case study handling customer complaints

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For consumers

Since 2007, the CCTS has handled over 175,000 complaints, here are some examples.

Wireless customer unable to make calls while travelling

Mrs. S was travelling for work and required her wireless phone service while away. She called her service provider a week before her trip to ensure that international calling restrictions would be lifted from her account in order for her …

Cancellation not processed after trial period

Ms. K upgraded her wireless device on a 2-year term with her service provider. When she received the new device, she was not happy with it and called her service provider to discuss her options in returning the device. Her …

Invoiced for several months after cancellation

Mr. D cancelled TV and internet services with his provider. However, the service provider continued to bill him after cancellation, with the first two months’ charges being automatically billed to his credit card. Mr. D called his service provider to …

Provider fails to honour promised promotion

Mr. C called his service provider to inquire about available loyalty promotions related to his wireless service. He was informed that a promotion would be available to him the following month, in which he would receive 10 GB of data …

Wireless number transferred to another provider without consent

Noticing that his wireless phone service had stopped working, Mr. R contacted his service provider and was informed that his number had been ported to a different provider. Mr. R’s provider advised him to obtain a new SIM card and …

Service providers are required to implement CCTS resolutions

Ms. B requested that an internet service provider install service at her home and was charged a $500 installation fee on her credit card. The internet service provider wasn’t able to install the service and promised Ms. B that she’d …

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The Case of the Complaining Customer

• Dan Finkelman
• Tony Goland

In an effort to improve service, Presto Cleaner installed a new computer system, designed to cut the customers’ waiting time and simplify the drop-off and pickup processes. But the system was only a few months old when Mr. J.W. Sewickley, the company president, received an angry letter from Mr. George Shelton, whose laundry had been […]

In an effort to improve service, Presto Cleaner installed a new computer system, designed to cut the customers’ waiting time and simplify the drop-off and pickup processes. But the system was only a few months old when Mr. J.W. Sewickley, the company president, received an angry letter from Mr. George Shelton, whose laundry had been lost by the new system. Mr. Shelton’s letter described his experience with Presto Cleaner’s complaint-handling operations and demanded compensation and an apology. To respond to the complaint, Mr. Sewickley sent the letter to his customer complaint office, asking for more information. The answer came back from Paul Hoffner. He explained that there were extenuating circumstances and suggested that some customers may not be worth keeping. Is the customer always right? Where should a company draw the line on compensation and service? What is the best way to handle cases of complaining customers? • • •

• DF Dan Finkelman is a principal in the Cleveland office of McKinsey & Company and leader of the firm’s worldwide customer satisfaction and service practice.
• TG Tony Goland is a senior engagement manager in the Cleveland office.

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Step-By-Step Guide: How to Handle Customer Complaints

Many customers will continue doing business with you after they've been dissatisfied and complained.

In fact, according to the service recovery paradox , a complaint is an opportunity that can actually result in the customer having a more positive view of your business after a complaint is resolved than before they ever had a problem.

Being able to assess and address customer complaints efficiently is key to making this happen.

How to Talk to Customers: 47 Expert Tips

Great communication is an art. Honing it to a keen edge is a science. These tips will help you improve how you and your team talk to customers — starting today!

What are customer complaints, really?

Customer complaints are often a sign that there's a disconnect between what customers expected and what you delivered. Sometimes that disconnect is caused by a customer's unreasonable expectations or incorrect assumptions. Other times, it's caused by something your company is doing wrong.

A customer complaint might be the result of your marketing copy leading them to believe something incorrect about your product/service — or of your user experience setting customers up for failure. Or it could reflect a problem that's happening outside of your direct control (e.g., third-party shipping issues).

The only way to find out is to give credence to customer complaints to determine if they contain genuinely useful feedback.

A 5-step process for handling customer complaints

To uncover the reason you received a complaint from a customer and solve the problem in order to retain that customer, use this five-step process for handling customer complaints.

Step 1: Dig deeper by asking the right questions

Complaints — even angry ones — can contain insights, and it’s your job to seek out the point of friction. Socratic questioning can help you get to the source of the issue.

Ask your customer questions like:

What do you mean by...?

Could you provide an example?

Could you expand on that point further?

And ask yourself questions like:

What other information do I need?

What am I assuming here?

Why is this complaint important?

Often, complaints are the result of problems that need to be solved. Asking the right questions helps you get to the root of the complaint, figure out if there's a way to resolve the issue, and determine if the complaint contains genuinely useful feedback.

If you determine that you aren't the right person to help with the customer's complaint and need to transfer them to someone who can , make sure to explain why. This can be as simple as saying, "I’m going to set you up with our specialist who will get that squared away for you right away."

Step 2: Identify the type of customer you're dealing with

A study from the University of Florida found that when dealing with customer complaints, you may run into one of the following types of customers, each "motivated by different beliefs, attitudes, and needs":

Customers who aren't shy about letting you know they're upset. When responding, avoid mirroring their confrontational behavior; instead, react with firm politeness.

Customers who pay well and demand premium support for it. When responding, avoid excuses and just get to the solution. Consider creating a VIP folder and workflow to make it easy to identify and respond to their complaints.

Customers who contact you frequently. Stay patient and avoid coming across as frustrated when responding to these customers. When satisfied, they often become repeat customers and advocates for your company.

Customers who don't want to complain and may just take their business elsewhere without ever letting you know there was a problem. You'll have to actively reach out to these customers to solicit and resolve their complaints; otherwise, you may never hear their feedback.

These are broad descriptions and, of course, your customers will present a more complex mixture of motivations and behaviors, but being aware of different persona types can help you respond most appropriately to the real person you are assisting.

Step 3: Respond to the customer quickly

When it comes to unhappy customers, a speedy response goes from being a nice-to-have to a necessity. Complaints are best resolved as soon as possible.

A customer leaving a feature request won’t mind at all if it takes you a day to respond, but customers who are in a “pulling my hair out” situation want a resolution yesterday. Make responding to them a priority.

It can be useful to set up a folder that's separate from the main support queue where you can filter less-than-ecstatic messages. Here, the team can see immediately which emails are from customers who need help right away.

Try the customer support platform your team and customers will love

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Step 4: Present a solution, and verify that the problem is solved

After you've identified the root cause of the customer's complaint, found a solution, and sent that solution to the customer, it's important to verify that the solution you proposed actually solved the problem. There are a couple of ways to do this:

If you can't verify that the solution is working, add this line to the end of your communication: "Please let me know if there's anything else I can do for you. I'm happy to help!"

Verify that the solution is working, then reply with: "I've tested this myself and it all appears to be working as expected, which you can see here: (include screenshot). But please let me know if you're still running into issues."

In some cases, it may even be worth reaching back out to the customer after a few days have passed to make sure that everything is resolved.

You may also want to consider monitoring any satisfaction ratings you receive on the conversation in your customer service software . Negative feedback may be a sign that there are still issues that need to be addressed (though there will be times that you've done everything you can do and the customer will still leave upset).

