How To Handle Email: Customer Complaints

In this edition of “how to handle emails,” let’s talk about customer complaints, because let’s face it, a customer has a right to complain. A customer has a right to have his or her expectations met. If anyone has given you any money or invested some of their time and energy in you, you do owe them the respect and time to at least see what their concern or complaint is about. Maybe I shouldn’t use the word, “complaint,” but you know the ones I’m talking about.

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People legitimately either have a problem with a product or what they bought didn’t match what you were selling according to the sales page or whatever advertising you have, and you really have to weight, “Is the customer right? Is their complaint right?” and if so, it’s really not worth the bad mojo, the bad press and whatever bad word goes around, by trying to keep that $10, $20, $50, $100, for something that legitimately is a concern or a complaint.

Even if it’s borderline like, “Well, this person really should’ve known better because my sales copy made it clear that this project was really what I said it was,” but then they came back and said that’s not what they wanted and can’t use it.

You kind of have to judge for yourself. Is it a digital product and it’s not so secret but valuable enough to where you can charge for it, but don’t really think a refund would build that good blood? Then maybe just give the refund and say, “Hey, sorry, I will update my landing page copy to be more clear and I apologize for the confusion.”

Instead of making an enemy, you basically got paid temporarily get good feedback from someone. It’s not a bad thing. That’s a buying customer that, one, can give you a way to better improve your copy or two, give you an idea for a product, because if they were looking for a specific product and you didn’t have it, what’s stopping you from having it?

So there’s a lot of good data that could be garnered from a customer mistake or complaint, so look at it that way. Don’t look at it as a hit on your worth or your business. Look at it as, “Hey, there’s some valuable information here. What can I get out of it?” and then go get that information. Treat them nicely. Treat them fairly.

Sure, you’re going to get some goofy ones every once in awhile, and as some of the reviews of very famous book you see will say, “I didn’t even read this book and I’m giving it 1 star because I don’t think it’s right.” Sometimes it happens and those you just have to shrug off and leave it alone. But the legitimate ones, treat them fair. Don’t look at it as a loss, look at it as a gain and make of it what you can. Treat your people right.