Tuesday, May 17, 2011

How customers respond to service failure?


Despite all attempts by a firm to maintain positive customer satisfaction, mistakes do happen on occasion. It is these mistakes or service failures which can make or break a firm. A customer may accidentally be overcharged for an item, a product may fail to operate to the customer’s expectations, a restaurant may deliver poor service or food quality – and the customer complains are few of the common mistakes which tend to occur.

Disgruntled customers are of 4 types and they act towards a service failure in 4 different ways.
  • Passive
These types of customers never complain for any mistake encountered by them from a company’s side. The may or may not switch towards a new brand for that particular service/product but most likely to switch.
  • Voicers
These are the type of customers who raise there voice against the companies service/ product if they encounter any mistake from the companies side. They actively complain because they care for the brand or company. They may or may not switch towards a new brand, most unlikely to switch to a new brand.
  • Irates
These types of customers are mainly engaged in a negative word of mouth. After voicing ferociously if no action is taken by the company to rectify its mistake for a long period of time then they mostly switch to a new brand.
  • Activist
These are the type of customers who would actively complain to a third party i.e. law enforcing bodies when they encounter any mistake from the companies side. Activists are the type of customers who would surely switch to a new brand.

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