Step 5: Log the complaint so you can track trends

If you've gotten one complaint from one customer about one specific issue over the last 10 years, that issue might not be worth addressing. But if you're getting multiple messages from multiple customers who all shared the same complaint, that's the beginning of a narrative.

To identify high-volume complaints, you'll need a system for tracking them. At Help Scout , we use the Help Scout + Jira integration to track customer complaints so we can capture them, monitor how often we're hearing recurring concerns, and follow up with each customer directly when the issue has been resolved.

Whatever system you use, the key is to make it easy to capture meaningful complaints and track the volume of customers who are bringing up similar or identical issues.

How to handle negativity as a support professional

Handling customer complaints is just par for the course for support professionals, but that doesn't mean it won't take a toll on you emotionally from time to time.

So in addition to providing you with a process for handling customer complaints, we wanted to share these tips from Jeremey DuVall , Support Engineer at WordPress VIP, on how to keep yourself from feeling down on days when there's lots of negativity in the queue.

Rehearse objections ahead of time

By rehearsing potential objections ahead of time, you can prepare before real-life negative interactions occur. Before launching a new product or feature, think about things that might attract polarizing opinions. This has three purposes:

Tackle negativity — First, tackle negativity to force everyone to confront the fact that some customers might not like the change you're making. Addressing that ahead of time prevents anyone from looking at the situation with rose-colored glasses.

Discuss rationale — Second, discuss the rationale for the change. If the decision to make a change was well-thought-out and backed by data, you can move forward knowing you made the right decision, even if it ruffles some customers' feathers.

Rehearse answers — Lastly, rehearse your answers and get everyone on the same page. It’s not about creating support robots who copy and paste the same replies to customers; it’s about creating a consistent support experience for customers.

Balance negativity

In To Sell Is Human , Daniel H. Pink discusses how door-to-door salespeople experience “no” a heck of a lot. How do you keep your head up amongst that level of negativity?

Pink points to research on positivity ratios — the number of positive interactions to negative ones. If the ratio is high (say, 10:1), you’ll think nothing can go wrong (not necessarily realistic). A ratio of 1:1 is too pessimistic; the glass is half empty. A ratio of 3:1 is just about right.

While we don’t need to focus too specifically on the exact ratio, we do need to have tools in place to boost positivity when we feel ourselves slipping down the negativity slope. Here are some ideas:

Happy file: Create a happy file just for yourself. In that file, keep amazing interactions you've had with customers and conversations that always put a smile on your face. When you feel down during the day, looking through the file is a quick way to pick yourself back up.

Team kudos: At the end of every month, have one person read through all the awesome comments from customers and pick out the best one for each person. If you forget about how awesome your teammates are, this is an easy, quick reminder.

Happiness #hugs: Aggregate awesome comments from your customers and post them to a company-wide feed with the hashtag #hugs. When you’re having a bad day, it’s easy to view the tag feed and get a huge boost.

Master explanatory style

We can explain negative interactions after the fact in a couple of ways. The feedback is either "permanent, pervasive, and personal," or "temporary, specific, and external."

When you view a negative interaction as permanent (not going away), pervasive (everyone feels this way), and personal (there’s a part of me that plays into this), you feel like you have little control over your environment. Things are happening to you.

The alternative to “permanent, pervasive, and personal” is “temporary, specific, and external.” In this light, negative interactions become more manageable and actionable.

First, negative interactions probably aren’t the norm (if they are, you’re doing something wrong). Second, negative feedback is usually specific to a certain product or thing. Finally, it’s external. It’s generally not about you or anything you are doing.

How do you put this into practice? Conduct personal reviews of negative feedback every so often to do the following:

Look for areas where you could have improved in the interaction (details you missed, ways you could have improved the service, etc.).

Practice self-talk so these interactions don’t feel personal. This practice prepares you to stomach any waves of negativity you might run into when navigating the queue.

How to handle customer complaints the right way

Some people aren’t going to like what you build. That’s the cost of shipping things out into the world. If your product is great enough, there’s a good chance you’ll hear polarized opinions about it.

But by preparing ahead of time, maintaining appropriate positivity ratios, and framing feedback as temporary, specific, and external, you can arm yourself with ways to handle the negativity so you can address customer complaints efficiently and use them to create loyal customers.

Like what you see? Share with a friend.

Gregory ciotti.

Greg is a writer, marketing strategist and alum of Help Scout. Connect with him on Twitter and LinkedIn .

We’ll be at Compliance Week National 2024 in Washington, D.C., April 2-4. Learn more or schedule a time to meet with us at the show here.

• Resource Center

Handling Customer Complaints: A Best Practices Guide

Download the guide to learn how to, handle customer complaints effectively, improve your complaint-handling process with proven best practices.

Most companies strive to exceed the expectations of their customers but only the best companies succeed. They do so by:

• Empowering frontline employees to resolve complaints on the first contact
• Entering complaint data in fully automated, integrated information systems
• Analyzing data and using it to fix the root causes of dissatisfaction

This best practices guide offers tips, tricks and strategies for each step of the complaint-handling process plus a printable checklist for implementing these best practices.

HANDLING CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS (A BEST PRACTICES GUIDE) CONTENTS:

• Leadership Strategies
• Information & Analysis
• HR Development & Management
• Complaint Process Management
• Business Results
• Social Media & Online Complaints
• Checklist for Implementing Best Practices
• Complaint Management System Checklist

Download Guide

Related resources, hr data analytics & workplace investigations: towards a more data centric approach, hr investigations maturity model.

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      HSBC case study

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Customer letter writing

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HSBC overhaul complaint-handling style to cut comeback and connect with customers

When customers are unhappy enough to complain to your customer-service team, you need to be able to trust that your staff have the skills to resolve the issues and leave them satisfied.

The challenge

HSBC ’s complaint-handling skills were frustrating customers. There were few controls in place and response letters tended to be long and indirect.

The bank wanted to develop a positive, active writing style, devoid of jargon and ‘bankspeak’. It also wanted to deal with problems more quickly and reduce the drain on time and money caused by complaints not being resolved first time.

‘We want to know that we’ll be consistent in giving a good-quality response, that people will own the problem and that the customer will know what to do as a result of getting the letter,’ says John Baker, Manager of Customer Letters and Terms and Conditions.

The solution

Emphasis designed a course that examined the whole letter-writing process , including a formula for a logical and effective structure. Participants worked on genuine HSBC letters, enabling them to practise on ‘live’ complaints. The course looked at how to use language to take ownership of a problem and come across in a personal and approachable way.

Emphasis also put together a glossary to help the teams avoid using unnecessary jargon. The training included follow-up one-to-one coaching.

HSBC has since implemented distance-learning writing-skills training for its overseas complaint-handling teams. Emphasis created a bespoke, interactive e-learning course comprising three modules, and followed up with one-to-one telephone coaching sessions.

The results

In the UK and abroad, HSBC now has letter-writing standards based around the Emphasis training. The standards encourage ownership: a letter must be in the active voice and the writer must be able to answer specific questions and show understanding of what the customer wants. They also encourage clarity: no bank-speak or jargon; ‘thank you’ and ‘sorry’ where appropriate; and positive, succinct writing throughout.

