Although you might not think it at the time, getting a complaint from a customer is a good thing for your business. That’s because it’s your chance to showcase your exceptional customer service by having an excellent complaints procedure.
One famous example of someone bringing a complaint is Dave Carroll, who wrote a song after American Airlines threw his beloved guitar across a runway. After this experience, Dave began touring the world, lecturing people on dealing with complaints. It demonstrates the need for responding to complaints in a speedy and professional manner.
Perhaps the easiest way to resolve a complaint is to talk directly to the customer. The customer then realises you are taking what they have to say seriously, so contact them as soon as you receive communication from them. Sometimes their complaint can be sorted with just that one phone call, but if you do need to send a follow up letter, here are five tips for corresponding in writing.
1) Use the KISS principle (keep it simple stupid!) Use plain English in your response letter as much as possible
2) Keep the letter personal by directing the customer to deal with you, therefore they know who to contact if they want to discuss their complaint some more
3) Begin the letter by thanking the customer for bringing the matter to your attention and show appreciation to their loyalty of your business.
4) Let the customer know you are taking personal ownership for their complaint.
5) Address all the customers concerns individually by detailing all of them in the letter. Make sure all the issues are resolved and answered in a comprehensive manner and use empathy to make the customer feel special.
Why not have mystery shoppers evaluate your complaints procedure?. They will evaluate every aspect of the complaint, before providing you with a comprehensive report detailing how you can improve and what isn’t working well in your procedure at the moment.
