Guy Winch, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist and author of The Squeaky Wheel: Complaining the Right Way to Get Results, Improve Your Relationships and Enhance Self-Esteem (January 4, 2011 by Walker & Company).
Most customer service representatives are trained to voice apologies when handling complaint calls but they are rarely trained to do so correctly. Consider the following scenario:
A customer calls a contact center to complain about a new video camera that malfunctioned after only two days erasing everything the customer had taped. The representative jumps in and says, “I’m sorry your video camera malfunctioned” and then goes on to tell the customer the “good news”, that their warranty provides them free parts and labor at a nearby service center and a turnaround time of only two to four weeks.
The two biggest mistakes service representatives make when apologizing are doing so too soon and having a one size fits all version.
The representative apologized, named the issue correctly and even offered a solution. The vast majority of companies would consider such an apology acceptable and sufficient, but is it?
What if the footage the customer lost in the malfunctioning camera was the birth of his first child; images of his wife holding their newborn daughter, the joy and tears they both felt after years of struggle with fertility treatments, precious moments lost forever? Would “I’m sorry your video camera malfunctioned” represent a sufficient apology then?
The reason many companies fall short in the apology department is that truly effective apologies are more complicated to pull off than we realize.
The Science of Effective Apologies
Despite years of research into conflict resolution and forgiveness, the role of apologies in most studies are typically noted by their absence or presence alone (i.e., whether an apology was offered or not). But recent studies have found that beyond mere expressions of regret (“I’m sorry”), three additional components play a crucial role in determining whether an apology will be effective in eliciting forgiveness and mending relationship ruptures: (A) Expressions of empathy (B) Adequate offers of compensation (C) Acknowledgments that certain norms and expectations were violated.
While most companies offer some form or redress or compensation (for example, fixing or replacing a malfunctioning video camera) they are not always adequate. Further, statements of empathy and acknowledgments that certain norms and expectation were violated are rarely expressed by service representatives.
How Customer Service Representatives Should Apologize
The two biggest mistakes service representatives make when apologizing (there are still companies whose representatives fail to voice apologies of any kind) are (a) doing so too soon and (b) having a one size fits all version such as “I’m sorry you had trouble with [blank]”. Such approaches might reduce a company’s contact center training costs but they contribute to unsuccessful service recoveries, poor customer retention and even poorer customer loyalty.
Effective apologies must adhere to the following principles:
1. Customer service representatives should only apologize after allowing the customer to express their complaint fully. Until they know what exactly they are apologizing for, any statement of regret they make will not seem authentic to the customer.
2. The representative must offer an empathic statement that reflects the customer’s perception of their problem’s severity. In our example, something like, “Oh my goodness, I am so sorry to hear that! I can only imagine how upset you must feel. I am truly sorry this happened on such an important occasion!” would be much closer to expressing the necessary amount of empathy for such an unfortunate incident.
3. When relevant, the representative should acknowledge the problem the customer encountered represents a clear departure from what they should expect from the company (that the company too finds it unacceptable). In our example, “We take pride in our products and it is extremely rare for one to malfunction this way right out of the box. Again, I cannot tell you how sorry I am for this to have happened.”
4. The goal of offering compensation (by having the item fixed or replaced) is restore a sense of justice and fairness. In our example, having the video camera fixed is insufficient as it is a standard procedure that does nothing to acknowledge the customer’s unique circumstance. The representative could state the standard procedure but then offer to overnight the customer a replacement so he does not miss capturing any more of his daughter’s first days or take other unusual compensatory actions. Doing so will restore the customer’s sense of justice and fairness and render the representative’s apologies both convincing and ultimately effective.
Of course, there is more to a successful service recovery than an apology alone. In our example the representative must make sure there are no other issues, get all the pertinent information, confirm the replacement video camera arrives in the time frame stated and follow up with a phone call or email to the customer.#p#分页标题#e#
Making sure their apologies are effective is crucial if a company’s service recoveries are to be successful. Effective apologies can repair and even strengthen the core relationship between companies and their customers. Successful apologies can increase customer loyalty and create powerful word of mouth for a company while lackluster apologies risk spreading negative word of mouth and losing the customer entirely.
Elton John was half right: Sorry might be the hardest word, but it’s not an impossible one.
Copyright 2010 Guy Winch
References: Fehr, R., & Gelfand, M. (2010). When apologies work: How matching apology components to victims’ self-construals facilitates forgiveness. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 113 (1), 37-50.
Guy Winch received his doctorate in clinical psychology from New York University in 1991 and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in family and couples therapy at NYU Medical Center. He has been working with individuals, couples and families in his private practice in Manhattan, since 1992. He is a member of the American Psychological Association. For more information about Guy Winch, Ph.D, visit http://www.guywinch.com/ Dr. Winch also writes the popular Squeaky Wheel Blog on Psychologytoday.com.
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