‘The letters are a marked improvement from before,’ says John. ‘The response from customers has been positive. We’re seeing greater concentration in answering questions, so there is less comeback from customers who say that we can’t handle the complaint. That sort of feedback – almost non-feedback – is very positive.’

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‘There is less comeback from customers who say that we can’t handle the complaint. That sort of feedback is very positive.’

John Baker, Head of Customer Letters and Ts & Cs, HSBC

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A complete guide: how to handle customer complaints.

• February 25, 2021

Customer complaints are a reality of running any business. While receiving negative feedback is never going to be a pleasant experience, taking steps to handle it properly is key to making business-wide improvements and holding onto your customers. 

When approached with an open mind, customer complaints are actually an opportunity to improve your customer experience and boost your business. 

In the best-case scenario, your customer may even have a more positive view of your business after a complaint is resolved than before they even had an issue.

In this article, you’ll learn where and why customers are most likely to complain, how you should handle customer complaints, and how to best support your employees. 

What Are Customer Complaints?

Customer complaints demonstrate that there’s a mismatch between the product or service delivered and the customer’s initial expectations. 

When complaints are one-off occurrences or mistakes, they can be interpreted as negative feedback and the relationship between the business and customer can usually be salvaged. When they’re consistent trends they need to be addressed at a more fundamental level, which we’ll cover later in this guide.

This conflict in expectations and results can be down to several different reasons: 

• Scenarios that are outside your control. Sometimes things go wrong and they have nothing to do with your business or its offering. For example, if you own a local fresh fruit and vegetable grocery store that offers a local delivery service, poor weather conditions could result in delayed or canceled grocery deliveries, leading to an uptick in customer complaints.

Here’s an example of a complaint regarding a late food delivery made by a local pizza store:

• Unreasonable expectations that are hard to meet. Occasionally customers have a long list of demands that are difficult for any business to meet. They may have unreasonable expectations regarding pricing, the level of service, or they may have misunderstood the product’s purpose.

This customer seems to have mismatched expectations with the service on offer which could probably have been resolved with clearer communication at the start: 

• Misleading marketing around the business’s offering. When businesses misrepresent their products or services through their marketing and social media campaigns, customers may feel that they’ve signed up for something that doesn’t exist. 

This customer understood from the website that this pest control business offered a bed bug sniffing dog and was disappointed when the reality of the service was different:

• Operational failures. Sometimes businesses may have a great product or service but fall down when it comes to the operational side. For instance, businesses that don’t train their staff properly or who use poorly implemented tech systems are more likely to receive customer complaints.

• Mistakes happen. We’re only human and sometimes a business may mess up its customer service, or provide a poor quality product. When this happens, a representative of your business should always hold up their hands and admit to getting it wrong and provide a customer-approved solution.  

In this situation, it would be best for someone from the business to contact the dissatisfied customer and provide a solution:

Where Are Customers Most Likely to Complain? 

Depending on your business model and location, customers may have multiple options for lodging a complaint.  Customer feedback can appear in two different ways, public and private. Naturally, if you’re providing channels for private negative feedback you’re more likely to be able to handle these issues outside of the public eye. 

Here are some of the top ways customers usually choose to complain: 

• Frontline staff. If you own a customer-facing business like a grocery store, delivery service, or gym, your customers may be more likely to complain in-person to a staff member who happens to be on duty.
• Customer satisfaction surveys. If you send out regular customer satisfaction surveys and leave space for customers to leave feedback, they may use it as an opportunity to share complaints about your business’s offering.

• Online reviews. Sometimes dissatisfied customers will use 3rd party review sites for complaining about your business. If you do receive online negative reviews, remember to acknowledge them and empathize with your customers. Check out our guide to replying to positive and negative reviews.  

Take a look at this negative Google review of a florist business: 

• Over the phone or via email . Businesses that provide a more personalized service to a smaller group of customers, may receive more complaints directly to their phone lines or email.
• Social media . Increasingly, customers are choosing to leave negative comments on business’ social media profiles. Twitter may be the most popular way for customers to complain, but it’s not uncommon to see negative comments on Instagram and Facebook profiles. 

Take a look at this Facebook comment left by a customer of Ikea: 

What Do Customers Typically Complain About? 

Regardless of industry, all businesses receive customer complaints at some point. Whether it’s as a result of a mistake made or due to an obstacle your customers have hit, there are certain scenarios that tend to provoke customer complaints. 

Having an awareness of what your customers typically complain about will not only help you improve your business’s offering but also help your employees prepare for handling common complaints.

Making an effort to consistently collect feedback from customers will allow you to stay on top of common complaints so you can improve your business and set your employees up for success in handling those complaints as they appear. 

Slow Customer Service 

Customers appreciate efficient customer service. Whether you run a restaurant or a plumbing business, customers like to feel that their time is respected. People live busy lives and can’t afford to waste time waiting in lines or on the phone. 

Long wait times indicate that your business doesn’t prioritize customer experience and that you may not have enough staff members to efficiently deal with your customers. 

• Train your staff to communicate with customers when wait times exceed expectations.
• Evaluate your operations and try to adjust supply lines, processes, or signage to pre-emptively address potential bottlenecks.

Out of Stock Product or Unavailable Service

While an out-of-stock product or fully-booked service is usually an indication that your business is doing something right, customers can grow impatient and frustrated if there’s no availability for a long time. 

Customers may keep calling and emailing your business for updates about these unavailable services and products. Ultimately they may leave you negative feedback either online or in-person. 

Solution: 

• Train your staff to apologize to customers for the inconvenience of not having the product or service they were looking for.
• Set realistic expectations by being honest about when you next expect to have these products or services available. 

Low-Quality Product or Service

When products are sold damaged or they break shortly after purchase, you can expect customers to complain. 

For instance, if you run a local organic fresh fruit and vegetable shop, and a customer purchases bruised oranges, you can expect them to complain.

Take a look at this complaint about expired produce that’s been published on Google for the world to see:

Alternatively, if you run a catering company and the team shows up half an hour late to a birthday party, you can bet that the customer will be unhappy and complain to the lead organizer. 

• Acknowledge that the product or service was below your business’s usual high standards. 
• Identify a suitable solution, whether that’s a refund, store credit or a replacement product or service.
• Check-in with your customers to see if they are satisfied with the solution.

No Resolution 

If a customer has already complained about unsatisfactory service or a poor product, they’ll expect some sort of resolution within the days and weeks after the initial complaint. 

Take a look at this customer’s frustration at never receiving a resolution, ultimately they took their business elsewhere to a competitor: : 

When customers receive a satisfactory solution they’re more likely to feel positive about your business overall. But when customers lodge a legitimate complaint and they don’t receive any kind of suitable solution, they may feel doubly frustrated and lodge a second complaint. 

Solution:  

• Apologize for the slow response and explain that the team was searching for a suitable solution. 
• Clearly communicate the expected timeline for follow-up communication and the final resolution. 

No Follow-up

Customers who have time-sensitive requests or complaints may feel anxious about you finding a solution and will want consistent updates. 

