Topic: Member Workshop: Turning Unhappy Customers into Loyal Buyers
Host: hostedsupport Date: Tuesday 05/13 Time: 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Pacific time Location:Workshop Board
Description: In this workshop, Jerad Schempp, COO of Certified Solution Provider HostedSupport will provide a process for turning unhappy customers into loyal, long-term buyers!
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Welcome everyone and thanks for joining us today! I love workshops to be interactive, so please feel free to ask any questions directly relating to this topic.
Our eBay ID is hostedsupport and HostedSupport is an eBay Certified Solution Provider. We’ve been in business since 2003 and have an eBay Compatible Application that’s built exclusively for eBay sellers. I’m very excited to share our experience and knowledge regarding customer support issues, and how you can have more auction listings (and increase your revenue), without being swamped by customer questions.
You’ve probably heard the old saying that business would be going great…if it weren’t for the customers. Normally this isn’t case, but no matter how well you run your business it’s inevitable that you’re going to have some unhappy or “difficult” customers.
Difficult customers come in many shapes and sizes. Some may have a legitimate complaint. Some may simply have a personality that rubs you the wrong way. Some may be overly picky or constant complainers. Others may be extremely emotional and angry with you, either for a good or a bad reason.
No matter how difficult certain customers may be, it’s important that you learn to deal with them positively and constructively, because, and this is especially true on eBay, if you fail to deal properly with one disgruntled customer that customer may spread the word about their negative experience to hundreds of others. However, deal with an unhappy buyer adeptly and they will become a loyal and happy customer who will sing your praises.
And look at the bright side. Most customers who feel wronged simply take their business elsewhere without giving you a chance to correct the situation. A customer who is complaining cares enough to talk with you and hasn’t decided to give up and move on to your competition. Difficult customers are providing you with the opportunity to demonstrate your ability to professionally diffuse the problem while building a strong customer relationship for the future.
So, let’s say you’ve just received a flaming email, or even worse, are suddenly confronted with an unhappy customer on the phone. What’s the best way to deal with this disgruntled customer? Here’s a proven process that will help you deal with the situation.
RESPOND IMMEDIATELY If the customer has sent you an email or left a voicemail, respond pronto. Rapid replies are always important when providing customer support, but this is especially true with disgruntled customers. The longer the customer has to wait for a response, the angrier they’re going to get.
STAY CALM and LISTEN This may be the hardest part of dealing with an upset customer. No matter what the reason for their anger…a malfunctioning product, late delivery, a billing issue, or just a figment of their imagination…at first you’re best off simply listening. Let the customer sound off as long as necessary, and sometimes a problem can be diffused by simply giving the customer this chance to vent.
When a customer is very angry, it’s natural that your first reaction may be to also become angry and defensive. But remember that the customer isn’t personally attacking you. If you lose your temper it’s inevitable that the situation will get out of hand, and you’ll both end up losing. There’s no way to come out a winner in an argument with a customer. When the customer realizes that you’re listening he/she will eventually calm down and you’ll then be able to handle the issue constructively.
CLARIFY the PROBLEM Once the customer has gotten the issue off their chest, start asking questions in a neutral tone to help calm the customer down. Sometimes the problem will be clear-cut, but frequently it’s difficult understanding the bottom-line issue when a customer is venting. Asking pertinent questions will allow you to clarify the problem while giving the customer a chance to clear their thoughts and become rational. When you think you understand the details, restate the problem for the customer to make sure you’ve got it right. This will also show the customer that you’ve listened and that you care about resolving the issue.
VALIDATE / APOLOGIZE Now that you fully understand what has upset the customer, tell him/her that you understand their frustration. Even if the problem is insignificant or seems irrational to you, it’s still important to show the customer that you respect their concern. Then assure the customer that you will do what you can to remedy the situation as quickly as possible.
And if you’ve done something wrong, sincerely apologize. People generally understand that mistakes happen. If you’re willing to apologize and make things right, most customers will immediately be satisfied.
DON’T POINT FINGERS No matter who is at fault, avoid blaming. If the customer made a mistake, you need to explain the situation without making the customer feel stupid or challenging their truthfulness. And if you made a mistake, simply take responsibility for it without denigrating your company or suppliers.
IDENTIFY a RESOLUTION If the problem can be solved in more than one way (refund or credit, etc.) ask the customer how they would like the issue resolved. You may think you know what will make the customer happy, but often the customer will want something completely different. If the customer wants something unrealistic, do your best to accommodate them and compromise. Customers are much more likely to be satisfied when they feel that a solution has been worked out by collaboration rather than being imposed on them.
RESOLVE the PROBLEM ASAP Now resolve the problem as fast as you can. This seems obvious, but we all know what it’s like to get bogged down in a work day and let something slip through the cracks. Unless you want to make the customer even angrier and deal with an escalation of the issue, do whatever you need to do finish handling the problem. Then follow up with the customer to let him/her know that the problem has been resolved.
