Why Customer Sales Complaints Are Good For Your Business

Clients are the most vital element of every business. If you want to guarantee and maintain your company’s success, you need to attract more customers and retain the old ones. The best method to do this is to keep each of them happy with the products or services you provide. But how will you know if your clients are satisfied or dissatisfied with what they receive?

You can directly learn about a client’s insights through their feedback. There are numerous ways to provide this useful information, but many consumers opt to leave online reviews thanks to the increasing number of internet users. This feedback can make or break your business since it has become common for customers to check reviews before purchasing. Statistics from BrightLocal also shows that 76% of consumers trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. 

Importance and Benefits of Customer Complaints

Not all feedback that you receive is positive. As entrepreneurs, receiving customer sales complaints are never a pleasant experience, even if the client politely expresses their frustrations. Some would also argue that these criticisms would appear harmful to the business.

However, customer complaints are quite valuable if you know how to handle them. These complaints are the perfect constructive opportunities to fix bad sales habits and help your company grow. Here are some reasons why customer sales complaints are good for your business.

1. Help you better understand clients

The focal point of every business is knowing and understanding their niche. The more a company understands its customers, the more effective it will become at marketing and increasing sales. Companies no longer need to break the bank for marketing surveys since customer sales complaints provide a free insight into their clients.

Their feedback gives you a clue about what interests them and what they think about your brand, product, or services. Once you have information about your clients, you can decide on the next best move to persuade them to choose your brand. You can structure your marketing and sales approach to meet their expectations and entice them to make a purchase.

2. Highlight gaps in your business

A customer complaint can help you identify vital areas in your business that need improvement. It can highlight weaknesses in your products, services, or even employees that you might not realize on your own. With your schedule packed to the brim with different tasks, it is nearly impossible to focus your attention on every aspect of your business.

Clients can help bring these problems to your attention so that the company can get it fixed. While it is true that some customers often complain about minor inconveniences, these gaps are still critical information for your business. Management should take all complaints seriously and keep minor issues in mind. You can use your customer’s insights to make changes down the line and avoid future complaints. When you make things easier for your clients, they become more likely to retain your brand over others.

3. Improve procedures and policies

Most companies follow procedures and policies that are designed to make the business run smoothly. However, there is no way of always knowing if these things work as intended or suit your company’s best interest. Fortunately, customers can test your internal processes and systems and point out the flaws. Their feedback also provides hints on things that are unclear or entirely unnecessary to your customers.

By addressing client complaints, you can also discover procedures and policies that are inconvenient for your team. Companies that gather and maintain data about their customer’s insights may find the need to implement a problem-solving process to improve customer service. You can shape your employee’s training process so that they are better at handling real-time problems.

4. Enhance customer satisfaction

For every negative bit of feedback you get, hundreds or even thousands of clients most likely experienced the same issue. Most unhappy customers tend to keep it to themselves but will stop purchasing your products or support your services. Those that do complain about your business express not only their feelings but also those of other clients. Despite what others think, clients who send negative feedback are the best type of customers.

Their feedback gives you another chance to improve and keep your business. When you address their complaints and provide an instant resolution, you can make them and all the other silent unsatisfied customers happy. According to a Harvard Business Review report, clients who send feedback become more satisfied and loyal to a company that handles complaints promptly. Businesses should, therefore, encourage clients to come out if they are unhappy with something. This exchange can become a valuable opportunity for brands to solidify their relationships with their clients.

5. Attract more clients

As mentioned in the report from Harvard Business Review, clients tend to remember good and bad customer service experiences. When companies treat their customers well and satisfactorily resolve issues, the clients are more than willing to reward them. They become long-lasting and loyal customers and may even refer you to their family and friends.

These clients can become the best marketing source that will spread your brand’s value to other interested clients. When people hear that someone they know trusts a particular brand, they are more inclined to give that business a try. Many companies report that about 40% of their news clients come from customer referrals.

6.  Leave a positive impact on brand image

Providing a channel where clients can report any issues encountered with your products or services leaves a positive impact on your brand image. However, the real game-changer is if your business takes the time to address the issue and provide a response to the complaint. A survey by BrightLocal reported that 97% of consumers who read customer reviews also read the businesses’ responses. Having open communication with customers improves your reputation and makes your company look trustworthy.

Clients will see that you care about their insights and experiences with your brand. The more your company goes above and beyond at addressing any reported issues, the more your clients become satisfied with your business. These happy customers are likely to share the five-star experience with their family, friends, and colleagues, which will help build your reputation even more. Once word gets out in the market, customers will flock to your doorstep.