Other customers may be more patient though and not expect a regular stream of communication. The best policy is for the staff member who’s handling the complaint to be upfront about expected response times and then stick to them.  No follow-up is always going to be unacceptable. When a follow-up doesn’t happen, it could be a result of a few occurrences: 

• The team member handling the complaint forgot to follow up.
• Staff were overwhelmed with requests and couldn’t handle all the customer complaints simultaneously. 
• A tech solution failed – for example, your automated reminders never came through.

Complaint follow-up best practices: 

• It’s ok not to have the solution right away. Always communicate with the customer that you are actively trying to solve the issue. 
• Set customer expectations by providing a realistic timeline for resolution. If you know it will take a few days to resolve the problem, don’t promise a solution for the next day. 
• Think about the channel through which the customer made the complaint and the acceptable response time. 24 hours is acceptable for a negative online review or an email, but a few hours or less is generally expected for in-person or phone complaint
• If a complaint is time-sensitive, reassure customers by providing a few regular updates.

How Should Local Businesses Handle Complaints?

If your business can understand the cause of the problem, resolve the issue, and effectively communicate to the customer throughout, you may be able to turn complaining customers into loyal advocates of your brand. 

1. Make it Easy for Customers to Complain

If a customer needs to share negative feedback about your product or service, having to bend over backward to the business’s complaint procedure will only further annoy an already agitated customer. 

To help create a solid customer experience, customers need to feel that the business cares about their thoughts. When customers complain, it should be easy for them to share their honest opinions and thoughts with a business. 

Businesses need to provide customers with multiple avenues for them to share their thoughts. 

You could encourage customers to share their thoughts by:

• Putting a form on your website to encourage feedback and complaints.
• Posting a feedback link in your newsletter, social media platforms, and in-store.
• Actively ask your customers for their opinions.

Here’s an example of helping customers easily leave feedback on a business website:

Proactively asking your customers for honest feedback is a great way of preventing complaints from escalating. Sending out customer satisfaction surveys at regular intervals is one way of checking in with your customers and seeing how they feel about your business. 

Learn how to create effective customer satisfaction surveys and try some of our sample questions. 

2. Use it as an Opportunity for Uncovering Valuable Insights

Customer complaints provide useful insights into what may not be working for your business. When customers complain, ask valid questions to dig deeper into what caused the issue in the first place. 

When registering a complaint, consider asking customers the following questions:

• Could you elaborate on that point more? 
• Could you clarify what you mean by that?
• Could you provide me with an example?

Customer complaints are also a good time for some self-reflection. 

Ask yourself:

• Am I making any assumptions about the customer or complaint?
• Do I need any further details? 
• Why is this complaint significant for my business? 

Asking the right questions will help you uncover the root of the problem and how you might be able to resolve it. Depending on how your business is structured, you may choose a designated team member to handle complaints and uncover insights. For instance, in a local grocery store, it may make sense for the team manager to take charge of customer complaints. 

Alternatively, if you run a pest control service, it may be best for the bookings manager to handle customer complaints since they may have the most customer contact. Your bookings manager or receptionist would then need to report these insights to the manager or owner on a monthly or quarterly basis.

3. Respond Efficiently and Proactively

Acceptable response times depend on the nature of the complaint. Customers who leave negative feedback about your restaurant’s new seasonal menu may not mind if you take all day to respond. 

But a customer who calls to complain about a plumber who was meant to show up 5 hours ago is going to be more than frustrated if you take a week to respond. 

Take a look at this prompt same-day review response:

Keep in mind these complaint response best practices: 

• Respond promptly . Our survey shows over 55% of consumers expect a business to reply to a review within 1 day and over 30% expect a response within 3 days. Negative feedback requires a swift reply and resolution to show care and action from your business.
• If the feedback is public, respond publicly. It’s an opportunity to show future customers you’re capable and willing to right a wrong.
• Read through the complaint thoroughly. Use the customer’s own words to personalize your reply.
• Offer a solution.   Showing empathy for the situation and being respectful is vital to successful response management, but a solution is at the core of what the customer wants. Always provide a solution that’s appropriate to the complaint, whether that be compensation, a refund, or replacement. 
• Put the right person in charge. Make sure that the person replying to negative reviews has the authority to offer solutions.

Taking time to regularly monitor your customer complaints is important to ensure you don’t miss one. Set up GatherUp’s customer activity dashboard to stay on top of customer feedback and better manage customer experience. You could set up notifications for negative feedback so you don’t risk missing it. 

4. Identify a Suitable Solution and Follow up to See if You Solved Their Problem

Once you’ve found the cause of the customer complaint, identified a suitable solution, and proposed that solution to the customer, make you follow up to see if you successfully solved their problem. 

This response to a negative review identifies an opportunity to provide a solution in the form of a refund: 

Customers appreciate businesses that care about their experience and their overall satisfaction. 

You can then follow up with customers by: 

• Asking them if there’s anything else you can do to help them.
• Simply asking if the solution worked out for them. 

5. Record the Complaint and Analyze Patterns

When you receive a complaint, it’s important to record the type of complaint and who it came from. 

The complaint could come from: 

• A regular customer 
• A one-off customer
• A high-value customer 

If you receive multiple complaints about the same issue from a similar type of customer point, then it’s clear there’s a recurring problem.

It’s important to identify high-volume complaints as these can point to dominant issues throughout your business. 

Using GatherUp’s advanced reporting features you could filter, sort, customize and compare different complaints, and feedback. When you correctly identify repeat complaints and take steps to change the narrative, it’ll become easier to resolve recurring issues. 

How Can You Support Your Employees to Properly Handle Complaints? 

Business managers need to provide employees with proper guidance to ensure they feel well equipped and empowered to effectively resolve complaints on the business’s behalf. 

Clear guidance and policies will also help ensure each customer complaint receives a standardized level of attention and those complaints are recorded properly. 

Create a Clearly Written Complaint Handling Document

Write a set of guidelines that clearly outline how employees should deal with customer complaints. It’s a good idea to make the document as comprehensive as possible so employees feel confident in a range of different situations. 

As we mentioned earlier, if you’re consistently collecting feedback, you should be familiar with common customer complaints and have a specific way for your employees to be able to handle them. That way, they’ll understand what’s expected of them as the complaints arise. 

Try to provide guidance on how they should react, how to escalate the complaint, and provide possible solutions.  

Make sure the complaint-handling document is circulated throughout your business and easily accessible to all staff members. After reading the document, team members should hopefully feel confident making their own judgment calls and handling different situations. 

Give Your Staff Tools to Resolve Different Types of Complaints

In-person or virtual training sessions are an interactive way of helping employees feel confident in handling complaints. You could try incorporating role-play sessions where you show employees the potential set of complaints that customers could present. 

Reevaluate Your Business’s Complaint Handling

Handling customer complaints is one of the more challenging aspects of working in a customer-facing role. Remember to check in on your employees on a quarterly basis to see how they’re holding up in these situations. If your employees don’t feel well-equipped, it’s important that steps are taken at a managerial level to provide more tools and training sessions.

