All companies — large and small — treasure and understand the value of their happiest customers. The number and loyalty of these customers is often the difference between success and failure.
But, how should we deal with angry customers? As a general rule, we should not give up on them until we understand their feelings and try to turn those negative feelings around.
Consider these observations from Vision Critical, which provides a cloud-based customer intelligence platform that allows companies to build engaged, secure communities of customers:
“The value of your happiest customers is well understood, but the influence and potential of angry customers should not be underestimated. On average, Americans tell nearly twice as many people about negative experiences as positive ones, and the anger of the social media-empowered customer can easily go viral and inspire a movement. Of the millions of people who post tweets about customer service every week, 80 percent are negative. All it takes is the right hashtag at the right moment to turn one person’s gripe into a social media maelstrom.”
Take a look at this in-depth white paper from Vision Critical.
Angry customers should be the valued customers in a market because the image of a company depends on them. Businesses can start off with a good reputation, appealing to only happy customers. However, once those angry customers get a hold of a social media app, a company will gain some negative publicity. This idea is most likely true because some companies have fallen victim to it already, such as the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). If they had comforted their angry customers, then maybe this agency would have a better reputation!
I’ve dealt with my fair share of angry customers when I used to work at a pool store. They spent their time complaining about how horribly the business was run while I was sitting there trying to sell them our very best products, definitely not an easy task. But, when it comes to the angry customers, they should be valued just as much as happy customers because it is true that when you have something negative happen, you go and tell everyone and then a opinion on your business forms as a result. I constantly see people that I follow on Twitter or Facebook who complain about a business, and that does make me look more into it and see if I should agree or not. Companies who receive these angry tweets or complaints should deal with it as stated in the article, just try your best to turn these angry customers to happy ones.
I agree that angry customers matter as well, post purchase is behavior is important for long term customers, if your company can not maintain long term customers then it would most likely not become successful. I believe companies should have policies that give discounts to those customers that are not happy with their products r service because the products need to be functional so customers have the right to be upset with their service and products so in sum, it is important to tend to all customers, happy and upset.
I think it is a huge flaw of companies to only focus on the happy customers. Happy customers keep the business flowing; however, a company most likely understands what to do to keep those customers happy; that is, what they have been doing all along. It is a lot harder to understand what they do or don’t do that makes a customer angry. Since so many customers do not hide their negative feedback, companies should take advantage of these comments through social media sites and use them as an opportunity to improve.
Angry customers plays a huge role in a company’s success or failure. An angry customer can post on numerous sites such as Zillow or Google and degrade your company. But also an angry customer can give you some insight on products or customer service and if there needs to be improvement. If a customer is angry because the product they always get, always runs out, it gives the company some info to restock more frequently or to have a larger shelf space for the product. If a customer is complaining that a representative is being very rude, this may lead to the company losing money instead of earning money and this representative needs to be addressed immediately. Every customer plays a huge role in the success in a company, including the angry ones.
This article is interesting. For many people, they just think about the happy customers and want to develop them to be loyal customers in the future. But not many people used to focusing on those angry customers. Actually, every customer’s opinions and feelings should be valued the same. Angry customers may sometime put forward more suggestive ideas for a product or service. Only if we cherish these negative ideas, we can be better in the future.
It’s a little bit off topic but I do recognize the importance of angry customers and their negative comments. Whenever I browse an online shopping site, I first look for the highest rated products. Then I select an item that fits my budget. Lastly, but most importantly, I read the reviews. But when I read the reviews, I usually start with the lowest reviews and work my way up. Positive reviews can be made by paid customers, optimistic and easy-to-please customers, and people who wrote the review before they noticed something negative. Although it can be a little exaggerated, I think generally negative reviews are more likely to be honest. When I can tolerate the negatives mentioned in the bad reviews, I know I will be satisfied with the product.
It is easy to solely deal with the easy, happy, and simple customer. From a worker’s perspective, it takes a lot less effort and the business runs smoother if they have to deal with minimal customer complaints and concerns. However, if a customer takes the time to raise an issue, there is usually some merit to their concern. If the business processes could be improved to become more effective, the company would benefit in the long run and become overall more efficient. Today, I visited a Tiki Bar in Florida. The restaurant was full of customers, while there were only two or three servers. The lady next to me asked multiple waitresses to take her order, and they responded that they had to help others before her. I had arrived after her, and they asked for my order before her. One of the waitresses was also extremely rude. My boyfriend complained and spoke to this woman. The woman told him that she would not be returning to this resort in the future as a result of her experience thus far. This post-purchase consumer behavior has the potential to hurt the business, as she will go home and inform others of her experience.
Working in retail, I realize that there are many ways to handle angry customers. As a part of the Bloomingdales staff, we try to make everyone happy. If there is an upset customer, we call the manager over to see if there is anything extra we can do for that customer, like an extra 10% off, so that they are more happy with our business. As a large retail store, we also take into consideration the online reviews that our customers post. For example, if we get a bad review, at our team rallies we talk about them and find ways to make our customer service even better. I will say that at some points, the customers are just very impatient. For example, if we are in the middle of friends and family, some customers said that we were not able to attend to their needs quickly enough. It is vey difficult for the associates to help more than one customer at a time and customers sometimes do not give us enough credit. Yes, it is better to deal with the happy, satisfied customers, but every company tries their best to deal with the not so happy ones.
It is true that angry customers actually have more critical advises for company’s product and service. They are angry because they are not satisfy with what company has provided, which means this company still have space to improve their product and service. In addition, other than maintain old customers, acquiring new customer will cost more money.
With the exponential presence of social media in today’s business environment, it is extremely crucial that dissatisfied customers are dealt with properly. Whenever someone looks to buy a product or use a service, one of the first things they do is check out the reviews on social media as well as other outlets. Before the internet, consumers would ask their friends and family and rely on them as well as the information they could acquire to make these decisions. Today, consumers can look at endless reviews to get the idea of exactly what they will be getting. Therefore, if you own a restaurant and you have great food and service but one angry customer, your reputation could be extremely damaged. That is why it is very crucial to monitor social media and make sure negative comments are dealt with swiftly and properly. A company that ignores its online reviews is doomed to fail.
If a company want to have a long term strategy, it need to pay more attention to the angry customers. Of course, satisfied customers have already like the company and products. So, we can find the problem from the angry or unsatisfied customers.
For example, there is a customer star ranking and review space in Amazon. It is a great opportunity for the business owners to know what is wrong and where they can improve their products from these bad reviews.
Also, I think if the company give discount code or coupons for the angry customers, it will be a good idea to let them back instead of losing them.
I don’t know it’s just me or what. Every time when I shopping online and I’m not sure about some product’s quality, I always ignore those “5 stars” ratings and check the worst comment that could possibly be, so that I get an idea about how bad it can be and then decide whether to buy it or not. Well, it’s really important to deal with angry customers from this point of view.
So, I was wondering if you have any about face comments on “Angry Service People.”
For example, how does a salesperson deal with a customer that make the salesperson angry, because the customer is taking advantage of a good thing, and of course the salesperson can’t show his/her contempt.
What’s YOUR answer?