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Gavin Eccles: Business Performance Division: MSB (Managing the Service Business), Ascot, Berkshire, UK
Philip Durand: Business Performance Division: MSB (Managing the Service Business), Ascot, Berkshire, UK
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One in four customers has a problem with products purchased. If the item purchased is relatively low in price, only one in five will register a complaint."
Most customers feel that complaining to staff as and when a problem occurs will only cause additional annoyance and waste time. If customers have a problem with service, rather than with product, they are even less likely to say anything. Customers will tell their friends and family about their problem rather than the producer. In general, dissatisfied customers will tell between eight and ten people about the bad service they received.
These statements must cause considerable stress to operational managers within service companies. First, customers are not complaining to staff when they receive poor service. Instead, such individuals are expressing their negative thoughts to friends and family. Due to this the company cannot recover the situation, as the customer has appeared to go away happy. It is through the provision of good customer-staff communication that firms can determine the views of customers and recover a failing situation successfully.
Complaining customers are among the most loyal customers
This argument is further strengthened by research showing that customers who complain are also more likely to repurchase, even when their complaint is not handled satisfactorily. If the problem is resolved they will tell even more people about this successful recovery than if they had received good service in the first place. Overall, customers will tell five of their closest acquaintances about the way their incident was recovered, whereas if customers receive good service initially, they will only inform three. The recovery of customer complaints is equal to, if not more important than, providing good service initially.
Reciprocity and complaint handling
The reason why customers are more likely to say positive things after a problem has been recovered, is best explained by a psychological principle called reciprocity. People like to return favours when something nice has been done for them. They reciprocate the gesture. Companies are so keen on creating reciprocity when mishaps occur that they do not track the money they spend in doing...