Understanding the underlying reasons behind complaints

- Customer complaints can vary widely depending on the nature of the business and the specific situation. They come in all shapes and sizes ranging from minoring conveniences to bigger issues. To simplify the concept, I've divided complaints into two main categories. The first category are product or service related complaints. These are the products or services that your company offers to customers. For instance, a customer may complain if they purchase a laptop, discover that is malfunctioning. In these cases, you apologize and replace a defective item by giving them a working laptop, for example. The second category involves customer service related complaints. This happens when the level of service experienced by the customer does not meet what they were expecting from you or your company. With complaints about defective products, it's easier to understand why a customer might be dissatisfied. However, when complaints are about the service received, it's more difficult to understand what triggered them. When customers say your service was disappointing or not up to expectations, they could be different underlying reasons for that. Understanding that can help you identify areas for improvement, address the root cause of customer dissatisfaction, and enhance customer loyalty. There's a useful technique to help you do that called peeling the onion, where you peel back every layer of the onion by asking multiple questions to understand the real reason behind the complaint. For example, you can ask, "Can you tell me more about "what made our service disappointing?" Based on the response, you can ask further questions to get more specific details. For example, "What specifically were you expecting "that you did not receive?" Or "Can you tell me at what point you felt disappointed?" Most complaints about disappointing service will be due to one of the following six reasons. One, inconsistency of service across different locations or between employees of the same company. Two, expectations not managed properly. This could be about waiting times, for example. Imagine you say, "I will get back to you soon." How long does the customer have to wait exactly? 10 minutes, 30 minutes? Three, receiving ambiguous or incorrect information. For example, selling a dinner package, but not mentioning that the customer can only choose from a set menu. Four, unresolved issues. When a customer's previous issue is not resolved, encountering a similar problem again can trigger frustration, leading them to complain. Five, when staff is perceived as unhelpful, rude, or lacking knowledge. For example, hearing from a member of staff, "I'm sorry, but I don't know," or, "I'm sorry, but it's company policy. "I can't do anything about it." And six, lack of empathy. When customers feel that their concerns are being ignored or not taken seriously. Consider if the last complaint you received was for one of the six reasons. If it wasn't, why is that? Do you think you haven't peeled enough layers of the onion, or perhaps because you were not listening attentively?