Quick complaint resolution key to loyalty

July 7, 2009; 03:52 AM

Latest research suggests that 72 per cent of complainers who have a complaint dealt with to their complete satisfaction are more loyal after than they were before the complaint arose. It’s a powerful incentive for businesses to make sure they have the right customer complaints procedures in place, argues a new article on Marketing Donut.

In fact, far from being a nuisance, customer complaints can be a valuable opportunity for businesses to show that they really are different from the competition – because they really do put the customer first (instead of just talking about it).

To help small businesses grappling with these issues, Marketing Donut has published free resources about customer care, including golden rules for dealing with customer complaints. These include:

• Staff should be aware that complaints are a top priority item for your operation, and ANYONE who deals with them must have sufficient authority to resolve them completely.
• You should consider yourself lucky that the customer is prepared to give up their time and money to let you know they have a problem, instead of just walking away - a complaint is a gift.
• It's very tempting to give the customer a gift, or vouchers, and in many cases, done properly, it is good service. However, too often it is done INSTEAD of solving the problem, which can lead to more complaints about the same thing because it hasn't been fixed, and also to the "training" of more professional complainers. 

Backed by Google and Royal Mail, Marketing Donut is a free marketing resource for small businesses. Featuring advice and tools developed by experts in their field, Marketing Donut covers how to approach all aspects of small business sales and marketing, as well as discussing of topical business marketing issues.

The Marketing Donut is at www.marketingdonut.co.uk