Rules for dealing with customer complaints

SportsLizard's Price Guide will pass the 2,000 user mark today (not bad for something that's been around for less than a month). The uniqueness of the application coupled with the shear volume of new users and visitors to the site has led to more customer service related emails than I'm used to.

A few days back I wrote a post that I didn't publish expressing how frustrating it's been (I used a lot of f-bombs and called a lot of people morons so I thought twice before hitting the publish button). If someone is 100% satisfied with your service, they probably aren't likely to contact you. Most contacts are the same stupid questions or flat out complaints. It can eat away at you if you aren't careful. So how do you handle it?

My previous experiences as an engineer (working with our complaints department to identify quality defects), combined with experiences with iPrioritize prepared me well. Here are my rules:

1. Don't over-react. Things that are real problems will resurface over and over, and you'll hear from more than just disgruntled users. Over the past month I've ALMOST over-reacted a few times, but have been able to cool myself down. Except for a few minor changes, the price guide remains in tact and there's been over 10,000 price searches (so I must be doing something right). I'm going to patiently improve the product and not make changes based upon a few pissed off people - changes that probably would alienate my happy customers.
   
2. Be extra nice to every customer. Aside from the fact that it's just plain right to do, being nice to frustrated customers often has a lot of fringe benefits. I can't tell you how many times a pissed off person has ripped me a new one in the initial email and then apologized and turned "nice" after I apologize and offer to help them out - even if that means cancelling their account. People are conditioned to being treated crappy by customer service departments and they assume that you don't care about them. Show them you do, and even if they don't stay with you they'll have nice things to say about you to their friends and family. Contrast that with a ticked off customer who you fought with. It's not worth the stress of fighting, and they probably aren't doing you any favors when their friend asks about you.
3. Always apologize. For what you say? For whatever they are experiencing. Let's say someone didn't confirm their account when they signed up and now is complaining about not being able to log in. Don't go on the attack and blame them. A common way to start an email that I like to use is "I apologize for the frustration". It shows that you feel bad and wish they didn't have to struggle - even if it's their fault. From their on you should offer the solution, but starting with an apology gets everything off on the right foot.
4. Try to be prompt. In SL's auto-email response, it says you'll get an answer "within 2 business days, usually much sooner". I try to get back to people within an hour or two during normal hours, and within 24 hours on the weekend or a holiday. Most of the time a response only takes a few minutes, so it makes sense for you to just get it done right away anyway. And it shows the customer that a real person is actually running the site, and that they are on top of things. The perception is that you're a more efficient business if you get back quickly (whether that's true or not is irrelevant).
   
5. Don't just copy and paste. Yes, I have a list of standard responses and we have an FAQ section with twenty more standard responses, but I try to customize each response to the problem of the customer. Sometimes it's just as simple as looking up their first name in the database instead of saying "Hi person@yahoo.com" or saying "Enjoy the long holiday weekend!" this past weekend.
6. Realize that some will get away. Don't try to fight with a customer who wants to cancel their account. Make it easy for them to cancel and there's a chance they might come back. Process their request quickly and with respect and there's a chance they'll even tell their friends about your product. It's impossible that every customer can fit your target market, so you're going to lose some, and it's not really a bad thing. And I always thank them for trying out the price guide - they could have just clicked away but they took the time to sign up and evaluate it.
   

All of that can pretty much be summed up by saying - be nice to your customers. Seems pretty obvious, but most of us have experienced a lot of companies that for some reason don't seem to like or respect their customers...so maybe it isn't that obvious.