Comments on: The gift of complaints – how to turn misery into brand equity

By: David Havyatt

David Havyatt — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:47:52 +0000

Nice item, but perhaps a tad simplistic. The Virgin agent probably wasn’t being “flexible”, it was probably just a well designed process.

Shirli’s comment to a comment on “authenticity” makes me think of one of those aphorisms that goes “the most important thing is sincereity, once you can fake that you’ve got it made”. Personalised service can be part of the design without detracting from the scale efficiencies in the mass customer service centre.

See my post.

By: Patrick Kennedy

Patrick Kennedy — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:35:40 +0000

Excellent article Shirli, I wrote a blog post along similar lines not long ago (yours is written much better though!)

By: Craig

Craig — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:34:40 +0000

Steven Howard – http://au.linkedin.com/pub/steven-howard/0/454/1b3 – made these really interesting comments on a LinkedIn group I wanted to share with others:

“There was research conducted in the 1980s that showed customers are more loyal to an organization after a complaint has been corrected or rectified in a fully satisfactory way than if no problem had occurred in the first place.

The key, of course, is making the customer fully satisfied with the corrective action taken after a complaint has been raised. Simply mollifying the customer after they have voiced a complaint did not have the same loyalty enhancing effect.

I believe this is true for two reasons:

a) correcting an error means an additional interaction with the customer has taken place, giving the customer something more to base their perceptions on than a single, error-free transaction, and

b) almost all complaint corrections require some sort of PERSONALIZED effort or compensatory action by the organization, and hence the customer is now treated as an individual with unique needs, wants, desires, likes and dislikes.

Any time an organization treats a customer as an individual and provides a level of personalized service, even when overcoming a complaint, this is bound to have a positive impact on loyalty building.”

Shirli responded by commenting:

“That’s a really interesting analysis. It may also have to do with building authenticity. In a world of hype when someone at least tries to deliver it makes them feel authentic and builds trust.

Having had round 4 with my curtain company- I have also discovered that when they try to fix it and do so badly (3 ring circus) that can seal the negative impression of the brand. The tricky bit is finding out if the customer is fully satisfied.

I for example have just said that is fine because I don’t trust them after their 3 failed attempts. I would rather just say thanks and quietly walk away. They are oblivious to the fact I will never use them again.

My comments and yours together mean that it has to be fixed well, and measured… interesting thing for me to think about thank you!!”

By: Craig

Craig — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:26:35 +0000

(Message from Shirli, guest blogger extraordinaire) Thanks for your comment, Marie (and yours too, Eric)! It is interesting that despite a few of us having this awareness. I am wondering if you have found an effective way to embed this in clients’ measurement of their bottom line. I always thought that if it became measurable in numbers it may make it easier to justify the kind of work needed to make a process smooth! AAMI say they have it in their metrics but not aware of any others!

Shirli

By: Eric Goldman

Eric Goldman — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:50:15 +0000

Shirli;
This is a great post and I love the use of Divorce as an indication of the struggle we all have in allowing a relationship to lapse, even if we’re truly annoyed at the other party.

By: Marie Swift

Marie Swift — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:41:58 +0000

Shirli – your assessment and advice is right-on! As a PR Professional who has served independent financial advisors and the institutions that serve them for over 20 years, I echo your sentiments and encourage all service-oriented professionals to heed your advice.

Successful companies and service providers have a strong brand promise (key word = promise). Promises that are not made lightly. Promises that they keep. When things go wrong, as they sometimes do in spite of all our best intentions, fixing problems graciously and without hassle is essential – it’s also, as you say, a great opportunity to build brand loyalty and create raving fans (versus the opposite result … handle a complaint badly and you not only lose a client/customer but untold many more people who would have done business with you simply because you have created a “bad mouthing” situation).

Thanks for this great post.