9 Strategies Businesses Use to Rebound From Customer Failure

If you have ever experienced customer failure, what is one thing you did to rebound from it?

To help you rebound from customer failure, we asked business leaders and professionals this question for their insights. From owning your mistake to addressing the issue quickly, there are several ways you can rebound from customer failure. 

Here are nine ways to rebound from customer failure:

• Leverage Communications Tools 
• Put Quality Control Processes in Place
• Make Sure to Learn From It
• Reach Out to Negative Reviewers 
• Use It as a Training Opportunity
• Own Your Mistake
• Address the Issue Quickly
• Build a Process So It Doesn’t Happen Again 
• Improve the Employee Experience 

Leverage Communications Tools 

Customer failure often stems from a break in communication. The primary way businesses communicate is through email and phone calls. However, inboxes can be difficult to manage and recalling everything said during a business call can be unreliable. Companies can rebound from communication mishaps by harnessing the power of communications analytics, which can examine the metadata and content of your email and telephone conversations and provide insights into customer behavior and trends.

Francesca Yardley, Threads

Put Quality Control Processes in Place

Customer failure can come in many forms, including product quality control. That’s why every single eyelash extension product we sell goes through a stringent trial program in our personal and partnered salons. My network of lash experts ensure the quality of new products so we only offer the best of what the industry has to offer.

Vanessa Molica, The Lash Professional

Make Sure to Learn From It

Rebounding from a failed customer experience means being able to reframe the experience. Seeing a failed customer experience solely as a failure can make it hard for you to mentally shake it off. But if you frame the interaction as a learning opportunity, you’ll be able to think about what you can do in the future to prevent something else like that from happening. Will you ever be able to eradicate bad experiences? Probably not. But we can put as many preventative tactics into place as we can–starting from training all the way to making sure the product is always at the highest quality.

Guy Katabi, Lightkey

Reach Out to Negative Reviewers 

Often, small businesses are only made aware of a customer complaint when they receive a negative review on a directory. You can bounce back by reaching out to the customer through the directory. Google and Yelp allow the business owner to respond to reviews publicly, which gives companies the opportunity to get a customer back and shows potential customers the business owner’s dedication to creating strong customer relationships. Finally, make sure to do what you can to spark customer loyalty when a dissatisfied customer gives you a chance to turn the situation around.

Randall S Smalley II, Cruise America

Use It as a Training Opportunity

Every business will go through a service failure at some point, ours included. One tip to recover from a customer service failure is to double your training efforts. Identify what went wrong in the customer interaction and address the proper solution with your team. Chances are that the team may encounter a similar situation and knowing the best practices will only increase customer satisfaction and loyalty over time.

Chris Abrams, Abrams Insurance Solutions

Own Your Mistake

Even if you’ve been honest about your mistake and learned from it, it’s still necessary to take responsibility for the issue. Taking responsibility for your mistakes is essential for demonstrating to your clients that you are a responsible person who lives with integrity. Putting your mistake in the front may seem counterintuitive, but it will help restore your clients’ trust in you. This is an opportunity to not only gain your customers’ trust, but also their loyalty.  

Brandon K. Berglund, Berglund Insurance

Address the Issue Quickly

It’s essential to reestablish the customer’s belief that they were handled fairly. That’s why addressing the situation as quickly as possible is important. Don’t let the situation go too long without any contact. Show that you are committed to correcting the issue right away to alleviate ill feelings that can build quickly when there is a lack of communication.

Blake Murphey, American Pipeline Solutions

Build a Process So It Doesn’t Happen Again 

Customer failure is something no one wants to think about, but it happens to every business at some point, especially if you are growing fast and your product is growing even faster. Once you own it, you have to learn from it. Take the situation, dissect it, discuss it as a team, and build a process so it doesn’t happen again. Typically, once a customer knows you have a plan in place so it doesn’t happen again, you are moving a step in the rebound direction. 

Jenn Christie, Markitors

Improve the Employee Experience 

The one thing we did to rebound from a customer failure was to improve the employee experience. Employees are the key to successful relationships with customers. It became apparent that if we were to succeed as a business, we needed to make our employees the centre of our mission. We focused on improving our company culture and addressing employee concerns, as well as empowering our employees with the tools they needed to serve customers better. We noticed a dramatic improvement in customer satisfaction as a result, as well as consistent improvements in our customer service metrics.

Patrick Crane, Love Sew

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