Customer Complaints Are Your Friends. How Do You Treat Your Friends?

It’s true.  Customer complaints are your friends.

According to research, only 4% of customers will file a complaint on a company’s website or call center.   This means that for every complaint, you should assume 25 customers have been inconvenienced.  A friend is someone who tells you when something is wrong.  A complaint is that friend.

A complaint is not a problem.  A complaint is an opportunity to improve, to better train your staff, to audit your products and processes, to better service your customers.    A friend is somebody who helps you.  A complaint is that friend.

A complaint is often the first signal of an underlying problem.  Retail organizations rarely lose customers over complaints.  They lose customers when complaints are not handled well. Handing a customer’s complaint actually enhances that customer’s loyalty.  That customer is likely to share their satisfaction with their friends and co-workers.  Handled well, a complaint transforms into enhanced loyalty and free “viral” advertising.  Handled poorly, a complaint morphs into loss of loyalty, loss of revenue and a public relations mess. A friend is somebody who wants you to stay out of trouble.  A complaint is that friend.

A complaint is part of a 360 degree view of store performance.  District manager visits and score on the one hand, customer complaints on the other.  A friend is somebody who is part of your whole life and its many facets.  A complaint is that friend.

You see, complaints are our friends after all.  We want to respect and treat them well for their sake and ours.

Compliantia is web and mobile software as a service for retail performance including retail audits, task management and customer complaints.