Asif Ali Assignment

2193298 Service Marketing

Psychology of Complainant Customers

One of my great joys in life is eavesdropping. As a psychologist, I have long been interested in
people in what they think, feel, and how they behave. I enjoy watching people’s facial
expressions, listening to their word choices, and tracking their emotional tone. Among my
favorite venues for people-watching is the airport. Unlike restaurants or movie theaters, airports
are locations where people are placed in close quarters and where I have nothing better to do
than listen in to the lives of others.

Unfortunately, a lot of what I overhear are complaints. I hear people gripe about delayed flights
and uncomfortable seats. I listen to business people make calls in which they tear down co-
workers and competitors alike. I bear witness to a litany of problems: bad weather, wars, poor
economic performance, nosy in laws, and broken bones. You’d think the world was ending.

Customer's complaint behavior

Customers complain management has secured a quite important place in the academic field
of marketing research. Many previous findings answer the questions like: what the
customers do when they are dissatisfied, what actions do they take, the difference in response
by different customers; why customer complains; what the complaint is aiming at; what
factors contribute to customer complaint; how it would help to manage customer complaint,
etc. Usually customers show four type of complaining behaviors when they are dissatisfied.
silent exit, negative word-of-mouth communication, direct complaint, and making complaint to a
third party. Silent exit, negative word-of-mouth communication and making complaint to third
party is neither good for company`s image nor it helps in the improvement of the problem. On
the other side, direct complaining enables the company to gain back the customer by successfully
resolving the problem and take measures to prevent the problems in future. In this study,
complaint-making behavior is taken as complaining to the company directly.

Direct customers` complaint is the dissatisfied customer's protest against company for
compensation and these compensations can take the form of refunding, purchase return or
renewal, request for service or apology, etc.
In reality possibility that the dissatisfied customer will complaint depends upon
complaint-making tendency and contextual factors. The current study focuses on the factors
in the complaint making intention of a dissatisfied customer instead of the actual complaining
behavior.

Determinants of customers’ complaint

Developing a framework to predict and interpret customers` complaint tendency and

discussing the related variables has been a hot topic among scholars some previous findings
suggest that company`s attitude towards complaints influence possibilities of customers'
complaint making. Customers` complaint tendency depends upon the severity of the problem
faced by the customer regarding a product or service, price level of that product/service, and cost
of making a complaint.
Others are on the opinion that a customer's personality, environmental setting, and values can
also make a difference. Hence there is no single answer regarding the question of customers`
complaint tendency.

Costumers behavior and attitude towards complaint

The attitudes toward a certain behavior would influence the intention to make such a response
Attitudes toward complaint making itself will affect the tendency to complain. Such attitudes can
be termed the subjective belief in the legitimacy of a dissatisfied customer's obtaining
compensation from the company. Some believe that it is sensible to make complaint and tend to
hold a more positive attitude toward obtaining compensation through complaining, while others
think negatively and hence are less likely to make a complaint directly to company. The final
decision whether to take an action or not is influenced be attitude towards those actions.
Similarly, a customer's tendency to complain is influenced by attitudes toward complaint. Some
studies suggest that if the customer`s attitude is positive towards making complaint by keeping a
positive attitude that compensation will be given than customer`s International Journal of
Learning & Development tendency of making direct complaint increases.
Hence there is a positive relationship between customers` positive towards complaining and
trendy to make complaint. Higher the positive attitude toward complaining is, higher will be the
customers` tendency to complain.

Politeness

Politeness has been defined as a verbal style used by a speaker to maintain the listener's face.
The positive social value a person effectively claims for himself has argued that complaining in
its very nature is a face-threatening act and a customer who is politer tends to show less or no
complaining intention as a polite customer do not want to engage in an action which threatens his
or someone other`s face. He maintained that a customer will be less likely to complaint if he has
the fear that the retailer or the company will refuse to take corrective actions and will insult him.
Customers` complaint intention depends upon the level of politeness that a customer possesses.
Higher the politeness of a customer less will be the customers` tendency to complain.
Above mentioned hypothesis suggest that customer`s intentions to make direct complaint is
influenced by customers` perceived value, perceived likelihood of success and attitude
towards complaining, but it is important to explore further antecedents in these three
variables.

