3 Keys to Dealing With Upset Customers
With increased holiday traffic and holiday sales, store owners are also going to encounter a higher likelihood of customers with issues. If you have policies in place, you’ll hopefully have a response ready for customers wanting to make like refunds and exchanges, but how do you handle those disgruntled or hard-to-please shoppers? We’ve got some ideas for you.
1. Clear policies from the get-go.
We’ve already talked about setting expectations, but it bears repeating – The more clear your policies are, the less trouble you’ll have dealing with issues that come up. This is especially true when it comes to cancellation, refund, and exchange policies. Be sure to have explicit details listed for all of the circumstances that might come up – for example do you allow for cancelling orders before they’re shipped, returning unused merchandise, or swapping sizes? Make this information available to your customers before they buy, and refer back to it when answering questions.
Keep in mind, convenient return policies increase sales. Even if a customer is having trouble, there’s still an opportunity to improve the situation.
2. Be courteous and calm.
No matter now upset or even rude a customer might be when getting in touch with you with a problem, store owners should always maintain professionalism. Every once in a while, customers will try and fight policies that are in place. It’s up to you whether you’ll make an exception for them, but no matter what always maintain superior customer service by keeping your cool.
3. Use feedback to improve.
Some things are out of your control, for example delayed shipping times for international orders due to customs. If you receive a negative rating for something you can’t directly control, consider how you can prevent a similar situation from happening in the future. For this situation, you might consider updating your shipping policies with a disclaimer.
No matter what the situation, try your best to leave an informed, satisfied customer. Responsiveness, politeness, and promptness will all make a huge difference and could even turn an upset buyer into a repeat customer.
