5 Smart Ways to Deal with Unsatisfied Customers
Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning. - Bill Gates
Irrespective of the size and type of the business, sooner or later, you have to deal with an unsatisfied and sometimes angry customer. The stress and unpredictability of such episodes can cause a disastrous fail, so, businesses should be better prepared for this. Dissatisfied customers are part of business life, but your response determines how and what the customer is going to disseminate words about your business. Unmatched customer service keeps your customers loyal even if they find a fault in your product or service.
Here are some smart tips for dealing with unsatisfied customers.
Accept the fact that customer has a right to be angry
Sometimes mistakes happen, without a purpose. Your contact center agents would be dealing with countless irate customers throughout the day. Ask your team to curb the common response and replace it with an assumption that customer has the right to be angry. Customers feel betrayed when a product or service doesn’t meet their expectation. Regardless of what the reason for their anger is, acknowledge that they have right to be angry and let your team listen to them carefully and express their anger so that they can be addressed. When customers realize that the concerned person has heard their emotions, they start becoming rationale. This is when they are more likely to listen to the agents and agree to a solution.
Be patient when communicating to customers
Needless to say, agents need to be patient to tackle unsatisfied customers. When the customer is at their peak of expressing anger, dissatisfaction, or sorrow, ask your call agents to be patient and listen. It is not wise to meddle with the customer when they are venting out their sentiments. Instead, contact center agents should wait for customers to calm down a little and then address the situation.
Keep your contact center technically advanced
One survey by Forrester found that 41% of customers expect a response to a customer support email within six hours, but that only 36% of businesses studied actually responded within that timeframe. - GrooveHQ
Making an angry customer wait may trigger their frustration manifolds. Thereby, keep your contact center advanced with all the latest features, including:
- Toll-Free IVR
- Blended calling
- Call reports & recording
- Sticky agent
- Real-time call monitoring
- Real-time call statistics
- Admin dashboard
- Telephony APIs
These features let you build trust with your customers when they call you. For example, custom IVR enables you handle customer calls smartly by giving them an option to reach the right department. It reduces their waiting time and gives them instant access to a person who can address their problem.
Apologize appropriately
Whether a customer’s complaint is legitimate or irrelevant, if you want them to stay a loyal customer of your company, you need to express an apology. The customer could be angry for multiple reasons beyond your control. However, your contact center agent is the face of your business who is dealing with the customer. So, a customer expects an apology from them even if they are not involved directly. A simple, straightforward statement can instantly lower down your customers’ anger and frustration.
Find the solution
Once you have understood customer’s issues as well as their real cause of unhappiness, it is time to offer a genuine solution. Ask them what they wish to be done or put forward. In most cases, all customers wish is to get the things done what they have in mind. It provides them some degree of satisfaction.
No business wants its customers to be unhappy. Not to mention that it is not conducive for businesses. Hope these tips will come handy to tackle unsatisfied customers.