Previous experience

If a customer has prior experience of making complaints, it will intensify the perceived
likelihood of success. Prior experiences mean knowledge and communication skills acquired
through similar complaining scenarios previously experienced by the customer hence increasing
the confidence in making a complaint.
A customer who more often complains is likely to hold positive perceived likelihood of success
than the customer who don’t complaint that often or never complaint. But what should be kept in
mind is that, if the outcomes of the previous complaint experiences were positive, only than there
will be a positive impact of previous experience on perceived likelihood of success. On the other
hand, unfavorable previous experience can negatively affect customers` complaint behavior.
Based on the above arguments, we present following hypotheses:
Higher the previous experience of complaining higher will be the perceived likelihood of
success of a complaint.

Factors that influence or aggravate complaining situations

Negative situations

Complaining usually happens in the wake of a negative situation. Traffic was worse than
expected. The movie was disappointing. The contractor did shoddy work. The city council
should never have approved that new development. Of course, it is not just situations but also
personal factors that are involved. You’ll notice, for example, that some people tend to complain
while others hold their tongues. Indeed, there is a “complaint threshold” that must be reached
before someone decides to grumble.

This threshold is still being explored but it likely has many facets. One may be the “locus of
control,” or how much control a person feels she has in a situation. If an airline misplaces your
suitcase, for instance, you are more likely to lodge a complaint because you feel that your
notification of the problem will help to solve it. There may be other personal factors involved as
well, such as tolerance for conflict, age, and the desire to present one’s self positively.

It is useful to understand that complaining (and, by extension, complainers) come in different

types. There are those who never seem to be satisfied. These are known as chronic complainers.
They have a tendency to ruminate on problems and to focus on setbacks over progress. Some
research suggests that making a habit of complaining can “re-wire” the brain so that those
particular thinking orientations become ingrained. It is possible to re-wire this re-wiring to make
it more positive, of course, but chronic complainers probably don’t think it would work all that
well.
Venting

The second type of complaint is the familiar “venting.” Venting is expressing emotional
dissatisfaction. It turns out that people who vent have an agenda. They tend to be focused on
themselves and their own—presumably negative—experience. By showing their anger,
frustration, or disappointment, they are soliciting attention from their confidantes. They can feel
validated by receiving attention and sympathy. Venters are particularly likely to discount advice
and proposed solutions to their problems. They aren’t looking to solve anything; they simply
want validation.

One unfortunate downside to both venting and to chronic complaining is that it can dampen
people’s moods. In one series of studies, researchers tracked people’s moods before and after
hearing a complaint. As predicted, listening to gripes made people feel worse. What’s more, the
complainer also felt worse!

Instrumental complaint

he last type of complaint is known as the “instrumental complaint.” Unlike its wrinkle-nosed
conceptual cousins, the instrumental complaint is all about solving problems. When you confront
your romantic partner about overspending on the credit card, that could be instrumental
complaining. Especially if you focus on the impact of the problem, the importance of change,
and cooperate to create a plan for change. One study suggests that these types of complaints
make up fewer than 25 percent of all complaints.

In one study, researchers found that happy people complain less. They also looked at the
evidence that the happy folks in their study were more mindful. They hypothesize that more
cheerful folks are likely to complain more mindfully—more strategically if you will—and with a
specific goal in mind. When viewed this way, a rough guide for complaining emerges:

 Avoid dampening your mood by complaining only rarely

 Complain only in instances where you believe it will affect real and positive change
 Consider whether affirmation or some other strategy will work instead of complaining
 Limit your exposure to complaining by limiting your exposure to complainers
Role and Strategies by Marketers to pro-act & react
Put Your Emotions Aside 

Whether it's a friendly lady trying to simply tell you how to do your job better - with the best of
intentions - or a disgruntled customer ready to erupt in rage, the best way you can handle any
customer sharing a complaint is without your personal emotions getting in the way. Calmly listen
to what they are saying, then just as calmly reply and react to them with the following tips in
mind.

