Module 67 - Unhappy Customer = Negative Marketing for Your Business

Personal Development, Leadership, Motivation Blog Series

How was your experience? – The power of negative feedback

We as consumers of everyday products and services come to expect for our experience with a particular product or service that we purchase to be exceptional, and there is no middle ground. We will either be extremely satisfied or extremely dissatisfied. As a result, almost all businesses have a main goal – to provide its customers with great customer experience and product satisfaction. Most of the marketing created by businesses have some reference to ‘customer experience’ as a main attribute and focus point. However, does every company actually lives up to their commitment to provide exceptional customer experience and goes out of their way to ensure that each and every customer’s need and expectation is actually met? Quick answer is no, but the significant progress to improve customer satisfaction has been made overall over the period of last few years. The opportunity to close the gap of where customer leaves unhappy or dissatisfied, and in some instances very upset, is still present and should be taken very seriously by businesses that are not living up to their customers’ expectations.

What are the consequences of poor customer review or experience for a business?

I strongly believe that regardless how much money is spent to create beautiful and engaging marketing collateral, if the consumer leaves your business dissatisfied or upset, their power of negative feedback via word of mouth or via digital and social media platforms will have a significant, and in some instances detrimental negative effect on the business in question and their business image.

When we, as consumers, are unhappy with a service or product we come in contact with, we immediately share our negative experience with everyone we know verbally or by sharing it on social media platforms. Additionally, if we receive a survey from a company to share our experience, we most certainly will complete the survey, regardless where we may be or how long the process may take. Why? Because, we, as consumers, want for our opinions to be heard in hopes of improving the experience in the future. Also, the likelihood of us returning to the business where we have received poor customer experience is extremely low, since there are so many other options available offering the same or very similar products and/or services. This is especially true in the restaurant and hospitality industries. Thus, the consumer takes their business somewhere else, and business which they have left loses long-term and loyal customer. So, does it make sense for any business to make sure that all of their customers receive an exceptional experience, where anything less is unacceptable? Of course, it does, if that business expects to remain successful and continue to grow.

What can a business do to ensure that their customers are satisfied with their products and services, and to continue to live up to customers’ expectations?

1. Ensure that company staff in all levels of the organization is fully trained in products and services offered by the company
   
2. Ensure that all business staff receives extensive customer service training, regardless of prior experience
   
3. All business employees should know and understand company’s vision and mission statements. More importantly, understand what’s in it for them, and how they can contribute to company’s overall success
   
4. All employees should understand, buy in, and live company’s culture every day. If an employee doesn’t know, understand, and own their part in company’s success and direction, they may become disengaged and uninterested, which may result in them providing less than great customer service to their customers
   
5. Company conduct regular customer satisfaction surveys, and act on satisfaction survey feedback, especially if any of the feedback is less than great. How do you know what your customers are saying about your business without giving them an opportunity to share feedback? You don’t. And it is equally critical to act on the feedback provided, otherwise there’s no value in those surveys. For example, if customer recommends a change to a process, procedure, or product, business should take each recommendation seriously and explore process/product for improvements.
   
6. Have presence on all major social media platforms, such as: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, and LinkedIn. Customer should have an ability to visit company’s social media pages to leave feedback, follow latest business updates, and to stay actively engaged in the life of the business.
   
7. Have adequate customer support personnel available to answer customers’ calls, questions, and inquiries during optimum business hours build around their customers’ needs and availability, including weekends.

These are just some steps of many that any business can take to improve their customer satisfaction, retain their existing and loyal customers, and, of course, acquire new.

At the end of the day, what matters to a customer is for businesses to recognize and respect what the customer wants and expects when purchasing and utilizing products and services sold or offered by the business every day, not just some days, while committing to provide an exceptional customer service. Why would a loyal consumer leave any business, if their wants, needs, and expectations are being consistently met? They wouldn’t, and instead they will remain a customer who recommends the business, products, or services to everyone they know. Don’t underestimate the power of unhappy customer and negative business marketing.
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