Final Thoughts

Customer complaints are a reality of running a business. When handled correctly though they’re an opportunity to improve customer experience and enhance your business’s offering. 

Make it a priority to work on the issues customers complain about, and proactively improve the way your business deals with negative feedback. Try implementing a few of our suggestions for handling complaints and see how you can retain more loyal customers. 

Related reading: 

• What Is Customer Experience and Why Is it Important? 
• Tracking What Your Customers Care About – Insights Turn Into Survey Questions
• The Power Of A Customer Experience Hub
• Reviews & Your Business: Developing Your Review Strategy

Holly Stanley

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Shawn Graham

Small business marketing blog (412) 228-0504, [case study] handling customer complaints on social media.

Customer complaints on social media are totally unavoidable. It’s how you handle them that makes all the difference.

When done right, you can quickly resolve the situation and win over a happy customer. When done wrong, you can quickly find yourself in a heated argument for all of your social media followers to see.

What’s the best way to respond to frustrated customers on social media? Let’s take a look.    

Monitor your social media mentions

You can’t just assume complaints are going to come during normal business hours. Here, a customer tweeted ModCloth at 10:30pm. That doesn't mean you have to respond around the clock, but it does mean you always have to be listening.

Whether you encourage customers to share customer service concerns via social media or not, you’ve always got to pay attention to what people are saying about your business online .

I know things can get hectic, but you want to make sure you check your social media chatter at least once daily (ideally multiple times throughout the day).

Read More > In the age of social media no response is not an option

To make sure you don’t miss anything, you can use resources such as mention for real-time social media alerts so you can react quickly.

You can also set up push notifications for each of your profiles so you receive an email notification once someone engages with you via social media. Although those can get annoying fast if you get a lot of traffic.

Respond Quickly

72% of consumers expect brands to respond to complaints posted on Twitter within an hour , that according to a study by Lithium.

Even though ModCloth got the initial tweet late at night, they still responded right around 10:00 am the next morning. 

Read More > Using social media to break into your local market

Regardless of whether you think that’s unrealistic or not, more and more customers are expecting businesses to respond to complaints on social media fast .

Move the Conversation Offline

The single biggest mistake small businesses make when trying to handle customer complaints via social media is not taking the conversation offline .  No matter how great your customer service is, you don’t want to run the risk of things spiraling out of control.

Here, ModCloth encouraged the customer to reach out via LiveChat online chat software .

If you don’t have the bandwidth to offer something similar, you can point them to a contact form, ask them to direct message you via social media, etc.

Close the conversation loop

In this case, luckily the customer wasn’t all that upset. He was able to get better shipping for less money. As he put it, he was “All smiles."

What I love about this example is that ModCloth still responded one more time to close the loop…

Looking for more case studies on handling customer complaints on social media?

Here's an example of what can go wrong when you don't take the conversation offline . 

By: Shawn Graham

[Image: Flickr user findyoursearch ]

Leave a comment

Thanks for the comment. How have you been able to resolve some of the customer complaints online? It would be great to learn more about what you're experiencing. Especially with gen Y and Z.

In some or most cases, the customers want the solution "right here, right now". So, ask them to be offline is not an option, even though they are real customers. Ps. our customers are gen Y or Z.

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The Role of Effective Complaint Handling For Business Sustainability: A Review Paper

• Original Research
• Published: 30 December 2023
• Volume 18 , pages 54–65, ( 2023 )

Cite this article

• Yehia Helmy   ORCID: orcid.org/0009-0002-4217-4749 1 ,
• Merna Ashraf   ORCID: orcid.org/0009-0009-2668-7246 2 &
• Laila Abdelhamid   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7928-5680 3  

27 Accesses

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Various issues or difficulties that sometimes are beyond the control of the business, lead to customers’ dissatisfaction. A customer complaint is a way by which customers express their dissatisfaction. With the quick growth of technology and the abundance of convenient channels for customers to voice their complaints, like chatbots, email, and the web, online complaints have increased dramatically. As a result, handling customers’ complaints quickly and efficiently became challenging. The purpose of this paper is to summarize extant literature on complaint handling to provide guidance for researchers in this area. A review is carried out on past literatures on complaint handling systems in different fields from famous academic databases. A total of 99 articles published between 2018 and 2023 were analyzed using various classification criteria. This research highlights the different technologies that enhance the complaint-handling process.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to express our gratitude to the researchers who contributed to this study. Their invaluable contributions allowed us to complete this study successfully. We appreciate and thank them for their efforts and support, as well as their time and dedication.

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Yehia Helmy

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YH: Reviewed article critically for significant intellectual content and gave final approval of the version to be submitted and any revised version. MA: Worked on all the analyses and demonstrated them and write the article. LA: Manuscript Proofread, edited and corrected grammar and paper flow.

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Helmy, Y., Ashraf, M. & Abdelhamid, L. The Role of Effective Complaint Handling For Business Sustainability: A Review Paper. JGBC 18 (Suppl 1), 54–65 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42943-023-00088-w

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Customer Complaints: 8 Common Complaints & How to Resolve Them

Published: October 10, 2022

Your customers are your purest form of quality control. Without their approval, your business doesn't grow and succeed. So, when customer complaints roll in, it's important to hear them out because these are opportunities to improve the customer experience and prevent potential churn.

No matter which industry you're in, you're going to deal with customer complaints. Even if your business doesn't make a mistake, one of your customers will eventually hit a roadblock that leads them to your customer service team. These are the situations where your service reps make or break the customer's journey .

If you want to increase customer retention , you need to prepare your reps for scenarios they'll face with difficult or frustrated customers . In this post, we'll break down the different types of customers complaints as well as the steps your team can take to resolve each one.

• Types of customer complaints
• Customer complaint resolution techniques

Customer Complaints

Customer complaints are pieces of feedback that point out problems with your company's product or services. These are opportunities for your business to improve its internal processes and create a better customer experience.

Below are a few common customer complaints you can expect your service team to encounter.

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1. Long Wait on Hold

If your team works in a call center, Average Time on Hold (ATH) is one of your most important call center metrics . Customers want fast answers and can't afford to spend their afternoon with a phone glued to their ear. In fact, studies show that after about two minutes, customers are likely to hang up the phone and 34% of those customers won't call back. That means you can potentially lose a third of your customer base just because you didn't pick up the phone fast enough.

How to resolve this customer complaint:

Long hold times indicate two problems. First, it could mean that your customer demand is too high for your customer service team. In this case, you should consider hiring more reps to meet the needs of your call center. In the meantime, your reps should apologize for the long wait times and work to ensure first call resolution.

The other issue may be that your call center lacks automation. Call center software can provide your service team with features that streamline operations and complete tasks automatically. By adopting this technology, you can optimize your team's production by removing menial tasks from their day-to-day workflow. This should reduce hold time complaints and create a more satisfying service experience.

2. Unavailable or Out of Stock Product

It's usually a good sign when a product goes out of stock, but if it stays out of stock, customers can become impatient for its return. They may demand a special order or repeatedly call for product updates. This typically indicates a time-sensitive need for your product which should be fulfilled immediately.

