Not Every Experience is Rosy
In my last blog post, I talked about how to activate your promoters to amplify positive customer experiences about your brand. But, how do you handle those not-so-great customer experiences? What do you do when mistakes happen? It’s not as hard as you might think to recover from mistakes.
When customers take time to provide feedback, they are extending themselves with the hope, even expectation, that the business will do something productive with their feedback. When dissatisfied customers provide feedback, there is a unique opportunity to impress them simply by showing them that you are listening.
LEARN ABOUT: Service Recovery
The Feedback Black Hole
For years, market researchers have trained customers that their feedback goes into a black hole. Customers would never hear back from anyone and the general assumption is that their feedback does not matter and the customer experience is not really important. Customer-centric businesses are now changing this perception.
Detractor Recovery
Best-in-class companies have implemented a process by which they follow up with all of their dissatisfied customers quickly. The goal is not only to save that customer from churning, but even more importantly to keep them from damaging the brand by telling others about their bad experience. The latter can be especially disastrous in the digital age where audiences of thousands or millions are only a few clicks away. Resolving issues with dissatisfied customers, or detractors in NPS language, is an important part of a holistic Customer Experience program. At QuestionPro, we call this process Detractor Recovery.
4 Easy Steps
Here are the simple steps to delighting and recovering your Detractors (dissatisfied customers):
- Contact them. They’ll be amazed and impressed that you are listening and actually reached out. For bonus points, you can even thank them for their feedback.
- Listen. Your customers want to know that you care, and listening is a great way to communicate that you value them.
- Empathize. Let them know that you hear them and that you understand how they feel. Don’t be afraid to even apologize. Apologies are rare and you’ll set yourself apart.
- Resolve. Use your existing loyalty tools to satisfy, even delight, each customer. Explain how their feedback will be used to improve the business.
We love to celebrate great customer experiences, yet we know people aren’t perfect. Mistakes happen. Tempers flare. Business owners should have the ability to make things right when mistakes are made. We at QuestionPro believe that a little empathy map goes a long way. Apologies and thank-yous are too rare. We believe in empowering all employees to resolve issues quickly and efficiently. And that is exactly what we want to help you do.
Looking to deliver exceptional customer experience? Discover more about how to delight your customer at every touchpoint and turn them into brand advocates.
