Empathy and Its Role in Complaints Resolution

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Empathy is very important in the business of rendering services, we don’t live in a perfect society, things would go wrong at some point or the other and a Customer is bound to get upset.

Empathy is what helps you to relate to the upset Customer and envision his/her situation from his/her perspective. This skill is quite important in calming the emotions of the disgruntled Customer because as human beings we have the ability to sense genuine concern. When you empathize you’d know how you’d relate to the particular situation and how you’d feel about it, this makes it easier to say the right words to the aggrieved Customer. (A little imagination would do wonders here).

In my experience empathy is like the oil that lubricates the engine which drives Complaints resolution. It’s common for people who have spent a long period of time on a job to develop indifference (seen it all, heard it all attitude) when a Customer brings forth complaints about a particular product/service. This attitude is counterproductive and erodes the image of your brand.

The key is dealing with this, is to actually imagine yourself going through or experiencing the Customer’s complaint (just picture it and put yourself in their shoes), do this every time you handle a complaint.  This is the best way to really empathize with anyone about anything. In order to empathize appropriately, it is important to listen actively to everything the Customer has to say (Even if he’s screaming)

“This is embarrassing, I’m sorry you had to go through all that”.

“Oh my God, that is not acceptable, I’d be angry too if I was you.”

Similar lines will do the magic and reduce the emotional tension from the Customer. But while empathy solves just one part of the Customer’s 2-in-1 problem (his/her feelings). It is important also to actually remedy the situation by solving the main problem in-as-little-time-as-possible. This is the key to converting a negative Customer experience into a positive one.

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Being able to resolve a Customer complaint as fast as possible will do for your brand, the same thing a cool glass of water does for your body on a very hot afternoon.

You can’t always solve a customer’s problem all the time, but you can always make them feel important by expressing your concern in their travails. Customers respond well when they can see that you care, and they will remember you and the brand positively.

Kelechi Okeke
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