Find out 15 do’s and don’ts tips you can follow to ensure your customer service team deal with incoming customer complaints properly

1. THE DO’S AND DONT’S
TO DEAL WITH
CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS

2. Let your customers vent
their concerns with minimal
interruption. Bear in mind
that what they need mostly
is just for you to lend an
ear, not to argue with them.
It might sound very
tempting to reject customer
complaints immediately if
they’re being rude or
irrational. But remember
that action would
exacerbate the issue and
make you look
unprofessional as well.
Listen attentively Don’t dismiss their
complaints
DO DONT’S

3. Once the customer finished
venting, proceed by calmly
summarizing their
problems to establish an
initial common ground –
ensuring that they have
been understood.
Listening to a constant
stream of customer
complaints can sometimes
take a toll on you, and it’s
fine, but remember that
every line of business
experiences the same thing
in a daily basis.
Acknowledge their
problems
Don’t let the complaints
get to you
DO DONT’S

4. There’s no time for
justifications or excuses,
sometimes all the
customers want to hear is
for you to say ‘sorry’ for
your disappointing them.
Because most of the time
your customers don’t really
care who is really at fault in
your company. Instead, yes,
apologize for the behalf of
the whole company, and
move on to the more
relevant step of resolving
the problem.
Apologize Don’t pass the blame to
someone else
DO DONT’S

5. Study by Wysocki et al.
identifies at least five types
of customers that you need
to handle differently. The
danger of inappropriate
responses lies in your
customer feeling more
agitated or detached, thus
eventually leaving your
business.
Saying things like “I don’t
know” or “You shouldn’t
have done that” certainly
doesn’t sound useful in
resolving any complaints.
Distinguish who you
are talking to
Don’t ignore what you are
saying
DO DONT’S

6. As you regain control of the
conversation, begin asking
for the details you need to
help clarify the problem at
hand. Try to not jump into
conclusion too early or you
might end up providing the
wrong solution.
Though there are indeed a
lot of elements to consider,
the general guideline is for
you to remain positive,
polite and genuine. Try to
be as conversational as
possible without actually
being too friendly.
Ask questions Don’t ignore your choice of
language or tone
DO DONT’S

7. As soon as you get a
clearer idea of the problem,
offer them what you can do
to best rectify the problem,
and see if it matches their
expectations.
While they might indeed
save you some time in a
daily basis, sometimes they
just don’t work for specific
queries requiring in-depth
attention. This is especially
true for interactions in the
realm of social media.
Agree on a solution Don’t rely too much on
automated responses
DO DONT’S

8. Close the conversation by
genuinely thanking them
for bringing the problem to
your attention. This would
help show that you’re
taking well their criticisms.
No one likes to wait for an
answer to the problem they
shouldn’t have to begin
with. Thus give these
unhappy customers
precedence in your to-do-
list and negotiate with them
a reasonable timeframe
when you can expect to
solve the problem.
Thank the customer Don’t delay in solving their
problem
DO DONT’S

9. t
After a couple of days or
so, contact the customer
back to ensure the problem
has been entirely resolved.
It costs very little, but it
shows that you truly care
about their overall
experience.
Follow up
DO

10. If you’re keen to learn more on
how you can better train
and improve your customer
service team, be sure to check
out our comprehensive e-Book
that you can get for FREE here.