The last thing you want to do as a business owner is to make your customers angry or annoyed but you only have to take a look at any consumer review website to see that many customers are often angry and exasperated by the businesses they patronize. When dealing with angry customers, the most important thing to do is show the angry customer empathy but remain impartial. Do not let the customer get to you, and in turn, get angry yourself.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the most common causes of customer frustration, so you can hopefully avoid the bad examples and keep your customers sweet.
Asking them for too much information
If there’s one thing customers hate, it’s businesses who ask them to input a whole lot of data about their lives, with no real benefit to them.
Customers want to be able to quickly buy what they need without having to tell you their pet’s name and what their favorite color is. Unless you really need to know something, don’t ask.
Making it hard for them to pay
Another thing customers really hate is not being able to quickly check out their goods. They want to be able to use their preferred payment method and they want to be able to do it quickly, which is why using a POS system to process payments swiftly is a really good idea. If it takes too long, they might just not bother.
Not being able to speak to someone
Customers, when they have a problem, or they need to ask a question about your goods and services, want to be able to do so quickly. They don’t have time to be left hanging on the line, and the longer you make them wait, the angrier they are likely to get. That’s why you need to use as many channels of contact, from chatbot to entail, as possible, make sure they can speak to you asap, and that they will get answers when they do and they won’t get angry with you.
Not rewarding their loyalty
Customers who are loyal to a company expect to be rewarded for that loyalty, so if you do not allow them to collect loyalty points or give them exclusive deals from time to time, they will probably turn away and start looking at the competition.
Oh, and you need to ensure that loyalty houses you do give them are actually worth having, No one is going to be impressed by getting a couple of dollars off the cost of an expensive item, for example.
Lying to them
Okay, this is a big one. If you lie to your customers, even if it is what you consider to be a little white lie, they will be justifiably angry when they find out. Don’t tell them you can ship their goods next day if it isn’t going to happen and certainly don’t lie about the capabilities of your products and services. You will get found out people will get angry and your business reputation will be trashed.
Angry customers make for bad reviews, which makes for fewer customers, so whatever else you do, try to keep your customers happy!
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