Customer Service: When You Need To Respond To A Customer Complaint Made In Writing

1. When You Need to Respond to a Customer Complaint Made in Writing By VanSight

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3. The Situation A customer who complains in writing is a customer who is angry enough to take the time to write a letter. That means the person is pretty angry. The usual response is to reply in writing, but that’s only part of the process of offering superior customer service. 3

4. Techniques Used 4 Use Customer’s Name Explain Reasoning or Actions Offering Choices Probing Questions

5. Dialogue 5 The employee has been asked by his manager to draft a written response to a customer complaint letter. He drafts the response, but realizes that a written response, while necessary, is not going to be sufficient to convince the customer that she is receiving top-notch service. Here are two options. In option, the employee drafts a response and follows up via phone before sending the letter. Employee: Mrs. Smith, this is John Jones from Acme. I’m following up on a letter you wrote outlining a concern you had about [explains what the customer wrote about]. I’m sending out a written response you should have within two days, but I wanted to talk to you personally, to clarify the situation, Can I ask you a few questions? Then I can go over what’s in the letter.

6. Dialogue 6 In option, the employee composes the reply, sends it, and then follows up with the customer after the customer has received the reply. It goes like this. Employee: Mrs. Smith, this is John Jones from Acme. I wanted to follow up on our response to your letter, to see if you had any questions about our position and Where things are right now? First, have you received? Our response? Customer: Yes, I got it today. Thanks for taking the time to Call. Employee: Was there anything in our letter that we didn’t make clear?

7. Explanations 7 In both examples, the employee uses the customer’s name and also identifies himself. He does this to personalize the call and to show that he has made the effort to remember the name. Also, in both examples, the employee quickly explains the purpose of the call. Once that’s done, he basically asks permission to continue, giving the customer the choice. This comes across as considerate and respectful, while trying to maintain control over the interaction. In the second example, you can see the use of probing Questions. Again this shows that the employee and, by extension, the company, are interested in the customer’s problem. The questions, particularly when he asks, “First, have you received our letter?” Provide information the employee needs to guide how he handles the Phone call. Clearly, if the customer has not received the Letter, he needs to handle the call differently. What’s important here is that the employee, through actions and words, demonstrates that the complaint is being taken seriously and that the company wants to do all it can to address the customer’s concerns.

8. How to Diffuse the Situation 8 Responses to written complaints should be accompanied by some form of more personal follow-up. At the best of times, written words tend to come across as cold and distant. When writing a response to a complaint, it’s important to draft something that is informal and uses plain language. A common mistake is to sound stiff or bureaucratic in written responses, which guarantee the customer will be even angrier.

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