Have you ever wondered why some businesses welcome comments and complaints? Well, if you want to get yourself more sales, you should cherish customer complaints.
To the untrained customer service personnel, customer complaints are a nuisance that should go away. However, I will tell you why customer complaints are a blessing in disguise.
If a customer complains, they have an interest in your business. That means they care about your service to them and do not want to go unheard. On the other hand, as a business owner, feedback is one of the essential fuels you need to make significant progress.
In more precise terms, here is why customer complaints are suitable for your business:
- They improve Customer Understanding.
Customers can often offer a better insight into the services and products that your business may lack. Understanding your customer’s needs by listening to their complaints will help you serve them better. Learning the psychology of your customers allows you to improve your products and services. Eventually, this leads to increased customer loyalty and a better business reputation.
- They improve Customer Support.
Your business may receive many customer complaints because of a lack of interaction from all your communication touchpoints. Customer complaints can help your business realise the need for improving customer support and its importance in taking your business reputation to the next level.
- They improve Customer Loyalty.
Whenever customers complain, they expect it to be resolved immediately or receive some compensation in the meantime.
By ensuring that your business attends to customer issues promptly and providing compensation where there is no immediate solution, you are building your business’ reputation. That will encourage your customers to remain loyal to your brand despite the inconveniences they may have experienced.
- They improve your business reputation.
An open communication channel where customers can report problems with your service or bad experiences also positively affects your brand image.
Your customers will be satisfied with the more effort you put into addressing the reported issues. It is worthy of note that happy, satisfied customers are more likely to share their good experiences with their colleagues, friends and family, which only helps to spread the word and build your business reputation.
- They help to upgrade your products and services.
When your business receives complaints about its products or services, you should treat those complaints with utmost importance. Customer complaints serve as a source of insight into the exact product or service you should be providing.
Studying bad reviews gives you a better idea for improving your product.
- They help to improve your internal policies and procedures
Customer feedback also functions as a litmus test for the effectiveness of your business’s internal processes. While you may think your current processes are running perfectly, negative feedback often highlights their flaws.
By analysing this information, you can judge which processes need to be improved or discarded.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, every business owner should understand that customer complaints are a part of the business. A business cannot keep every customer happy due to multiple business and economic restrictions.
The vital aspect that a business can do, however, is to
- acknowledge its customers’ inconveniences;
- Communicate effectively with its customers;
- Use complaints as a learning experience for upgrading its products and services.
Addressing customer complaints always require patience, time and empathy. More importantly, is the ability to learn from those complaints and build a better business.
Are you a small business owner looking for tips and tricks to make day-to-day life more manageable? We are here to help. For more articles, check out the Dukka blog.
