Most of the brands at some point or the other have to deal with unhappy or angry customers, and of course it is never easy. But if we know what to say and, more importantly, how to say it, you are most likely overcome the situation, rather you can even end up with developing a better relationship with your customer than you had before.
Customers are the key to the survival and success of any business. If they are not happy with your products and services, it will naturally have an adverse impact on your business.
When a customer spends an amount on your product or service, they need to trust that your product or service will deliver on the promises made during the sales process. In fact trust is one of the top factors impacting customers’ choice of a brand. A recent report published by Marketing Charts shows that "80% of consumers make a purchase decision based on their trust that the organization will do the right thing. This same report depicts that 75% of global consumers use trust when determining brand loyalty."
So, in short if you want your business to run smoothly and generate sufficient revenue to cover expenses, gaining customer trust is the first step in this process.
Unfortunately, many at times customers can lose faith in their favourite brands for a variety of reasons. This could be from product didn’t meeting expectations to poor customer service. As a matter of fact, losing customer trust is much easier than we all would like it to be. Rather, a single mistake or miscommunication can be big enough to turn a customer away from their favourite brand.
However, you need not view losing a customer’s trust as the end of the tunnel, rather you need to focus, and drive your energies on the win back strategies or campaigns to regain their trust. Do you know, companies with successful win back campaigns have seen over 5x ROI.
“You earn trust slowly, over time by doing hard things well – delivering on time; offering everyday low prices, making promises and keeping them; and giving customers more time to spend with their families by inventing more convenient ways of shopping, reading, and automating their homes. When you let customers make your business what it is, then they will be loyal to you – right up to the second that someone else offers them better service.
- Jeffrey P. Bezos, Founder & CEO of Amazon
So, if you have also lost a customer’s trust or want to know how to get back the trust of a disgruntled customer, then keep on reading! In this article we will list down the four key steps to regain trust and create an even stronger relationship with your customer.
What Needs to be done to Win Back a Customer’s Trust?
Though as the saying goes, “Trust is hard to win and easy to lose”; but, a well-defined strategy definitely can go a long way and do wonders for your business when things go wrong. Here are some proven ways that you can adopt when you require to fix relationships with a customer after losing their trust.
1. Figure out the source of the problem.
Before you can regain the lost trust of your valuable customer, it is vital to understand as to why it was lost in the first place, as only then you can take proper remedial steps to address the issue.
While, some customers may be direct to share their dissatisfaction and anger by telling you what went wrong, and why they have lost trust in your company. On the other hand there are many customers who are the silent ones and they prefer not to voice out their discontentment, but to simply move on to a competitor. According to a study by John Goodman showed that, “roughly 4% of customers (1 out of 26) that were "wronged" by a company complain. The other 96% (25 out of 26) stop buying and tell 9 to 10 others within a week about their poor treatment.”
To overcome this, you can always ensure that you are collecting the essential customer feedback in a constructive way. For this you can adopt any of the following ways: customer service follow-up, automated satisfaction surveys. Refer Fig.
2. Acknowledge the problem & own up to your mistakes.
Now, that you have identified the issue or problem, the next important step involves in always owning up to your mistakes and taking the responsibility. If you play defensive or refuse to take up the blame for the mistake or issue, and don’t apologize, then believe me you will easily lose your customer for life. Be empathetic and provide solution than non-acceptance. In fact, a research by The Nottingham School of Economics found that unhappy customers are more willing to forgive a company that offers an apology, and also depicts that, “45% of customers withdrew their negative evaluation of a company in light of an apology.” An apology has the power to increase customer satisfaction by up to at least 15%.
3. Take corrective measures to address the problem
The brand needs to take measures to follow up with the action and make sure corrective measures are taken. At this point, you have identified the reason you lost the trust of a customer and you have very well apologized for the problem; but now it is time to keep the problem from occurring again. It could be a possibility that problem in hand is the result of the defects in your overall process or some individual subdivision. Whatever be the reason, this necessitates for you to take course corrective actions to not only resolve for the present issue but also in future when some other customers encounter similar issues, so as to provide an excellent customer experience always. For example, if the logistics department had been delivering the products ordered by the customer late and that too repeatedly, then make sure the mistake is not repeated, well, at least with the same customer. According to Marketing Charts, 94% of customers are likely to recommend the company with very good customer experience and 86% of the customers will pay more for a better experience.
Incentivizing the discontented customers.
Though efforts should be made to make every customer feel special, but believe me it is important to incentivize a disgruntled customer. And, one of the best ways you can opt for is giving them incentives such as discounts, free giveaways, VIP events, free upgrades and special buying opportunities to them as, it shows that you appreciate your customers and go above and beyond to right your wrongs. Moreover, this also enhances customer loyalty.
Start building a well-defined back strategy to rebuild trust and winning back customers!
Every customer is different, so there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to regaining and winning back their trust. But, yes having a well-defined strategy in place to use when things go wrong is definitely important.
If handled well, then it can be a prime opportunity as it will help you in identifying the areas that might need improvement, while also providing you better understanding of the needs of your customers, thereby making them your repeat customers in future. In fact, research shows that around 67% of a company’s business comes from repeat customers. The reason for this is simple: “People want to buy from businesses they know they can trust!”
Which way do you find to be the most effective in gaining back the lost trust of your customer?
Share your thoughts by commenting below.
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