As a customer service rep, you might not have any say in when a new shipment will be ordered. Reps should report these issues to their managers who can notify both sales and product management teams. Service reps should encourage customers to remain patient and let them know that they'll reach out when the shipment arrives. This type of proactive customer service will assure customers that you're aware of their time-sensitive needs.

3. Making Customers Repeat Their Problem

Customers hate repeating their problems to your reps. This happens when they're either transferred to new reps or dealing with an agent who isn't paying close attention. When customers have to describe their issue multiple times, it's both a frustrating and time-consuming experience.

If a customer is complaining about having to repeat their issue, the best step you can take is to stop transferring their call. Even if you need to connect the customer with a specialist, reach out to that agent internally and see if you can relay the advice. This may be more tedious, but it will meet the customer's immediate needs.

A long-term solution to this problem is to invest in help desk software. A help desk can manage and distribute incoming service requests to the most ideal agents. That way, your customers are connected directly to reps who are best suited to resolve their problems.

4. Uninterested Service Rep

Whether it's their tone, personality, or even just the time of day, some customers simply won't get along with your customer service reps. When a rep fails to meet their needs, some customers think it's due to a lack of interest in their case. Sometimes this is true, other times customers have expectations that are higher than what your team can provide. Regardless of where the fault lies, when your reps fail to appear invested, your business's reputation takes the hit.

When dealing with this type of customer complaint, reps should consider what they can do to provide above-and-beyond customer service . Every business has protocol, but it's sometimes worth bending the rules if that means preventing customer churn . At the very least, reps should pay attention to their tone and body language to ensure they're displaying a motivated and attentive demeanor.

If a customer does report an issue with a rep, management should always investigate the issue. Managers should give their reps the benefit of the doubt but try to get every possible detail. Rather than criticizing the rep's approach, look for opportunities to teach the agent about preventing these types of situations. If these issues continue to occur, it may be time to take more severe actions.

5. Poor Product or Service

When your product breaks, you can expect the customer to complain. In some cases, the product isn't broken, rather, the customer doesn't understand how to use it. Other times, customers aren't a good fit for your product or service, but they blame your company for failing to fulfill their needs. No matter how customers arrive at this conclusion, your team needs to know how to prevent them from turning to your competitors.

If the product isn't broken, educate the customer. Find out what their goals and needs are, then teach them how they can use the product to achieve success. If the product is broken, provide options for immediate replacement and try to determine how it broke. If it was user error, gently point out to the customer how they can avoid this outcome in the future.

For a long-term solution, consider adopting customer feedback tools to survey customers about your product. You can use NPS® surveys to measure customer satisfaction and learn how you can enhance your product's features. These feedback tools provide both quantitative and qualitative data that you can use to improve product development.

6. No First Call Resolution

When customers call your service team, they expect their issue to be resolved after the first call. Studies show that 67% of customer churn is avoided if the service request is fulfilled during the first interaction. While that doesn't mean you should hold customers on the phone, it does mean that they should be pursuing first call resolutions.

When your reps begin a customer interaction, they should make note of the case's urgency. If the customer has time-sensitive needs, try to resolve the case in the first call but don't waste time repeating steps or researching irrelevant information. If your reps don't have the answer, they should ask politely to follow up and explain why that process will yield a faster resolution.

One way you can improve first call resolution rates is to add self-service support options to your company's website. Tools like community forums and a knowledge base can help customers find their own solutions and avoid service calls altogether. This creates a more enjoyable and convenient service experience for your customers.

7. Lack of Follow Up

When you do have to follow up on a case, customers will often have different expectations for follow-up communication. Some customers will expect an ongoing chain of updates while others will be more patient. If your reps aren't consistently clear about response times, your customers may think you've forgotten about their case.

If you do have to follow up on a case, your service rep should make communication expectations clear. Ask the customer if the proposed frequency works for them, and if not, establish a system that works for both your rep and the customer. Your reps should be dedicated to customer needs , but customers have to give your reps space to work on the issue independently. If your reps are constantly providing updates, customers will wait longer for solutions.

If your team is having trouble keeping track of follow up, you should consider adopting a ticketing system . Ticketing systems document incoming requests and make it easier for you to manage active service cases. And, you can integrate it with your CRM so tickets will be directly attached to customer profiles.

8. New Product or Feature Request

This one isn't necessarily a complaint but is something that customer service teams encounter on a daily basis. If your product or service doesn't meet all of your customers' needs, they'll ask if they can propose a new product or feature. While some of these are helpful, most fulfill specific use-cases that don't apply to the bulk of your customer base .

In these cases, you should have a self-service space where your reps can direct these requests to. These product requests are valuable, but you can't afford to have reps spending their day listening to customer ideas. Create a forum where customers can post these ideas for your product development team to see. This will give your team an opportunity to comment and engage with customers who want to improve your product.

How to Handle Customer Complaints

When handling a constant stream of customer needs daily, it can be overwhelming trying to formulate a plan to resolve the complaints coming in. However, it’s not impossible. Empower your service teams to do their best work by following these steps.

1. Collect feedback and look for patterns.

The first step in addressing customer complaints is to dig into the complaints you have received. Using a tracking software will make this process much easier as you’ll be able to quickly access feedback and metrics like average call times.

Next look for patterns. Does a portion of your customers have similar complaints? For example they may say longer call hold times, or report a bug with your product.

Whatever the complaints are, you’ll need to examine the feedback you’re getting first. You can’t fix what you don’t know.

2. Talk to your service team.

Next, share this feedback with your service team. Discuss their pain points solving for the customer and gather any additional insights. Are they overwhelmed with the volume of calls and tickets received? Do they have the tools needed to provide the best service possible? Could your current service processes be improved?

Your service team is on the frontlines with customers every day so their feedback is invaluable for improving the customer experience.

3. Determine the root causes of the problem.

Now that you have a good grasp of the issues your customers are facing, it’s time to address the main causes.

For example, if customers report long call wait times, it could be that they are calling during peak times of the day when your service team is swamped with higher than normal call volumes.

Did you roll out a new product feature that has a few bugs and is causing consistent complaints across the board? Maybe the details of the new feature were not communicated clearly to customers and are causing friction. Getting to the root of the issues will help you formulate a plan which we’ll cover next.

4. Create a plan to address customer pain points.

Now that you’ve found the main cause of your customers’ dissatisfaction, it’s time to implement a plan to solve the issue.

If the root cause is an issue with your current internal service processes, update them to make them more clear to the team and provide more training if necessary.

Maybe your service team noticed an influx of customers calling for information that could be better communicated with a self-serve FAQ page or similar option. Creating a knowledge base customers can use to resolve their issues may be the best solution for light troubleshooting. This way customers don’t have to wait on hold and it frees up your service rep’s time to handle more complicated service requests.

Next, we'll cover some best practices your service reps can use daily while interacting with customers to improve their experience.

Customer Complaint Resolution

Customer complaint resolution is the process of receiving negative feedback, investigating the cause of the issue, and resolving the problem — all while communicating to the customer in a way that makes them feel heard.

