When Customer Service Rage Turns to Customer Revenge

Lessons for customer service teams

When was the last time you sort revenge as a result of a poor customer service experience? Customer rage according to a study carried out by Arizona State University quickly turns to customer revenge.

The research showed that consumers who received bad service but were satisfied with the way the problem was handled typically told 6 people about their experience. But those whose problem was not resolved typically told 17 people how bad the company was.

Lesson 1:  If your product or service fails, it pays to fix it

The other thing the study highlights is that getting your money back ranks below getting an explanation for how it happened. Customers are generally reasonable—they feel rage not because they are demanding compensation but because they want to be treated fairly. After getting the product or service problem fixed, the remedies most desired by customers are entirely non-monetary and include explanations, apologies or a chance to vent.

Lesson 2:   “I am sorry” means a lot. Customers want is to be treated fairly and with courtesy

Poorly handled customer complaints have a powerful impact.  A lot of companies would be better off closing down their customer care centres instead of regularly creating outraged customers who then seek revenge on the brand and its reputation

Lesson 3:  Well informed customer service staff build brand value

In many ways these ideas are not new so why is it that so many companies are still failing to respond to the challenge? Is your customer service team building value for the business or actually destroying it? Is the customer service quality more or less critical to business success in a recessionary environment? How are you measuring the success of your customer service teams? When was the last time one of your business leaders took a direct interest?

Geoff Rogers, Director
Value Partnership LLP