8 Tips to Convert Customer Complaints into Sales

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Customer complaints are a typical part of a business; no matter what measures the organization takes or how carefully the business operations are executed. Customer complaints are positive gestures but many organizations view them negatively.

It is necessary to deal with customer complaints effectively with the right kind of approach for a successful business. The term customer complaints is generally defined with a negative meaning. Therefore, it is common for alarm bells to start ringing when a complaint arises.

Experts say that instead of deciding that complaints are an indicator that the business is not performing well, it is profitable to view them as an opportunity to learn how to be/do better.

It is also a chance to deliver excellent customer service and increase sales.

Let’s learn a few tips from the team at 31West, a leading outsourced service desk company, that can help your chat support team convert customer complaints into sales opportunities.

Quick Response to Live Chat Requests

Every customer logging a complaint needs to feel valued and heard by the business. If the help desk agents are using live chat for complaint handling and are not responding quickly, there are chances that a customer may feel ignored and take their business elsewhere.

If the help desk agent responds to a customer quickly, it means you are showing your customers that they are your priority. It also demonstrates that you prioritize complaint handling seriously and that customer needs are important to you.

Any customer who is happy with your approach is more likely to do business with you again. However, the question at the end of the chat “Is there anything else that I can help you with?” encourages you to develop fresh sales prospects.

Take Responsibility for Customer Issues

An angry customer is likely to calm down when you take responsibility for the problem and show them that you are working to resolve the issue.

Trying to blame the system or others or trying to cover up the truth will indicate an ineffective complaint management system. Adopting the live chat option offers businesses a unique element in complaint handling by being honest, open, and transparent.

The live chat motivates human-based rapport influencing the customer’s upcoming buying choices.

Improve the Speed of Response with Predesigned Messages

A help desk agent needs to respond instantly to a customer who initiated a live chat. Additionally, answering and resolving issues throughout the live chat shows that your customers are your priority.

The help desk needs to prepare predesigned template messages to common questions to ensure a uniform flow of conversation with the customer. Instead of typing every response, predesigned messages can be sent with just a click of a button.

Offer Compensation

Sometimes it is not quite enough to say a simple sorry to a customer who feels their time/money has been wasted. According to the situation, you can offer compensation for their troubles.

This doesn’t need to be an amount instead; it could be in the form of a discount code or a discount coupon towards their next transaction or purchase with your business.

This offer encourages the customer to make another purchase with the free gift voucher. It makes them happy as well as they trust the complaint-handling policy of the business.

Help Desk Staff to Convert Customer Complaints into Sales

Explore Chat History to Improve the Customer Experience

One can reopen the previous transcripts frequently while using live chat. This helps the agent understand your customer’s previous problems and tries to avoid repeating the issue.

Updating with the customer’s complaint or past issues/queries is a healthier way to make your customer feel valued rather than just a number in the queue.

These simple elevated customer service tips will likely affect the customers on their next buying choice.

Be Grateful for the Client’s Business

Every client is happy if a business pays attention as they don’t like to be taken for granted. If a client feels that the business doesn’t care about them, then they’ll find one that does.

Adopting live chat adds a human touch to the customer’s complaint-handling experience and helps by transforming complaints into sales.

Businesses should be thankful to customers for highlighting issues that they can learn to solve and for being their customers. Every small gesture means a great lot to unhappy customers and if they feel you value them, they return back to the business multiple times.

Following Up with the Customer

Excellent customer complaint handling should involve a follow-up from the agent. This helps in determining if the customer’s issue is completely resolved and if they are happy with our services.

This follow-up proves to your customer that you have prioritised and are concerned about your service to them. This special follow-up demonstrates how much you value them and pushes them to make another purchase with your business.

Escalate Complaints on Time

All customer complaint management processes have an escalation procedure. Agents may want to resolve all complaints via live chat or calls but sometimes that doesn’t happen.

In the escalation process, there are other agents who can resolve the issue. So, it is advisable to inform the customer of what is happening and keep them updated throughout the chat or call.

The escalation process is handled by the helpdesk agent who is going above and beyond to help the customer with their issues. This is also a way to gently upsell or cross-sell to the customer after the issue is resolved.

Final Note

The help desk functions include managing multiple customer conversations, prioritising customers, recording transcripts, creating standard messages, speedy resolutions, and excellent customer experience.

Therefore, the above-mentioned eight tips will help the help desk team to view complaints in a positive light and convert them into sales. Moderate customer complaints are good for business development and help to generate more sales through happier customers who can differentiate your business from your competitors.

So, aiming for such customer complaints can lead to additional sales. The above tips will help the agents to assist quickly and offer much better resolutions while handling customer complaints.

Rahul is an accomplished technical content writer and editor with over 8 years of experience in the industry. With a keen eye for detail and a deep understanding of complex technical concepts, John has successfully crafted engaging and informative content for a wide range of audiences. His expertise lies in translating intricate technical jargon into easily digestible content that resonates with readers. Throughout his career, Rahul has worked with leading technology companies, helping them communicate their ideas effectively to their target audience.