Avoid Challenging Their Complaint

It's easy and - quite frankly - natural to want to tell a customer they are wrong in what they are
saying. However, this won't help you in your efforts to diffuse a customer from getting more
upset while sharing a complaint. Instead of challenging their complaint, listen to what they are
saying. And - dare I say - even thank them.

Thank Your Customer 

The old saying "kill them with kindness" could not be more true in a situation with a customer
complaining. But rather than smile and pretend to care, genuinely let them know you are thankful
they are sharing with you their complaint or concern. For example, you can tell them right off the
bat that you appreciate them taking the time to talk to you about their concern and you want to
make sure you understand exactly what they are saying. This opens up the opportunity for you to
further listen to them, while hopefully giving them the understanding that you want to actually
hear what they have to say.

Acknowledge What They Say 

Listening to your customer complain may not be your ideal scenario, but try your best to really
hear what they are saying. Are they upset that something took too long? Or possibly a product
they purchased isn't what they had in mind? Maybe - but hopefully not - they are upset about a
specific employee they encountered while working with your business. Whatever the "real
reason" it is they are complaining, acknowledge it and ensure you heard what they said.

Offer Support 
Support comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. Sometimes it's simply listening to them even
more, other times it means exchanging a defective item for a new one. Support should not be
black and white, though. If you really listened to what they had to say, you should be able to
suggest a handful of ways to support them - or even better, one firm and perfectly ideal way to
support them. You have to be the judge here on what works best here - but keep in mind that
support means giving the customer something in response to their complaint. One thing to note?
If what you offer isn't satisfying their expectations, don't give up... which leads me to tip number
six.

Be Flexible 
If no resolution is available to make your customer happy or at the very least, content, then
consider how else you can help them. Possibly you make it a company policy to have $10 gift
cards to a local coffee shop on hand to give to upset customers (or even customers who you may
see are having a bad day, did something nice for another customer, etc.). Bonus tip? Ask your
local coffee shop to give these to you for free or at a reduced price as a gesture to get more
people in their door. B2B marketing in local economies is always a great way to help each other
out. And in a case like this, getting creative and being flexible is key.

Make Sure Your Customers Hear What You Are Saying

After offering a resolution or identifying what you can - or cannot do - to accommodate any
requests they may have or simply to respond to the complaint they stated, ask the customer if
they have understood what you said. Make sure you do this in a non-demeaning way, but rather
state your intent. Very simply, after all has been discussed, ask your customer if they have
understood how you can help them or for that matter, how you are unable to do anything else to
accommodate them.

Offer an Apology - With Gratitude Attached 

The thing about saying "I'm sorry" is that a lot of people won't believe you - and even more
importantly, you may not even mean it. Your goal is to genuinely want to end your conversation
with a sincere apology and yet appreciation for your customer. Let them know you're sorry they
were inconvenienced or disappointed or upset, then also thank them for giving you the chance to
work it out with them. For many customers, this sincere effort goes a long way. And for the
customers who are still not satisfied, it still leaves an impression on them - but only if you really
mean it.

Follow Up 
After you've said you're sorry, showed your appreciation and overall gave them the support they
were hopefully looking for, consider how else you can help support customers who complain.
One way to do this is to have upper management follow up with these customers 24 to 48 hours
after they have expressed their complaint. This is simply another way to show them you care, as
well as it suggests you still have their complaint and concerns top of mind. You can do this in a
handwritten note sent to their home address if you have this information - or pick up the phone
and call them personally. If this is part of your protocol, be sure to ask for these contact details
from them so you can use them later.

Move On 
When all is said and done, you can't dwell on customer complaints in order to move on and
forward with your next tasks on hand. Most businesses are bound to get them every now and
again since very simply, you can't please everyone. This said, if customer complaints are a
normal routine for your business, you need to dwell on them. All businesses, however, should
have a plan of attack - no pun intended - to help navigate how to handle customer complaints as
seamlessly, professionally and graciously as possible. In return? Customers who give you
another chance and tell their friends, family, co-workers and more about the strong customer care
they received from your team. This old-fashioned type of marketing never goes out of style, after
all.