The art of productive complaining
Research Highlights with Kiju Jung and Donnel Briley
From mortgages to banking, the financial services sector plays a pivotal role in the lives of most families – but over 80 percent of customer complaints in the US financial services sector fail to win any form of compensation. So how do we complain more effectively?
We have a tradition in marketing: we believe we can persuade consumers to buy our product. But in this research, consumers persuade the company to provide what they want.
A new study by Dr Kiju Jung and Professor Donnel Briley analysed over 200 thousand complaints about services and products in the US finance sector to determine what makes the difference between a failed and a successful complaint. They developed three important principles to help customers complain successfully:
- Be authentic. Tell the truth and don’t make any claims without evidence.
- Write longer complaints to be more informative and signal how serious you are.
- Don’t be too negative. You may come across as impolite and insincere.
An authentic complaint is beneficial to both parties, allowing consumers to receive compensation and businesses to identify opportunities to improve and win back relationships with customers.
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