Unanswered Complaints

 

Not too long ago, I read this report which claims 70% of consumer complaints voiced via Twitter go unanswered.

So when you tweet about the channel your cable provider just dropped, the item eliminated from your favorite restaurant’s menu or the additional fee tacked onto your debit card, the response is likely going to be the same: you’ll be ignored.

And this, as common sense would tell you, is a PR fail. As it turns out, every consumer complaint is an opportunity to make a customer feel either more or less valued by your organization.

When companies bother responding, 83% of people who receive a reply–ANY reply, even if it doesn’t solve the problem–think more highly of the company for being intentional about customer communication.

And yet, in many cases, companies aren’t listening. In fact, I’d wager there’s a good many suits sitting in board rooms, scratching their heads and wondering why they aren’t meeting their sales goals…all while ignoring what could be helpful daily feedback from their customer base compiled in their Twitter feed at no cost to them.

I have to imagine the same information gaps present themselves in every day friendships and relationships too.

I myself, or others I know, are sometimes disappointed with the quality of our support systems. Maybe friends we would’ve bet on gradually become less involved or disappear. Maybe they keep things surfacey or they talk only about themselves. Maybe sticky or controversial stretches send them running. Maybe strangers and acquaintances get irritated with us often.

And I wonder how many times we respond just like the under-achieving corporate world? We occasionally sit in the board rooms of our brains and analyze what’s going wrong, wondering why more of our relationships aren’t as solid or life-giving as they could be, without being intentional enough to hear the information that is readily available to us.

It makes me pause to wonder: What concerns do people have about me they’ve been dropping into conversations or hinting at for years? What aren’t I hearing? What do I choose to downplay or ignore?

Who in my life feels like no matter what they do, I just won’t hear them?

Do I ever solicit their feedback?

And how can I take the first step–even if I’m not ready, able or willing to fix someone’s concern at this moment–and give them the same gift those 30% of tweeting companies give their clients.

To be acknowledged.