4 easy steps to convert your angry customers into your biggest fans

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Winning with CX
Published in
6 min readMay 15, 2018

Picture this:

You’re the branch manager of a busy mass retail brand. All is going smoothly; when out of the corner of your eye you see a shopper heading purposely towards you. You know from their body language and their fast rhythmic pace that they’re upset and probably quite angry. It doesn’t really help that she is accompanied by two kids who seem equally angry and already vocal.

You take a deep breath and mentally prepare yourself. You try and figure out what could have happened and how you’re going to respond to them, even before they get to you. Sure enough, as soon as the shopper gets to you, they start shouting at you. Eyebrows start being raised, nearby shoppers stop what they’re doing and try and listen in. The children start crying even louder. Emotions are really flying now. The barrage of words and emotions continue.

[Pause: how would you handle this situation?]

This would be a very difficult situation even for the most experienced and calm-tempered person. Fortunately, your brand has a very easy to remember service recovery framework that you’ve already initiated. The customer stops shouting and starts listening to you. They’re visibly calming down and their flushed face seems to be returning to its normal colour. They’re even nodding with you and by this time, the other shoppers have lost interest in this situation. The once angry customer is now smiling and they leave the store reasonably happy and more than likely to recommend your brand to others! The children are still crying, but hey, it’s not like you have Jedi mind control…

Now picture how this situation could have been if they did not have a sequence of practices for helping and turning around angry, upset customers.

Most service recovery frameworks/methodologies encompass the following four components:

Empathise, Fix it, Communicate and Learn

1. Listen, empathise and apologise

The natural instinct for most people when they are confronted by an angry customer is the “fight or flight” response. Just breathe — don’t start a verbal match with the customer (that’s just going to add fuel to the fire) and don’t abandon them either — even if the customer may be in the wrong. Let them vent and remember the customer isn’t making this personal (well, you may get some who do…).

Are you listening to what the customer is saying? Actively listening? Do you understand what they’re saying? Why are they angry and what has caused them to become irate?

Engage with the customer so that they know you’ve heard and understood them. Make them feel like you’re on their side and use non-verbal cues such as eye contact and nodding to show them that you’re actively listening. Repeat it back to the customer to make sure you’ve understood it and they know you’ve understood it too.

When they have finished, really dig deep and offer a genuine and heart-felt apology. Often companies make the mistake of reeling out a scripted and robotic “I’m sorry…”. One of the ways in which you could turn on your emotive side is to think of the customer as a close family member or a friend— how would you treat them? One of the easiest ways to start calming down an angry customer is to simply express empathy and offer to help.

2. Resolve the problem with the customer

Often brands will offer a scripted and robotic response; something along the lines of “We’ve logged your issue under ticket 123456.”. Have you really solved the customer’s problem?

If the problem is simple and can be fixed immediately, do so and let the customer know. Also a great way to placate the customer is to explore solutions with them and ask them as to how they would like the problem to be solved. Generally most customers are reasonable and will accept a solution that they genuinely feel will help them. And remember, two heads are better than one — if you can’t agree on a solution then bring a manager into the conversation.

Once you’ve come to an agreement, consider adding something extra — and this can be something small. Customer service recovery isn’t going above and beyond. Your customers understand that problems do occur but expect you to resolve them quickly and effortlessly. They also don’t expect the same problems to re-occur. Consider a little surprise, that can go a long way towards turning an upset customer into a fan.

Lastly, don’t forget to thank the customer for their feedback and for giving you another chance.

3. Follow up with the customer

If you can’t solve and fix the customer’s problem there and then, you need to regularly provide updates to the customer that the problem is actually being worked on and also be open as to what stage the resolution has actually reached and how long it is still expected to take before the problem is fully resolved.

Many organisations stumble here because they don’t communicate progress. If the customer does not hear from you, they will assume that nothing is being done — and that’s just going to make them angrier.

While you’re communicating with the customer be factual, don’t over-promise and then under-deliver, explain why the problem occurred and how you’re solving their problem.

4. Log it in, evaluate and share

It’s all about the data and insights — make sure you document what happened, what went wrong and how it was fixed. Share learnings with other departments, so that you’re continuously improving and improving your organisational culture. Perhaps you need organisational wide changes to permanently resolve the issue? Share the learnings with the customer too.

Most organisations that have a service recovery framework, package it up into an easily remembered mnemonic — it’s easy to remember even when you’re under duress! Here are some of the common frameworks used:

Starbucks’ LATTE framework:

Listening to the customer

Acknowledging their complaint

Taking action to resolve the problem

Thanking the customer for bringing the situation to their attention

Explaining to the customer why the problem occurred

LEARN framework (used by few hotel chains e.g. Marriott):

Listen to the guest

Empathise and show concern for the guest

Apologize

Resolve the problem

Notify and follow up with the guest to verify the problem was corrected to their satisfaction.

TREAT framework:

Tune in and listen

Respond with empathy and regret

Explore solutions and fix the problem

Add a little extra

Thank the customer

HEART framework:

Hear

Emphatize

Apologize

Respond

Thank the person

Share the knowledge: What framework do you use and how effective is it?

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