When angry customers are good for business

ALL companies should love getting customer complaints. When a customer voices unhappiness, instead of simply taking business elsewhere, it gives you a chance to find out about the problem and correct it. However, angry people shouting down the phone, costly refunds and time spent placating customers can be a huge drain on resources. What are the best ways to turn angry customers into loyal advocates?

Managing customer complaints is a very reactive scenario. What are the proactive strategies that I can put in place to reduce complaints?

Analyse what are the common causes of the complaints you do get. Establish if there is an identifiable group of customers or whether they are more random. See if you can deal with the complaints common to one group first. Then set up user instructions to mitigate the complaints of the more random group.