Welcome The Complaints

There are two broad areas of marketing, offensive and defensive. Offensive marketing efforts are aimed at attracting new customers or market share. Defensive marketing efforts are aimed at retaining existing customers or market share. Defensive marketing is often seen has secondary or has a white flag compared to offensive marketing strategies. This is not necessarily the case. Many areas of defensive marketing are appropriate throughout the product life cycle and will even support and minimize the cost of offensive marketing. (Fornell, C., & Wernerfelt, B., 1988).

 

One such area is customer complaint management (CCM). It is important to distinguish between complaint retribution and warranties or guarantees. A warranty or guarantee will replace or repair the problem. Complaint retribution may or may not. Complaints are not always immediately fixable. For example, if an individual complains to Apple that their new computer is too slow, then Apple is not going to custom build a computer for that individual. Apple can, however, log the information for later projects or offer to exchange the computer for a different model that does meet the customer’s criteria. Historically, managers have looked at customer complaints in a negative light. Some were even financially punished if the number of complaints reached a certain level.   Research has been done across a variety of industries, including e-commerce, and has found that customers should be encouraged to complain. The basic premise is simple. If a customer can be retained, this will almost always be less expensive than attracting a new one. The cost of the CCM system does need to be accounted for, but many options exist that are quite cost effective.

 

One of the most popular methods is a toll free telephone number. The toll free number allows the customer to complain without incurring additional cost, which would even further diminish the value derived from the product or service acquired. As long as the complaint line has not been delegated to a machine, this method provides quick attention to the customer and knowledge to the firm. The firm can then act to retain the customer, if feasible. This format is quickly being replaced with email or blogs. This technology allows for a quick response time and less cost. The important thing is to listen and then act. To learn more about customer complaint management by Fornell and Wernerfelt, read A Model for Customer Complaint Management or Defensive Marketing Strategy by Customer Complaint Management: A Theoretical Analysis .