Is your business having challenges with customers? Whether you鈥檙e dealing with
However, your customers are your biggest champions in the digital realm. Without them, your company couldn鈥檛 survive. It鈥檚 vital to learn how to respond to customer complaints in a productive, respectful, and
In this post, we鈥檙e breaking down the common customer complaints seen in every industry and business model. You鈥檒l gain insight into how to respond and resolve these common issues with helpful language and actionable steps moving forward.
The end result? Less dissatisfaction, more brand champions, and a seamless customer experience for everyone interacting with your business.
What are Customer Complaints?
Simply put, customer complaints are the bits of feedback a company receives from its customers about its products, services, or external offerings.
Complaints can be anything from how your website is laid out to the service your Support team provides, how your products function, or something as simple as a social media post.
On the bright side, customer complaints can lead to the opportunity to improve your internal processes. It can shine a light on things that need to be fixed and often paints a clear picture of how a business can do so.
Most consumers have complained to a business at some point, and it鈥檚 important to look at these complaints as opportunities. It was discovered that just will complain to the business they鈥檙e purchasing
Wouldn鈥檛 you rather improve your flawed processes and improve customer retention rather than continue to churn customers? We sure would!
In fact, investing in customer experience has the potential to nearly double your annual revenue. This incredible opportunity presents businesses with the chance to grow and
Common Customer Complaints Examples
While you may think that most complaints come from the angle of customer service, that鈥檚 not always the case.
Some businesses need to improve their Support offering, while others have it on lock but their website experience is lacking. Every business has its own unique challenges, so remember that as you read through these examples.
1. Poor product or service
As an ecommerce business operating in a competitive market, you should be striving for brand loyalty in everything you do. Selling a
Most consumers do plenty of research before making a purchase, and they expect to receive the level of quality and craftsmanship that you advertise.
Resolution: If a customer takes the time to complain about the quality of your product, thank them for making the effort. They may never make another purchase with your business, but they are still helping your brand improve.
Share the feedback in future product meetings or with the appropriate teams in your organization. Doing so can lead to improved customer retention and less churn as it鈥檚 highly likely that other customers have experienced the same issues.
2. Issues with support reps
Customer experience continues to climb to the top of the proverbial totem pole, and it鈥檚 simply unacceptable to have rude or unhelpful support reps handling customer service issues.
Every customer support rep should be empathetic, interested, and as helpful as possible when dealing with customer complaints and issues. It鈥檚 a challenging job, but appearing less than interested can drastically hurt a company鈥檚 reputation.
Resolution: Coach every rep on their language, tone, and body language (if they鈥檙e on video). Many businesses provide ongoing training or bring in customer service experts to teach their staff how to provide memorable, supportive experiences for even the most challenging customers. When navigating a situation where a customer feels like support is lacking, try to find windows of opportunity for the agent to learn how to
3. Customer service and support hours
If your business operates globally, many customers won鈥檛 have as much access to your live chat or support agents if they鈥檙e in a different time zone.
Quick and convenient customer service should be provided in any time zone, regardless of where your business operates. If a customer opens a Support ticket and doesn鈥檛 hear a response for several hours, this is a common cause for complaint.
Resolution: Consider deploying AI chatbots on your website that can provide quick customer support for shoppers 24/7. Whether your customers are looking for tracking information, product recommendations, or basic shop information, an AI virtual assistant can provide this information and so much more. In doing so, you鈥檒l improve the brand experience and potentially improve customer loyalty.
4. Single support options
In the same way that you should be offering omnichannel selling for customers, your support offerings should exist across various platforms and channels as well. If a customer needs help and goes to your social media pages or website, only to find they can only contact you via email, this will likely lead to complaints about accessibility.
Resolution: Creating an omnichannel customer
5. Feature requests or product improvements
Often, feature requests don鈥檛 seem like customer complaints, but they can come with a healthy amount of product feedback. If the product doesn鈥檛 meet the needs of specific customers in every way, many will contact Support looking for an ear to bend.
Depending on how niche your product or service is, feature requests may not be applicable or even relevant to your overarching customer base, but it鈥檚 important to hear each customer out so they feel like their opinion is valued.
Resolution: Your customer service team may not be able to fulfill (or even report on) every feature request they field due to high volumes, but your team can take the common requests into account during product development and feature updates.
How to Handle Customer Complaints Professionally
Your customer service team doesn鈥檛 have the bandwidth or the energy to resolve every single customer complaint, no matter how big or small your business is.
However, there are ways to approach complaints in a professional way to make customers feel seen and heard.
Acknowledge their feelings
If a customer took the time to contact Support, acknowledging their experience and thanking them for their efforts is an important step in any interaction your team has. This will make them feel validated and may salvage the relationship you鈥檝e established with them.
Ask questions
As your reps listen to a customer鈥檚 experience, coach them on asking questions, actively listening, and offering empathy along the way. This approach will affirm their experience and show them that your business cares.
Seek an immediate resolution
Resolving the issue the first time an agent speaks with a customer is a critical way to save the relationship. If your staff can provide an actionable plan from that first interaction, it will alleviate any friction or continued dissatisfaction from the customer.
Follow up
Once the issue has been resolved, be sure to follow up at least once to check in with the customer. Explain how their feedback was implemented, thank them for their effort, and provide any actionable next steps.
Resolving Customer Complaints
Resolving customer complaints and feedback is bigger than one conversation or interaction, but here are some approaches and strategies your business can take to improve.
Watch for patterns
Access all customer feedback to look for patterns in issues or complaints customers are reporting. Some may be
Share the feedback
Share the complaints and feedback received with all internal teams; from Product to Marketing, Sales, and Support. If your product isn鈥檛 operating how it鈥檚 being advertised, Marketing and Sales should reevaluate their language and messaging.
If Support is lacking, the service agents should be informed and coached on improving the customer experience. Customer complaints and feedback impact every internal team more than you may realize!
Pinpoint the issue(s)
Getting to the root of the problem will help to create an action plan and alleviate future issues. Review any recent changes (product updates, new software, etc.) to your business that may impact the customer experience and cause customers to complain.
Make an action plan
After identifying the issues, creating an actionable plan to address and resolve customer pain points is vital for retention. Empower your customers through
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