SEO Hosting Blog

If you’ve been in business for any extended period of time, you know that you’re not going to satisfy every customer. Occasionally, a customer is going to get ticked off at you. They might threaten to stop doing business with you, or they may go online and say some nasty things about your company. The situation might have been caused by a mistake you or someone at your company made. Or it could have been caused by something that was totally out of your control.

While I don’t subscribe to the theory that the customer is always right, I do believe there are many instances where your best play is to apologize and try to smooth things over with the customer. And because you only get one chance to apologize (and you can’t apologize for a bad apology, Larry David), you have to make sure you get the apology right.

Here are some helpful tips for apologizing to a customer.

• Don’t blame others—Customers hate it when companies try to pass the buck. Even if you’re not directly responsible for the mistake, you need to take full responsibility and give a sincere apology. Playing the blame game will only upset the customer more.
• Don’t add a “but”—You can’t say “We apologize, but…” and expect the customer to accept your apology. Swallow your pride, apologize, and move forward. A half-hearted apology is often worse than no apology at all.
• Be prompt—Don’t wait until it’s too late to apologize. You have to take swift action when a customer is angry at your company. The longer you wait, the angrier they get and the harder it gets to win the customer back.
• Make sure you actually apologize—Apologizing means using words like “sorry” and “apologize.” Too many times, people are afraid to fully apologize because they think that admitting guilt will harm their reputation. But the reality is that you have to fully apologize in order for the customer to get over their anger and resentment toward your brand. An effective apology can restore that relationship.

Have you ever had to apologize to a customer? How did you handle it?

Apologizing sucks. No one really enjoys admitting they screwed up, especially in the business world. Most companies have this idea that admitting a mistake will cause their company to look weak and amateurish. Instead, they think that passing the blame or refusing to fess up to mistakes is the right thing to do.

And they’re wrong.

Sure, it’s not fun to apologize, but a good apology can nip a customer dispute in the bud and possibly even turn that angry customer into a long-term customer. Or at the very least, it may turn that angry customer into a less angry customer who won’t tell the entire world about his bad experience.

Of course, there’s a right way and a wrong way to apologize to your customers. So, the next time you find yourself saying sorry to an angry consumer, keep these simple tips in mind.

• Don’t blame someone else—Customers don’t want to hear your excuses, and they don’t want to see a bunch of finger pointing. What they want is someone who will step up to the plate, apologize, and offer a solution for making things right. Never play the blame game.
• Take control of the situation quickly—Even if it’s not your fault, you need to own the situation immediately. The faster you can get in touch with the angry customer and listen to his complaints, the better. Because if your company is unresponsive, that angry customer is only going to get angrier, and he just might take to the internet to rip your company a new one.
• Remember the customer’s long term value—If you can make things right with this customer, is there a chance they’ll come back to buy again? Is this a repeat customer who has been doing business with you for a while? If the customer has a high long term value, you need to keep that in mind when handling the situation. Give your very best apology so you can try to keep them happy.
• Do whatever you can to make things right—Rules are made to be broken. So, before you tell a customer you can’t (customers hate this word) do anything to solve their problem, take a step back to see if there’s any way you can bend a rule or make an exception to keep the customer happy. Customers appreciate businesses that go the extra mile to ensure their satisfaction.
• Learn something from the bad experience—Experience is our best teacher. Sure, it sucks to have a customer mad at you, but there is always something to be learned from these situations. Figure out what exactly went wrong, and work like hell to prevent it from happening again.

Have you ever had to say sorry to your customers?