Resolution handling with the goal of turning dissatisfied customers into glowing evangelists of your service experience comes down to these techniques:

1. Be accessible.

If the customer has an issue with your product or service, having to jump through hoops to get it resolved will only create more frustration.

Make it easy to solve issues by providing self-service options and being easy to connect with across channels.

2. Use active listening to understand their complaint.

The best thing you can do for a dissatisfied customer is to actively listen and engage with them.

• Ask clarifying questions.
• Stay focused on their needs.
• Empathize with them.

3. Acknowledge their frustration.

The best thing you can do for a dissatisfied customer is acknowledge their frustration and validate their feelings. Empathy is one of the most important customer service skills , and acknowledging their frustration helps them feel heard and appreciated.

4. Reiterate for clarity and understanding.

Show that you were listening by stating their issue back to them. By doing this, you're confirming your understanding and getting approval from the customer.

5. Seek a first-call resolution.

With more contact attempts in pursuit of a solution comes more friction. With more friction comes more frustration.

For a truly stellar customer experience, all effort should be made to completely resolve the issue during the first call. Not only does it increase customer satisfaction, but it also reduces the load on the support team as a whole.

6. Provide a plan of action.

If you're unable to provide a solution on their first call, set expectations for what comes next.

• Will they hear back from you?
• What will you be doing in the meantime? (getting necessary information, etc.)

If you know that their problem is one that has no solution due to limitations of your system or some other reason, acknowledge their frustration and detail what actions you're taking based on their feedback (forwarding their concerns to the appropriate department, escalating the ticket, etc.).

Strive to Delight Customers

In the end, not all customer complaints will be resolved to the customer's satisfaction, and some customers may still walk away upset. However, it's up to you to provide a great experience to reduce these instances where you can.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in July 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Net Promoter, Net Promoter System, Net Promoter Score, NPS and the NPS-related emoticons are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., Fred Reichheld and Satmetrix Systems, Inc.

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How to Handle Customer Complaints to Cultivate Customer Loyalty

As your business grows, you’re bound to deal with customer complaints at some point or another.

If you’re a customer-centric business, then customer complaints are practically inevitable. Something may go wrong, a mistake may be made, and customer expectations may not be met, resulting in a complaint.

However, customer complaints don’t have to be devastating for your business. In fact, a customer complaint can provide an opportunity for you to showcase great customer service and win over a dissatisfied customer. Being able to handle customer complaints effectively is essential if you want to maximize customer retention , maintain a good relationship with your target audience, and bolster your brand’s reputation.

While catering to unhappy customers may not be the most pleasant part of running your business, it’s a necessary skill to have if you want to thrive in the long run.

In this post, we go into more detail about the importance of dealing with dissatisfied customers and negative comments and explain how to handle customer complaints in a way that leaves all parties satisfied.

Why it’s important to handle customer complaints carefully

Customers are essential to your business. As the ones purchasing your products or services, they collectively have a direct impact on whether your business grows or fails. This is especially true if your business operates in a highly competitive industry. If a customer has a negative experience with your company, they may not hesitate to take their business elsewhere.

When customers voice complaints, they often feel that their expectations haven’t been met in their interactions with your business. Whether they had a problem with the product they received or a negative interaction with one of your employees, the submission of a customer complaint indicates a gap between a customer’s expectations and their actual experience.

It’s more important than ever to handle customer complaints carefully, as customers have a lot of power in the digital world. If a customer complaint isn’t properly addressed, this could lead to the customer writing a negative review of your business online or posting about their negative experience on social media . Once online, a customer’s negative feedback can be seen by hundreds or thousands of potential customers, and this can drive away business and hurt your brand’s reputation.

While no business owner wants to receive customer complaints, these complaints can actually present an opportunity for your company. First of all, when customers complain directly to you, they typically don’t abandon your brand entirely but rather give you a chance to rectify the situation.

Providing the customer with an effective solution can make them even more loyal than they were before. Additionally, receiving negative feedback from customers can help you identify the root cause of the problem and find ways to improve your business going forward.

8 steps for handling customer complaints

When a customer complains, determining the appropriate response can be harder than it sounds. Nevertheless, it’s important to train your customer service team so that they can handle common customer complaints and make sure issues are resolved quickly and effectively.

Check out the steps below to learn how to handle customer complaints in a way that leaves customers feeling satisfied.

1. Listen to the customer

If a customer has complained, it means that they want their unique problem to be heard. Brushing off a customer complaint or failing to fully understand the problem can make the situation worse. So train the customer service reps at your company in active listening techniques that allow customers to feel heard and seen by your organization.

2. Show empathy

Empathy is a key part of resolving any customer-facing problem or confrontation. Practicing empathy means stepping into the customer’s shoes and trying to see a problem from their point of view–why are they upset? And what actions would resolve the issue from their perspective?

Not only can showing empathy help you identify a solution to a problem, but it can also make the job of your customer service reps easier. Using empathy statements and attempting to relate to the customer often helps in calming everyone down.

If a dissatisfied customer senses that you genuinely understand their frustration and care about their problem, then they’ll likely be more willing to work with you toward a solution.

3. Apologize

When dealing with unhappy customers, an apology can go a long way. If you made a mistake or didn’t deliver on a particular promise, sincerely apologize to the customer who’s complaining and acknowledge the validity of their situation.

At the same time, offering an apology can be beneficial even in situations where you don’t feel like you were wrong. An apology allows you to defuse the situation and move closer to finding a resolution.

4. Ask thorough questions

After listening to a customer’s complaint, make sure to ask any relevant questions in order to better understand the situation. With more information to work with, your customer service representatives will have an easier time finding a suitable solution to the problem and providing great customer care .

5. Loop in necessary parties

Communication is the key to success when solving just about any problem. Keeping your team in the loop can enable you to resolve customer complaints more quickly. Additionally, communicating a customer complaint to your team can prevent the mistake or miscommunication that prompted the complaint from happening again.

6. Find a swift solution

Perhaps the most important part of handling customer complaints is finding a resolution–and quickly.

No unhappy customer wants to wait around for days or weeks as you come up with a solution for their problem. Instead, prepare your customer service team with guidelines on go-to solutions for common customer complaints and limitations on what they can offer customers in a given situation.

7. Follow up

Following up on a customer complaint can be a great way to engage with your audience and show that you care. In many cases, following up on a customer complaint takes the form of sending out a customer satisfaction survey . In this survey, the customer can rate their level of satisfaction with their customer service experience, which can in turn provide you with valuable data and insight.

Following up with customer complaints will help you stand out from the competition by demonstrating excellent customer service.

8. Create a record

From the time a customer complaint is first submitted to the moment it gets resolved, record your interactions with the customer. Recording customer interactions can provide you with information that helps improve your products, services, and overall customer experience.

At the same time, having a record of communication with a particular customer can provide your customer service reps with context if that customer makes another complaint in the future.

Example of handling a customer complaint

To illustrate how the above steps may be put into practice, let’s take a look at an example of how to handle a customer complaint. In this example, let’s say you run a small business selling artisanal candles online.

