Why too many organizations do not take customer complaints seriously

We have another business pickle to address. This time it’s with Christine Jones who is having problem with her organization not taking customer complaints or the Voice of Customer program seriously. 

 

We have been there. Ryan once worked at a grocery store that had a suggestion box that he never once in all the years he worked there saw opened. He suspects that no one even had the key anymore. 

 

Colin’s corporate employer engaged in a pricey customer survey every year, listened to the results, including the complaints, and then carried on with business-as-usual. When Colin complained, one person suggested maybe they stop doing the customer survey. 

 

In this episode, we explore why this happens with Voice of Customer feedback and complaints. We also share practical and actionable steps to change this for your organizations—and none of them are to stop getting customer feedback. 

 

Key Ideas to Improve your Customer Experience

 

Organizations that are monopolies don’t need to bother with customer feedback. However, monopolies are few and far between. For the rest of the organizations, which is almost all of them, competition necessitates taking customer complaints seriously—before your customers become the competition’s customers. 

 

Here are a few key moments in the discussion:

 

• 01:58  We read Christine’s pickle and share our stories that commiserate her problem, because it’s not an uncommon one, especially in business today.
• 06:00  Colin shares his last point first with Christine, which is exactly what he did in the same situation: realize that it could be that this organization might not be the best fit for her long term.   
• 13:57  Ryan explains that empathy for fellow employees will help customer strategy champions to help them prioritize the experience agenda, which might mean making allies higher up in the organization.
• 19:26  We discuss Confirmation Bias and Reference Points and how they play a role in how organizations view the Voice of Customer and customer complaints (hint: they are not small ones).  
• 24:24  We share the practical things that Christine can do in this environment to affect change and get the organization to take customer complaints seriously.
• 29:24  We talk about what might be the greatest customer complaint ever set to music, United Breaks Guitars.

 

 

Do you have a business pickle? Tell us about it here.

 

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Customer Experience Information & Resources

 

LinkedIn recognizes Colin Shaw as one of the 'World's Top 150 Business Influencers.' As a result, he has 290,000 followers of his work. Shaw is Founder and CEO of Beyond Philosophy LLC, which helps organizations unlock growth by discovering customers' hidden, unmet needs that drive value ($). The Financial Times selected Beyond Philosophy as one of the best management consultancies for the last four years in a row. Follow Colin on LinkedIn and Twitter.

 

Click here to learn more about Professor Ryan Hamilton of Emory University. 

 

Why Customers Buy: As an official "Influencer" on LinkedIn, Colin writes a regular newsletter on all things Customer Experience. Click here to join the other 35,000 subscribers. 

 

 

How can we help?

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