Customer happiness is a key ingredient for business growth. A satisfied client simply buys more, engages in repeat purchases, shows greater loyalty, and is willing to pay higher prices. Numerous studies explain how positive customer experience directly impacts sales, revenue, and market share.
On the other hand, unhappiness quickly drives customers away. About half of consumers say they will change brands after one negative service experience. And that number jumps to close to 90% after three negative experiences.
Even worse, dissatisfied customers are vocal. That can lead to negative word-of-mouth, a loss in brand reputation, and a drastic increase in chargebacks. Bad service harms your business.
So how do you solve the problem of a dissatisfied customer? Read on to discover all you need to know about converting unhappy customers into repeat buyers where you'll learn:
Unhappiness occurs when a customer becomes aware of a business shortcoming. At some level, your product or service has not met expectations. The customer feels you did not satisfy their needs or wants, so dissatisfaction grows.
Usually, there is a snowball effect. Several different factors combine to create a negative experience. Common reasons for customer unhappiness include:
Lack of service or communication: The sales journey involves several barriers to purchase. Standard friction with shipping, payment, and security can all deter a customer. And customers want support during those moments of stress. If they receive zero help (or worse, rude business staff), unhappiness may arise.
An unhappy customer creates several negative consequences:
Unhappiness damages the current and potential Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) of your market base. That includes all future loyalty, advocacy, and possible sales. You also have all the costs related to any chargebacks and employee churn. It is well worth your time to invest in a customer experience strategy that converts dissatisfied customers into repeat buyers.
Luckily, there are several action steps you can take to address consumer unhappiness.
You have power in an apology. Responding to negative feedback in a positive manner can often retain a client who otherwise would go elsewhere. Your resolution efforts can eliminate many of the negative impacts related to unhappy customers, remember a customer with a resolved complaint is less likely to post negative reviews, feel buyer's remorse, engage in chargebacks, or spread bad word of mouth. Top-notch customer communication management is the perfect tool for converting unhappy customers.
Some common strategies for complaint resolution include:
Validation: Recognize the emotions a customer feels with empathy. When you validate a client's requests, you build trust and foster communication toward better outcomes.
| Complaint resolution with Amazon
Amazon has a sterling reputation for consumer satisfaction (the tech company earns top ranks in multiple categories of the American Customer Satisfaction Index). But that rank has slipped a little in recent years. When asked how the company plans to address unhappiness issues, satisfaction reps offered the obvious solution: resolve customer complaints. A given example included answering 80% of all phone support requests within 60 seconds or less and by 30 seconds via chat support. |
When customers feel misled, distrust grows. And without trust, it is nearly impossible to sustain a long-term customer-to-business relationship. A frustrated client is more likely to feel buyer's remorse and rarely returns as a repeat buyer.
Fortunately, there are several common business areas where you can resolve transparency gaps:
For example, make all business and product pages easy to read. Post all store policies in accessible areas. Write clear product data and billing items. Such transparency supports customer satisfaction. And that’s l in addition to another primary benefit: the reduction of chargebacks. Clear refund policies and billing descriptors are key methods for eliminating friendly fraud.
| Transparency with Target
Target is known for its transparent practices. The company has won the industry award in the Consumer Discretion category and ranks sixth on the overall index set by the Transparency Awards. It is no surprise then that company manages to earn rising sales revenue with a sticky customer base. And that's all within a difficult demographic and going up against heavy competition (e.g. Costco and Home Depot). |
The post-purchase experience is the final step of the customer journey. At this stage, your customers determine whether your business failed or met their expectations. If failed, unhappiness sets in. With such a critical juncture, it pays to improve your post-purchase experience.
Here are some common customer experience improvement strategies:
Offer Rewards: Loyalty programs, rewards for user-generated content, and referral programs can stimulate repeat purchases and build a happy customer relationship.
| How to Implement a Post-Purchase Experience With Justt
Justt is made up of a team of experts at resolving chargebacks. They list several additional strategies you can deploy to improve your pre and post-purchase experience. In addition, the company offers partnered organizations a combination of payments know-how with proprietary chargeback mitigation technology. Together, these create tailor-made solutions that use machine learning to grow smarter over time. And it works — Justt typically sees a 2X improvement in chargeback win rates for clients. |
Social platforms create spaces for a community. It is another connection point you can have with your customer. Ideally, you can use the platforms as a service method — offer an omnichannel customer experience to help build customer engagement and satisfaction.
Possible social media activities:
| Social service with Starbucks
Starbucks runs a robust social media campaign. The coffee chain runs most of its customer communication through its apps. Service teams can offer a seamless service experience through user comments, rewards, and even a dedicated customer service page: |
Customer unhappiness has a direct impact on business profitability. From the cost of lost customers to a high chargeback rate, revenue drops when the customer has a bad service experience. It pays to focus on keeping happy customers.
Luckily, making a hyper-personalized customer experience does not require large upfront investments. Whether it's investing in customer service, clear refund policies, or chargeback mitigation tools, you can give your customers positive interactions that result in repeat buyers.
Before trying to act on transforming opinions, why not try starting with internal teams?
Ensure your payments, service and experience teams are aligned by reading through our article on enabling cross-team collaboration to build better processes.
