Just too much dirty laundry to air to customers.
On top of this, it offered a voucher that could only be used on certain days of the week at this particular store. Too much information and conditional compensation!
Consumers often want to know just enough to make them feel as if they’ve been heard and that the problem is being addressed. (And, please, compensate in a flexible way that brings them back).
Don’t be defensive
As an aside, if the customer is enraged, proactively offer a solution to disarm the situation. Never be defensive as, once the customer is calm, it is easier for both to find a mutually beneficial outcome.
If calm is not an option and the customer is unreasonable and rude, create some space by pointing him or her to your policies and processes, or escalate the complaint. Ensure policies are in an accessible form and a support team for escalated matters.
Overall, it’s a challenging balance for brand and consumer to achieve and it is often the brand that must give more to convert situations into constructive engagements:
- Take complaints seriously, as this shows you value their trade whether it is in person, by email/internet, by telephone or by mail.
- Attempt to maintain calm, be polite, cordial and empathetic to diffuse the scenario.
- Take some action and, in proposing solutions to the grievance avoid too many limitations, do not overshare and then learn from it to avoid it next time around
While brands won’t often win completely, they may still gain respect and continued support.
Erna George is the new marketing executive of Pioneer Foods’ Cereals & Other division. She has worked on both client and agency sides with diverse brands and categories — from FMCG, alcohol and agriculture to financial services and entertainment — in countries across many geographies, including South Africa, Mozambique, Nigeria, Kenya, India, Philippines and Brazil. She contributes the monthly “Fair Exchange” column, concerning business relationships and partnerships in marketing and brandland, to MarkLives.
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