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What Can You Learn From Bad Customer Service
By Stefanie Amini, Marketing Director, WalkMe
When it comes to customer satisfaction, bad customer service is not a good thing – initially. However, the right company can take the critique they get from their bad customer service and turn it into a good thing. No person or business can improve in life without making mistakes, and bad customer service is a mistake that every business owner needs to learn from in order to improve.
In today’s world, customer service is very important. With the help of the Internet, it is very easy for an unhappy customer to quickly post a negative review about a business and cause other people, who read the review, to avoid the business.
Following are a few common complaints about customer service.
– Selling products that are not worth the money customers pay
– Employees being rude or insulting towards customers
– Employees being impatient with customer concerns or questions
– Employees being too busy to help out customers
– Disorganization in the company that results in poor customer service
The chances are good that you will receive a phone call, an email, or a negative review online when any of the above concerns occur. Following are four steps you need to take when you receive negative feedback from a customer.
Step one – Don’t Take It Personally
Even if you are the focus of a negative review, it is important not to take it personally if you want to learn from the review and improve yourself and your business. When you take the comment personally, your ego will get in the way and defend yourself and your business. When you get defensive, you do not look for solutions to the issue but rather justify your behavior or actions and continue on with the bad behavior that got you the negative review in the first place.
In addition, often reviews are not an attack, but rather they are an opinion of an experience that a customer had; in other words, the customer is expressing their personal concerns and issues which need to be addressed and not attacking the integrity of the business overall.
Therefore, do not take the review personally. Instead, try to look at the review from an objective viewpoint, as if you were someone else reading or listening to it. See the feedback for what it really is so that you can move on in a positive direction.
Step Two – Learn From The Feedback
Once you have decided not to take the review personally, you will have much easier time acknowledging the mistake that you or your business made. You will be able to quickly see the core issue in the negative review.
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For instance, did the customer feel as though you did not have their best interest at heart? If they did, then you may need to focus on ways to ensure the customers feel as though you are there to serve them and not just to make money.
Step three – Give Positive Feedback To Their Negative Feedback
Most customers who experience poor customer service will give a business another chance if they receive positive feedback to the negative feedback.
Positive feedback includes acknowledging that they had a bad experience and that their feelings and concerns are valid. It also includes informing them that you have taken their feedback seriously and are going to take action to fix the issues that they pointed out. In addition, it is important to offer some sort of compensation for their bad experience, such as a discount for their next visit, as this will encourage them to give you another shot.
Step four – Take Action To Fix The Issue
This is why bad customer service is actually a good thing. You not only get to learn from the negative feedback, but you get to take action and ensure that the issue does not happen again for any future customers. If you don’t take action the issue may occur repeatedly, which could eventually result in a failed business.
Remember, customers are the life blood of any business, and in order to thrive it is important to ensure that they receive the customer service that they deserve and expect. Fixing any issues that occur will ensure that this happens.
Sometimes, in order to prevent issues from happening, initiating self-service tools like WalkMe can be a great solution. It gives the customer to manage the tasks they need to complete on their own. It gives a sense of empowerment as well as knowledge that the company is therefore you if you want it, but can help you manage on your own too.
In the end, studying bad customer service will benefit your business. You can take the feedback that you receive from your customer and improve your business to ensure that no future customers have the same negative experience. With each improvement you make, your business will become more respected by customers, and that will guarantee that your business thrives in good times and bad, because loyal and happy customers will help keep your business successful.
Stefanie Amini is the Marketing Director and Specialist in Customer Success at WalkMe, the world’s first interactive online guidance system. WalkMe is a co-contestant from Mopinion at CRM Idol 2013, a contest organised by social CRM author Paul Greenberg. Mopinion and WalkMe are currently exchanging blog posts on customer feedback and CRM related topics.
Stefanie is chief writer and editor of I Want It Now, a blog for Customer Service Experts. Follow her @StefWalkMe
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