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Customers will complain, though, no matter how hard firms try to meet or exceed their expectations.
Sometimes, the complaint is in the form of a suggestion and simply reflects an opportunity to improve the
experience. In other instances, the complaint represents a service or product failure.
When a complaint is made, the process for responding to it is as important as the outcome. And
consumers judge companies as much for whether their response processes seem fair as whether they got
what they wanted. For that reason, some companies create customer service departments with specially
trained personnel who can react to complaints. Other companies invest heavily in preparing all customer-
facing personnel to respond to complaints. Still other companies outsource their customer service. When
the service is technical, marketers sometimes outsource the resolution of complaints to companies that
specialize in providing technical service. Computer help lines are an example. Technical-support
companies often service the computer help lines of multiple manufacturers. A company that outsources
its service nonetheless has to make sure that customer complaints are handled as diligently as possible.
Otherwise, customers will be left with a poor impression.
Handling the Complaint Process
A good customer complaint handling process involves the steps listed below. Note that one step is to
acknowledge the customer’s feelings. A customer who is angry or upset due to a failure does not want to
be patronized or have his or her problems taken lightly. The situation is important to the customer and
should be important to the person listening and responding to the complaint.
- Listen carefully to the complaint
- Acknowledge the customer’s feelings
- Determine the root cause of the problem
- Offer a solution
- Gain agreement on the solution and communicate the process of resolution
- Follow up, if appropriate
- Record the complaint and resolution