Managing
Caller Hostility on a Customer Complaint Hotline
How to avoid a anger spiralling out of control on the telephone.
A customer complaint hotline can be a great tool for
businesses to gather intelligence about marketing, measure customer
satisfaction, and build or repair goodwill with customers.
However, operating a customer complaint hotline presents a number of unique
challenges.
Two of the unique challenges of customer complaint hotlines that
can be greatly aided through the effective use of on hold messaging are:
1) managing the perceptions, attitudes, and expectations of callers and
2) preventing burnout of employees handling complaint calls.
The key to managing caller attitude, perceptions, and expectations is
understanding caller psychology; and the key to preventing employee burnout
is effectively managing caller attitude, perceptions, and expectations.
Primarily, it is important to recognize that the psychology of callers to a
customer complaint hotline differs significantly from that of other types of
callers.
Callers to a customer complaint hotline are generally calling to air a
grievance. The significance of this fact is that while the callers are
waiting to speak with a customer service representative, their mind is
focused on their problem.
The time that callers spend in queue provides them
with the time and opportunity to rehearse their complaint; practicing and
refining the grievance in their mind and preparing to counter whatever
excuses or hostility they believe they will receive from the customer
service representative.
As they rehearse, callers further convince themselves of the merit of their
complaint and they become angry. As their anger builds, the rehearsed
complaint becomes more hostile. The more hostile their complaint becomes,
the angrier they become.
This cycle continues as long as the caller remains on hold. When their call
is finally taken, these callers often unload on the customer service
representative with a well developed, thoroughly rehearsed, and highly
motivated tirade. This phenomenon is known as the "Grievance Rehearsal Anger
Spiral", and the result is angry customers that cannot be satisfied and
burned-out customer service representatives that take the calls; in other
words, a counter-productive customer complaint hotline.
The "grievance rehearsal anger spiral" is real; and, if left unchecked,
negatively affects businesses, their customers, and their employees.
However, once it is understood, the phenomenon can be managed; and the
result is a win/win situation for businesses and their customers alike.
A well crafted on hold program will occupy the caller's mind with
reassurances that their problem is about to be resolved, manage the caller's
mood and state of mind, and reduce the caller's perception of the passage of
time; all of which translate into more pleasant and productive complaint
calls, more satisfied customers, happier employees, and a more effective
customer complaint hotline.