How to Turn a Bad Customer Experience Around

The adage that the customer is always right is not factually correct. It’s just another way of saying that no matter what the demands of your customer are, as a business you must meet them. If you can’t meet all their demands, at the very least you have to show them that you tried your best and that you care what they think of you as a business. Bad word of mouth is the last thing you want for your organization because it can spread like wildfire. And before you know it, one customer’s view of your business determines how thousands of people see your brand.

Just as social media can be a powerful tool to introduce your business to new audiences and drive your sales so it can prove to be a lethal instrument if a post about your customer’s negative experience goes viral. In a lot of cases, what’s talked about on social media is picked up major news outlets so remember, it’s better prevent a disaster like that than to pour all your resource in to do damage control. urSTORE has five tips to help you turn a bad customer experience around.

1. Do your homework.
Before you call the customer and start with your spiel, do your homework. Find out exactly what went wrong, why it happened and what can be done to resolve the issue. You’d do more damage if you contacted the client not knowing a thing about the complaint in the first place. When the customer knows that you’re knowledgeable as well you put thought into the interaction, it’ll show that your efforts and genuine and not haphazard.

2. Apologize.
If your customer is upset with the experience they had with your business, you should apologize and you should do so promptly. As someone paying you their hard-earned money, it’s their right to get the best customer service possible so when things don’t go right, don’t hesitate to apologize.

3. Empathize with your customer.
It’s easy not to see things from another person’s perspective, that’s where the golden rule comes into play. Take a moment and put yourself in your customer’s shoes. If the same thing were to happen to you, how would you feel? More importantly, in order for your apology not to sound empty, make sure you show empathy to your customer directly. The way to do that is to simply say, “If I were you, I’d be just as upset,” or “I understand why you feel this way.”

4. Make it right.
One of the first things you will learn when you venture the world of business is that acquiring a new customer is way costlier than keeping your existing customers happy. When your bottom-line depends on positive customer experience, do everything in your power to get top satisfaction rates from customers. After showing empathy to your customer, provide solutions to resolve the initial complaint as well as any other issues that comes to the customer’s mind. This is your chance to turn the customer experience around and wow them. Make it a point not only to give them way more than what they were looking for by throwing in a bonus. If you sell products to them, give them a few new to try out. If you provide service, give it to them for free for one month. The idea is to make the customer feel like their time trying to resolve the issue was well spent plus they got to take something home.

5. Document the lessons learned.
It’s important to learn from your past mistakes and the best way to do that is to create a repository of customer complaints along with the solutions that resulted in you earning your clients’ hearts back. Another way to ensure top-notch customer experience is to have your customers fill out surveys. Surveys are a cost-effective way of knowing how effective your customer service strategies are. You can even incentivize your customers to provide their input by providing free products or services. Analyze the survey results and apply the changes needed in your customer experience.