Did you know: Successful service recovery following a mistake can actually create customers who are more loyal than if they’d received flawless service from the start? (It’s true—learn more about the service recovery paradox).
When you think about it, it makes sense. Who doesn’t love a good redemption story? It’s what rom-com dreams are made of. The best ones feature a little stumble from their romantic leads, and their efforts to overcome and re-win their partner’s heart make their happily-ever-after feel even sweeter in the end.
Like our romantic heroes, when you identify and fix a service issue with humility, while making things even better than before, you build a stronger foundation of trust. You show that when things get tough, you’ll stick around and fight for your customers. Here’s how you can ride off into the sunset with any whose trust your team may have fumbled.
Common service recovery questions
We’ve helped dozens of firms measure and improve their customer experience (CX) over the years, and a common thread was that many weren’t prepared for service recovery. But we can’t express enough how important this is, especially when dealing with NPS survey detractors. So, before we cover how to protect your CX and your revenue with a strong service recovery process, we’ll answer a couple common questions about service recovery to make sure we’re on the same page.
Question: What does service recovery mean?
Answer: Service recovery is the way your team creates a happy customer after they’ve experienced some type of problem or disappointment. Even if that customer feels just plain neglected, your team should know what steps they need to take to overcome the issue and make their customer happy.
Question: How does service recovery fit into my overall CX strategy?
Answer: CX strategy covers everything from reactive customer service to proactive customer loyalty efforts. It should also include a plan for how you’ll recover from service issues. If a customer’s email slips through the cracks and goes unanswered, or a report they’re waiting for is late, what will your team do? If you don’t know the answer to that question, then you haven’t yet baked a service recovery plan into your CX strategy—and it’s high time you do. Don’t worry, though, our next section gives you a good framework to get started.
Service Recovery Rules to Live By
How can you make your service recovery such a delightful experience that it overshadows the initial issue and turns unhappy customers into brand advocates? Here’s what works for us—and what we’ve seen our clients successfully put into practice when rescuing their relationship with a dissatisfied customer.
Say sorry—even if it’s not your “fault.”
Ask your team to adopt the mindset that your customer is always right (while still having their back!). When they do, the rest of your recovery efforts will naturally align. Even if you feel certain that your team isn’t at fault, apologizing is a helpful first step. After all, an unhappy customer isn’t the result you strive for, so you should at least be sorry they’re not satisfied. Plus, a quick apology can cool brewing dissatisfaction by showing that you’re willing to make things right, which opens the door to a successful service recovery.
Don’t be defensive.
Anything that pulls you away from being a compassionate advocate for your client will result in a haphazard service recovery. So, while it may feel intuitive to shelter yourself and your team from blame, you’ll recover more smoothly from a service failure when you’re not feeling and acting defensive. Rather than minimizing the issue or treating your client like they’re overreacting, take responsibility where you can.
Don’t make excuses.
Telling your client why something happened doesn’t change the fact that it happened. And if you start out by rehashing the issue, you’ll not only remind them of why they’re irritated in the first place but also delay the solution and further waste their time, likely annoying them even more. They don’t care why it happened, they just want it to be fixed. Prioritize your conversation around what you can do to help the client resolve the issue.
Show empathy and remember the individual.
After failing to provide excellent service, say something like, “I’m so sorry. That’s not how we typically do things, and you have every right to feel frustrated. I’ll look into how we can fix this.” With that one statement you’ve apologized, taken responsibility, expressed empathy, and assured them that you’ll fix the problem. You should also keep in mind that the service issue has had individual consequences. For instance, as a result of the service issue, your client contact may have looked unprepared in front of their boss. While it’s natural to focus on resolving the issue at the company level, make sure you also acknowledge and apologize at the personal level to preserve that relationship and create two-way empathy.
Identify the core issue, then fix it.
Before you can move forward, your team must first make things right by resolving the issue. Figure out what caused the issue to get to the root of the problem. Then take action. Fix it so something like this can’t happen again. Finally share the details about how you’re (already) solving the problem with your client so they know you’re on top of things moving forward.
Make sure your customer is happy. Go big or go home.
Your service recovery must be more memorable than your service failure. If you made a small mistake, you need to recover like you’ve made a huge mistake. If you missed a deadline by a day, for instance, prioritize your recovery as if you missed it by a week. This way, your client can’t miss how dedicated you are towards making things right.
Service recovery has a silver lining
While you’re certainly never excited about disappointing a client, you can turn a service failure into an opportunity to nurture your client relationship. Think of it as a rare chance to demonstrate the care and support clients receive when working with your firm. Show your commitment to long-term relationships by going to any length in order to fix a problem. Once you have, your clients will be so impressed by your recovery that they may not even remember the issue you needed to recover from.
Ready to strengthen the foundation of trust with your customers? Try ClearlyRated and discover the power of effective service recovery with a free client survey.
