Strengthen Loyalty through Bad Customer Experiences

By Lori J. Boyce
Senior Director, AFFINA

I was on the customer end of a bad experience recently that reminded me of the impact of customer care on brand loyalty.

It’s a long story with too much detail to go into here, but as a customer care professional, I immediately recognized the situation as it was: a behavior-changing customer experience.

While at a local restaurant dining with my family – which includes three young children, our order took more than 45 minutes to arrive, and when it did – it was wrong and cold. The server was indifferent to the situation, which was only made more miserable by kids who were beyond impatient not to mention hungry.

Bottom line – I had made up my mind … I was through with this restaurant which had created a situation that had turned a relaxing family meal into a stressful experience. I wanted to get out of the place as soon as I could and never return. My loyalty was dramatically impacted. It was likely that I was lost as a customer and worse, I may even tell others about it. A shame – it was a family favorite.

That’s when something happened … just in time. The manager, who had started her shift toward the end of this experience, recognized that something had gone wrong. After a short conversation at our table, she apologized, offered our meal at no charge, provided my children with milkshakes to go, and gave us a half-price coupon for our next visit. Then she sealed the deal by empathizing with us, and asked us to give them another chance.

Just like that, our loyalty was … well, strengthened. Can bad customer experiences, when handled carefully, actually strengthen loyalty more than if a customer had never had a problem at all?

Absolutely.

In this situation, the manager clearly was more than just a nice person. She deliberately sought us out and did three things very right:

1. Recognized that my loyalty was at risk.
2. Took the time to hear me out and understand my pain.
3. Responded to me as an individual, and did what it took to increase the chances I would return.

She knew that she had one opportunity to fix my bad experience. She nailed it.

Complaints represent rare opportunities to impact loyalty in big way. After all, when customers reach out to complain, they are willingly offering you:

1. A chance to make things right; and
2. Honest feedback on your products and services.

Sometimes, customers simply want to be heard and have someone acknowledge that their experience was unacceptable. Simple allowances – like coupons – can go a long way to restore loyalty, and invite customers back into a relationship with you. Finally, don’t discount the data collected through complaint handling. Real-time alerts, periodic trending and analysis, and validation through customer satisfaction and loyalty survey results, all shed valuable light on how customers react to your products and services.

AFFINA - Your Customers. Our Priority.