KEEP in CONTACT If the problem can’t be resolved quickly, remember to keep in contact with the customer until a resolution is in place. Keeping the customer informed about the resolution process shows that you care and that you’re actively working to fix the problem.
LEARN Dealing with unhappy customers should also be a learning experience for you. The feedback you receive can be an opportunity for you to improve your business practices or present better information upfront, so customers are more well-informed when making purchases. The more you learn from each dissatisfied customer, the fewer dissatisfied customers you’ll need to deal with in the future.
IF EVERYTHING FAILS… OK, so what if you’ve done your best to handle the situation with tact and diplomacy, but the customer is totally irrational? What if the customer is utterly wrong, and no compensation or special treatment is due them, but they’re still insisting that “the customer is always right.”
In these rare cases you essentially have two options. If you believe the customer has long-term value, you can give in, provide them with some sort of credit, and hope that they’re more rational the next time you deal with them. Or, you can decide that this is one of those hostile individuals that causes more grief than they’re worth and just quit doing business with them.
The second option should only be used in the most extreme situations because, as stated earlier, unhappy customers can be very vocal. But if the customer is truly irrational, it’s likely that other people will realize this too and take their criticism with a grain of salt.
The process I’ve described above will certainly help you deal with unruly customers. However, support tools are also necessary for you to implement this process and to provide valuable customer support generally. Effective customer support requires giving customers access to as much information as possible, responding to customer questions and issues in a timely manner, and keeping customer purchasing and support information organized and accessible for you and your staff.
For quick responses, sellers should use a “self-service” tool that answers customer questions automatically. This allows sellers to compete effectively against even the largest eCommerce sites on the web that offer searchable FAQ knowledgebases, auto-response email, and other methods of providing 24/7 customer service.
Sellers should also keep a database of customer contact history. There’s nothing more frustrating for the seller and customer than a he-said, she-said situation. Some sellers maintain a database of customer email. This database allows them to check what they (and the customer) said last week, last month or last year and avoids confusion.
These sellers agree that answering buyer questions and providing fast, accurate customer support is critical for retaining buyers so they buy from them again in the future. It’s not enough to give a customer a discount, or throw in a free item. If sellers can’t help customers with their purchase, next time they’ll buy from another eBay seller or eCommerce site. In talking with sellers, they’ve told us that having pro-active customer support has not only increased their number of listings, and increased sales and revenue, it’s also increased their amount of positive feedback, which has increased their Feedback score.
Happy customers talk to each other. So do unhappy customers. Bad news travels fast and good news travels slow, so you have to work harder to keep customers happy. And of course, the happier your customers are, the higher your Feedback score will be, and the more listings, sales and revenue you will get. And if you follow these tips, you won’t get buried under a bazillion emails.
HostedSupport offers ezSupport for eBay, which can help you get a handle on buyer email and make it convenient for your customers to get answers. ezSupport for eBay offers an Advanced FAQ feature so that your customers can find answers to their own questions from the View Item page, rather than sending a question to you from the “Ask Seller a Question” form. eBay sellers using ezSupport for eBay report the following benefits:
- Answering most customer questions with “self service” Advanced FAQs - Automatically responding to questions that come in by email - Automatically retaining all customer communications and storing them indefinitely - Freeing up time that can be used to increase revenue - A 25% increase in listings and revenue due to time savings
More than 1,500 eBay sellers use ezSupport for eBay, including top sellers like Eforcity. If you would like to see detailed case studies on how eBay sellers are using ezSupport for eBay, you can go to www.HostedSupport.com and visit the Case Study section of the website.
By using these tips and tools for improving and automating customer support, you’ll be able to work “smarter” rather than just working harder. You’ll get better Feedback scores, more repeat buyers, and higher revenue for your business!
However, since ebay has made the decision to institute a change to feedback policy, whereby sellers will only be able to leave positive feedback (regardless of the quality of the transaction), while buyers will retain the ability to leave positive, negative or neutral feedback, there is simply not much point to even selling on ebay.
I have 446 unique feedbacks, all positive and all well-deserved. I have only ever given positive (and well-deserved) feedback to my buyers (and my sellers, for that matter). But with the change to feedback policy, no matter HOW great a seller one is and no matter the degree to which one tries to please the buyer, some buyers (a minority, yes -- but on ebay even that minority amounts to thousands) simply WILL be obnoxious and leave undeserved negative feedback.
So while your efforts and information are appreciated, they are also, unfortunately, not going to help.
Hi poetryeater, and thanks for your comments. Although the points I've related above apply to selling on eBay, they've been developed for conducting business on any platform. It's always wise to minimize negative customer feedback regardless of where you're selling.
While I am new to eBay i ahve been selling things for over four decades. What you say is true. Happy customers generate more business and unhapy customes can cause periods of financial loss while you rebuild your customer satisfaction.
Hi whatsthatstuff, you're absolutely correct. And while it's impossible to please every customer every time, you can always do your best to handle an unhappy customer in the best way to minimize the damage.
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