Offering a positive customer experience is one of the most important aspects for the companies of nowadays. However, reversing a bad customer experience remains one of the principal difficulties that the professionals of customer service face on a daily basis. When the service experience goes wrong, a company can risk losing that customer forever.
The key to success is having referral strategies to remedy the situation and to get back customer trust and loyalty. To demonstrate how to turn unsatisfying experiences into satisfying ones, eight members of the Council of Young Entrepreneurs shared with Forbes their top recommended ways to improve customer service.
HOW TO TRANSFORM A NEGATIVE EXPERIENCE
1. Active listening
“This doesn’t just mean being quiet while they talk. Really listen to them. Ask questions when he retells the story. Agree with them when they mention something your company did wrong. It’s okay to disagree with them, but always remember that missed expectations cause most customers to feel upset. So even if you don’t agree with them, acknowledge that your company didn’t adequately communicate expectations (or didn’t meet them). Obviously, offer a solution where you can, but if you don’t start by listening, the rest will be in vain.” – Mark Daoust, Quiet Light, Inc.
2. Capture your experience with a poll
“It’s best to first capture the customer experience internally with a survey or other means of communication with your company, especially one that goes directly to customer support. Suppose you can contact the customer before they leave a negative review in the App Store or online. In that case, you will have the opportunity to resolve the complaint and make amends in private rather than airing your dirty laundry in public. This effort on your part will also make the customer feel more positive about your business because they will see that you care about their experience and are willing to do whatever you can to make sure they are satisfied.” – Tyler Quiel, Giggster.
3. Ask the customer for help
«Is there anything more frustrating than a bad customer experience? They’re dissatisfied, he’s disappointed, and they all get caught up in the debris in between. The only truly effective solution I’ve found to solve a customer’s problem is to ask them to help solve the problem. Don’t try to guess what might make them happy, ask them. Let them know that you are so interested in their satisfaction that you need their input and thoughts to find the best possible solution to their problem. Then thank them for it: Acknowledge them online, send them a thank you card, give them a little token of appreciation. Not only will you have a customer for life, but word of mouth about your care and dedication to customer happiness will spread like wildfire, and your customer base will continue to grow.” – Ashley Sharp, Dwell with Dignity.
4. Set up automated customer service checks
“In my hospitality business, unfortunately we deal with customers from time to time who leave unhappy. The first and most important thing to do with every customer is to contact them soon after their experience. We configure automatic texts for our clients. These usually reach the customer before they go to the public review sites with anything negative. If their time with us wasn’t up to par, they’re usually always responsive, which activates someone in our company who’s specifically there to manage our guest experience. Our Director of Hospitality will contact the guest and invite them back with something courtesy. Then our staff will meet with the client when they return to ensure that the service is perfect. This additional attention captivates them and turns them around.” – Michael Sinensky, WeShield
5. Offer a “compensation” promotion
First, solve the problem. Then, offer a compensation promotion. The main reason why the customers leave is a loss of trust. You can go a long way to resolve it simply by addressing the problem they faced and letting them know of your solution in the future. Of course, to turn them into a paying customer again, offer them an incentive to try your product or service one more time. That could be a discount or promotion that de-risks their investment and gives them more confidence that you’re working hard to do the right thing for them and provide more value.” – Firas Kittaneh, Amerisleep Mattress.
6. Answer inmediately
“The faster you can respond, the more your customer will feel like you’re available and willing to listen. Letting a complaint sit can escalate it and convey that you have more important things to do than talk to your customer. If it’s not always possible to respond to all complaints immediately, you can use complaint management software to help get the issue to the right people as quickly as possible. Most of this software includes an auto-scaling feature that prevents complaints from stagnating. I also always tell my employees not to let the customer be the last person to respond. No company makes 100% of their customers happy all the time, but you can still be the last to respond to show that you’ve done everything you can to help.” – Shu Saito, AllFilters
7. Be proactive and open
“The best way to change a negative experience is to be proactive and open. For example, if a customer complains that your product isn’t working, apologize, ask what went wrong, and offer to replace their product. If you’ve ever had to deal with a bad customer service experience, you know it sticks with your memory and can really affect how you feel about a brand. You want to be transparent and open about how you will fix the problem. Not only is this the best way to engage and retain customers, but it’s also a great way to keep them up to date on what’s happening in your business and the industry as a whole.” – Kevin Ryan Tao, NeuEve
8. Let them know you have done changes
“Once a business has incurred the sunk costs to “acquire” a customer, the goal is to continue to earn revenue from that customer in future business. If the customer has a bad experience, future business could be in jeopardy. To help repeat customers who have had a bad experience, it’s important to make sure the customer knows they’ve been heard and that the business cares. As such, it is important for the customer to know that processes and procedures have been changed and “controls” have been put in place to ensure the problem never occurs again. This shows how seriously the company takes the customer experience and resolves any doubts in their mind that they will have a different experience in the future. A customer you’ve retained will be twice as loyal and likely to recommend you!” – Bill Mulholland, ARC Relocation.