Everybody makes mistakes, that is why pencils have erasers, and when we’ve lost a customer’s trust, or we have made a PR blunder, we can experience a massive crisis. However, what we do will determine the overall effect on our business.
For anybody that wants to learn many lessons in the fine art of running a business, making customers have faith in your business again is, arguably, one of the biggest. But how can you do this?
Improve the Quality of Your Customer Service
If a customer has had a bad experience with your business, it is your job to make sure that no other customers experience what that person went through. Now is the opportunity to look at gaping holes, and working on improving his areas for efficient customer service. Whether you are looking at your customer experience digital options, or you are looking at the way that you currently resolve your complaints, you need to know what works best for your customers. Improving your customer service takes some time but it’s the best thing that you can do for the people supporting your business.
You can do this in one simple way, by increasing your communications. You can do this by improving your social media presence, and this is a very straightforward approach. Most customers end up using social media when they are unhappy with a business, but it’s also important to use other methods of communication.
For example, direct mail marketing might be a far better method to communicate with customers older than individuals in their 50s. When we’re trying to make amends to a customer, we have got to speak to them in the medium that suits them. This is something we might forget about. And while social media has its place, when you are trying to make amends, you’ve got to cover the entire range of formats and platforms.
Being Sincere (and Quick) in Your Apologies
Mishandling a customer, or posting an ill-timed status on social media can bounce back towards you quickly. Instead of denying it, the best practice is to own up to your mistake and take responsibility. If you deny the issue or become defensive, this is the quickest way to lose a paying customer.
Composing an apology is one thing, but when it comes to apologizing, you have to say that you are sorry, you have to show that you mean it, but you also need to show what you’re going to do to make amends. This is something very simple that we teach children. However, adults can find they do not follow this approach.
A well-written apology can express real concern, and laying out practical points to address these issues in the apology, will work towards winning back a customer.
Give Your Customers an Amazing Offer
When you want to win a customer back, it’s about extending the olive branch. If you want to win back the trust of customers that are dissatisfied, you need to offer services that go beyond their expectations.
Managing the expectations is one approach, but if you’ve completely done something to offend or upset them, you’ve got to go one step further. Personalized promotions that are relevant to the individual can be far better than a general coupon, and this is something to consider. There are many other approaches to think about, but this can be a good start.
Don’t Wait
No matter what, when you have issues with customer service or experience a PR crisis, don’t wait. It’s important to quickly get in front of the issues, small or large. Otherwise, your small issues may become large if you ignore them.