One of your customers ordered a set of candles but, unfortunately, found upon opening their package that the glass candle jars were shattered. The customer is understandably upset and sends in a complaint–so how do you respond? Just stick to the steps we outlined above:

• Listen : The customer tells you that they’re frustrated because the candles they ordered are expensive but seemed to come in flimsy packaging, thus leading to breakage. This feedback could be an opportunity for you to improve your product packaging.
• Empathize : Acknowledge the mistake and tell the customer that you understand their frustration.
• Apologize : Apologize to the customer for not meeting their expectations and thank them for bringing the issue to their attention.
• Ask questions : In this case, you might ask the customer directly what you can do to make the situation right.
• Communicate with the team : Speak with relevant team members about the problem.
• Find a solution : In this situation, you’d likely offer the customer a replacement order or a refund.
• Follow up : After the situation has been resolved, consider sending a follow-up email to your customer where you ask them to rate their customer service experience.
• Create a record : Record all interactions with the customer in question. Perhaps you’ll identify a pattern of candles arriving broken due to insufficient packaging. If so, you can take action to solve this problem as soon as possible.

Tips for handling complaints

Now that you have a guide for how to handle customer complaints, you can better serve your customers. When implementing the steps listed in this article and dealing with unhappy customers, make sure to keep the following tips in mind:

• Stay calm : Never get upset or confrontational with an angry customer. Instead, stay calm in order to facilitate a civil interaction and reach a solution.
• Give them your full attention : Angry customers often just want to be heard. When communicating with an angry customer, make sure to give them your full and undivided attention.
• Thank them : Thanking upset customers will demonstrate that you’re receptive to feedback and ready to find a solution.
• Explain how you will solve their problem : When dealing with any customer complaint, it’s important to explain to the customer in clear terms how and when you will solve their problem.
• Follow up : Following up on a customer complaint allows you to re-engage with the customer and potentially collect valuable feedback about your company’s customer service experience.

Create loyal customers with exceptional customer care

The importance of customer service can’t be understated. By providing excellent customer service, you can retain current customers, win over new customers, and build a stellar reputation for your brand. Effectively dealing with complaints is part of building customer relationships and establishing yourself as a customer-centric company.

With Mailchimp, you can easily manage customer relationships, grow your audience, and use specialized tools to provide outstanding customer service. From sending out customer surveys to engaging your audience through email marketing campaigns, Mailchimp’s all-in-one marketing platform allows you to keep clients happy.

Ask a question from expert

Handling Customer Complaints: A Case Study Analysis

Added on   2023-05-28

About This Document

This case study analysis explores how to handle customer complaints effectively. It covers identifying the complaint, assessing its impact, communication techniques , solutions, and ways to prevent escalation. The study also discusses tailoring products and services based on customer profiles and promoting repeat business.

   Added on  2023-05-28

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ISO 14001 case study: How to handle complaints

One of the key elements of any EMS (Environmental Management System) is how complaints from customers or stakeholders are dealt with. The ISO 14001:2015 standard provides guidance on how to approach a compliant, but there is good news, too – research suggests that positive engagement with customers during an effectively managed complaint procedure can actually strengthen the relationship with the customer and provider; therefore, there are ways of using the complaint process to ensure a positive outcome for your organization. This fact was uppermost in my mind when recently helping an organization deal with such a complaint, and the case study that follows can help provide some guidance on how this process can be managed correctly.

Customer complaint: The facts

The organization, which we shall call “company A,” consulted me when a complaint was made regarding an environmental element of its product, namely the packaging. As part of the development of company A’s EMS, a considerable amount of work had been done with the organization’s main supplier to ensure that the packaging that protected the product was effective, environmentally friendly, and reusable. After a series of incidents where the product had been damaged in transit and the packaging had proved not to be fit for purpose, a formal complaint was sent, which was logged on the EMS. As the organization has both an ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015 accreditation plus a combined QMS (Quality Management System) and EMS, it was decided that this complaint would be logged on the  EMS , as the elements of selecting appropriate packaging and ensuring recycling properties had a significant impact on environmental performance given the amount of product shipped. So, what action was necessary?

Customer complaints: The action

Firstly, the ISO 14001:2015 standard was consulted. Complaints are mentioned in terms of requiring management input in clause 9.3 and Annex A.9.3, and being used to drive improvement for the future, so a plan of action was established, which drove the following actions:

• The internal management team was informed and consulted for the approval of the action plan, which was logged on the EMS against the customer complaint itself.
• The customer was contacted and a conference call arranged. To mitigate the organization’s carbon footprint, it was agreed that the customer would send photographs to demonstrate the severity of the issue and travel would be avoided if possible. Daily conference calls were held to update actions, clarify timelines, and set expectations.
• The formal corrective action document  was shared with the customer to ensure that they realized due recognition was taken of the problem, and so they could play a consultative part in the corrective action itself. This was updated daily and shared.
• The agreed corrective and improvement actions were put into place and a monitoring period was agreed with the customer for formal closure of the complaint and corrective action.

The above process was followed up by a request for customer feedback on how the customer felt the complaint was handled and a suggestion invited for any feedback on their part. So, what significant environmental benefits were seen from the resolution of the customer complaint?

Customer complaint resolution: The environmental benefits

The customer confirmed that the complaint had been handled satisfactorily and that the corrective action had been effective. The environmental benefits were listed on the EMS as follows:

• The packaging design was changed, and this allowed the internal packaging to be returned and re-used up to eight times, giving the packaging a 400% greater lifespan than the previous design, saving cost and reducing environmental impact.
• It was discovered that some of the product was re-sold on to the Middle East, which was not known before. After further investigation the packaging was not thought to be recycled there, but a communication to end users and recycling instructions in Arabic were now printed on the product guide and interior of the packaging to provide guidance on how to do this, ensuring that this would happen in the future. Monitoring of this action to ensure recycling at the end user site was recorded on the EMS and actioned. This also caused the top management team to discuss, research, and update “ context of the organization ” definitions that were held on the EMS, and demonstrated that a systemic improvement can ensue from a customer complaint if handled correctly. Read more on defining organizational context in the article Determining the context of the organization in ISO 14001 .
• Use of conference calls, phone calls, photographic evidence, and email ensured that there was no significant environmental impact through traveling while dealing with the complaint issue.

So, were there any other benefits?

Handling complaints effectively: The soft benefits

The environmental benefits are possible to measure and analyze, but the feeling of the team involved in dealing with the complaint, corrective action, and resulting elements suggested that there were other benefits, too:

• The customer feedback suggested that the customer felt valued, important, and involved in the resolution and improvement process, and that company A was seen to be taking its environmental responsibilities seriously.
• Several members of the team became closer to the customer through daily working and sharing of information, strengthening relationships for the future.
• The customer requested a visit to meet the team involved and share practices for the future to improve the environmental performance of both organizations.

This provided proof that the correct treatment of a customer complaint can not only provide opportunity for improvement, but play a part in strengthening relationships as a result. Nobody likes receiving customer complaints, but like company A above, if you follow the same framework you may yet protect the environment and your customer relationships simultaneously, and that is a benefit to all.

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