What is Complaint Management? Process, Strategy and more

Did you know that one angry customer and one bad complaint are all it takes to ruin a brand’s reputation?
Don’t believe us? Apple once slowed down the working of their older iPhone mobile phones without informing any of their customers about it. With this piece of new story spreading like wildfire, more and more people came to know about it and certain tech companies started to look into this issue.
Despite Apple declining all of this at first, it was found out by several companies that Apple did indeed slow down their older iPhones. And later Apple admitted to deliberately doing this to prevent the shutdown of those phones because of the dying batteries.
And what was the result of this? Lots of lawsuits, $29 battery replacements for a year and most importantly the loss of trust by its customers.
This is exactly why you need a complaint management program in place. Learn what is complaint management, the process, strategy and more.
What is Complaint Management?
Complaint management is how companies and businesses manage and handle the complaints from it’s from customers, employees and shareholders. It means receiving, recording, solving, and understanding the complaints to better their products, services, the satisfaction of the customers and the reputation of the brand. Good complaint management has steps laid down for complaint escalation, investigation, reply, and feedback to make sure all complaints are handled properly and customers’s problems are solved. It is a big part of customer service in companies.
For example, one of your customers purchased a pair of shoes from you online but by mistake received the wrong size. They then contact your customer service, who apologises for the mistake, get them a free return, and then ship the correct size shoes right after. The customer receives the new shoes and is happy with the customer service.
Why is Complaint Management so important?
Makes Customers Happy
Good complaint management can turn an unhappy customer into a happy and loyal one by solving their problems with care. Quick replies, communication, and follow-ups make a customer happy and more likely to recommend the service to others. It shows that the opinions of the customers are important, and makes them feel seen and heard, which makes a customer happy and makes him want to use the service again.
Evolution
Complaints oftentimes give feedback to the companies on where they could improve, be it their product or service areas where the company can improve. They can create a plan to collect, understand, and work on the feedback given and use it for training employees and developing products and services.
Trains Employees
Employees who know how to deal with and handle complaints can do their jobs easily without worrying about anything. It also forms a customer-centric frame of mind within the company. Training and rewarding employees on handling complaints, solving conflicts, and giving customer service can help them develop and perform better.
Builds Trust
Customers trust companies that admit their mistakes and are set to make things right and make up for it. Trust is how relationships with customers are built. Accepting a problem to your public and then showing your resolve to fix it, can help you build trust and a relationship with your audience.
Differentiates from Competitors
Good customer service can differentiate your brand from your competitors. This way your customers will be happy and give you good feedback. You can then use this feedback and display it as your testimonials and customer stories on your social media and websites.
5 Benefits of Complaint Management
In complaint management you do not just write a complaint or solve a problem, it’s about building the lost trust and making sure that your customers are happy. Let’s learn what the benefits of customer management are:
Satisfies Customers
Early resolution of complaints shows customers that their problems are taken seriously, which satisfies them and makes them trust the brand. When customers feel like their needs are heard, they will see the brand in a good way. Complaint Management can turn bad complaints into good ones and make the customers happy.
Retain Customers
Solving the customer’s problems can help you retain those customers by making sure they are happy with your service. And happy customers are the ones who will stick with your brand and buy from you again. Customers prefer sticking with brands that they believe will be with them even when things are not good.
3. Constructive Criticism
Complaints give you feedback and constructive Criticism on how your products and services are. By understanding this feedback, you can find out where you lack, work on it and improve. Feedback helps you in polishing your product and helping you improve, again making your customers happy in the end.
4. Manages Reputation
How a company manages their complaints can impact their reputation. Good complaint management can better a company’s reputation by showing its customers that they care. When customers see that a brand cares and will solve all their problems, they are happy and start trusting the brand which gives the company a good reputation.
5. Customer Experience
By managing the complaint and its data, you can find out the problems in the processes. Working on these problems can improve the operations of the company and lead to fewer complaints. By making your workflow smooth and removing the problems, you can better your company’s operations. This not only makes the customer experience better but also adds to the company’s bottom line.
What are the 4 Types of Complaints?
Complaints can be of four types, and understanding these can be your first step for complaint management. Let’s see what these 4 types are:
Productive Complaints
Productive complaints are the type of complaints that are helpful in nature and are meant to bring about a change that is good and positive. They are well-thought-out and use suggestions for the improvement of something. They solve a problem by giving feedback that can be worked upon. A customer gives his feedback about some defect in a product to the company along with suggestions on how to fix it.
Venting Complaints
Venting complaints are emotional complaints that are vented out because of some kind of frustration to release stress by talking about the problem that’s bothering them. Complaining to your friend about the tough day at work is a kind of venting complaint.
Chronic Complaints
Chronic complaints are constant and lasting and focus on problems without looking for any solution for that problem. These complaints can be made for attention, sympathy, or by having a negative frame of mind. An example of this is someone daily complaining about the weather but there’s no solution.
Malicious Complaints
Malicious complaints are done to harm and bettitle someone or something. They are exaggerated and meant to cause problems most of the time. They can be done to ruin someone’s reputation or relationship. Spreading fake rumours about a coworker is a malicious complaint.
What is the Complaint Management Process?
The Complaint Management Process is how you solve a customer complaint in these 6 easy steps. It includes collecting the complaints, then logging, classifying, investigating, solving and doing a follow-up on the customer.
Collection of Complaints
The first step in the complaint management process is collecting the receipts of the complaints that are given by the customers. You can do it through email, phone, in-person, social media, or Google Forms. You have to collect and accept these complaints to let the customer know they are being heard and you’ll find a solution for their problem.
Logging of Complaints
Record the details of the complaints like the contact details of the customers, the nature of the complaint, date and time of receipt, using q complaint management software to monitor and manage all these complaints.
Sorting & Classifying the Complaints
After recording, you need to sort and classify the complaints to make sure it is sent to the right department. Classify them based on the type and how severe these complaints are and add a priority level to each of these complaints on how and when they need to be managed.
Investigating
Then Investigate and check out the complaints to understand what the problem is and the cause because of when it arose. You can also collect extra information from the customer by pinging them or checking their internal records if you think that will help with the investigation and take help from other departments to understand more about the problem and its solution.
Coming up with a Solution
The next step is to understand the problem and come up with a solution to the complaint. Find out the best solution based on the data you found in your investigation and let the customer know about it.
Following-Up & Closure
Following up is contacting the customer and making sure their problems are solved and they are now happy. You can then finalise the process, record and close the complaint.
6 Strategies for Complaint Management
An effective complaint management strategy involves several components designed to address complaints efficiently, enhance customer satisfaction, and drive continuous improvement. Here’s a comprehensive strategy for complaint management:
Set Up Policies and Procedures
Set up clear policies for managing complaints and mention the scope, responsibilities, and objectives of the policies clearly. Also, Create standard procedures for every step of the complaint management process to make sure the complaint is handled properly.
Set Up a Complaint Management System
Set up and enforce a complaint management system to store, monitor, record and manage all the complaints of the customers. Make sure the CMS work well and in accordance with other customer service tools like CRM, email, and social listening to record and deal with complaints as soon as possible.
Train Employees
Just setting up a CMS won’t work, if the employees aren’t skilled enough to use it. A company needs to keep training its employees on the ways of complaint management, communication and problem-solving skills. Train them to solve complaints very quickly without needing much help.
Customer Service
Make your CMS customer-centric and make it easy for your customers to submit their complaints through phone, email, social media, or in person. Register these complaints within 24 hours and keep them updated with the process till the end so they know the status of their complaints and are happy with the service.
Keep customers informed throughout the process with regular updates on the status of their complaints.
Investigate & Solve the Problem
Investigate the recorded problems to understand the complaints using RCA techniques and then work on solving those complaints as quickly as you can. Follow up with the customers right after to make sure that they’re happy and don’t have problems any further.
Plan for Escalation in Advance
Sometimes a complaint or a problem is not easily solved and a company needs to have an escalation plan in advance for situations like these. You can take the help of your senior colleagues with this so, in the end, the customers are happy and all their problems are solved.
Case Study: Dell's Quick CMS
Dell is a computer technology company in the United States which was founded by Michael Dell in 1984. It is known for its products like personal computers, servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, and computers. The company also provides consulting and IT services.
When Dell released its XPS 13 laptops in the market, there were reports from customers that the resolution of the screen was terrible, screen warping issue, charging, battery and more, which made it difficult for them to use it. Dell’s reply to this quick complaint is how the company managed to maintain its reputation.
Dell used its complaint management system to monitor, sort, and prioritise these complaints in the order of their importance. By making use of their closed loop system, Dell made sure that each complaint was looked into and solved. They looked for the problem through their SupportAssist tool, which helped them in finding out the problem and working out ways to solve them.
When they found out what the problem was with the laptops, Dell directly contacted the customers with the complaints and offered free repairs or replacements for them. This not only solved the problems of the customers but made them happy and their XPS 13 laptops were loved again.
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Locobuzz for Complaint Management
Locobuzz transforms complaint management with its powerful AI-driven platform. It enables brands to efficiently track, manage, and resolve customer complaints across multiple digital channels, ensuring no issue goes unnoticed. By leveraging real-time sentiment analysis, Locobuzz categorizes and prioritizes complaints, allowing for swift action and resolution. Its unified dashboard provides a comprehensive view of all customer interactions, fostering seamless communication and collaboration among support teams. Automated responses and smart routing ensure that complaints are directed to the appropriate personnel, enhancing efficiency and customer satisfaction.
Conclusion
Because customers are the most important part of a company, especially in 2024, complaint management automatically becomes necessary for a company to have a good reputation. It is not just about solving the problem of a customer but about giving them the perfect customer experience and building up a relationship with them.
A good complaint management process is needed to make sure that the customers are having the best time with your company and enjoying their time with you. And even when they do have a complaint, it can be handled well before it becomes a problem. Helping them solve the problem and compensating them for the same, will not only help you in making them happy but at times also retaining them!
It is important to make sure that your customers are happy, trust you, and that your company has a good reputation and the way to that is through the complaint management policy of the company. By managing all the complaints with care, you can turn an angry customer into a happy one, that leaves good reviews about your company online.