How To Handle Service Failure

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No matter how efficient and wonderful any company is, service failures are bound to occur, because companies are mostly made up of people and technology, none of which are completely predictable in behaviour. Technology sometimes can fail for no (understandable) reason, and people…cannot just be predicted. For these reasons service failures will always occur from time to time, in any company, no matter it’s size.

Smart businesses who take the proactive approach to customer service develop strategies on how to handle a foreseeable number of service failures peculiar to their business or services they provide. These strategies guide the customer service reaction of the organization to events such as; data breaches, power outage, service down-time (servers, ATMs, base stations) etc which may impact negatively on their customers.

A good service failure strategy has to address the customer’s issue and manage his emotions, this is can be achieved by using these steps as a guide;

#1. Acknowledge the issue

If the service failure is one that affects a large percentage of customers, then this 1st step is critical in reducing pressure on your customer service channels (Phone, Email, Social media, Website and physical outlets). All your channels should have information about the issue at hand, for example – Information about the issue can be played in between the contact centre hold music or it  can be included in the Email auto reply message & posted on the company Website, Twitter & Facebook handles.

A Lot of customers are reaching out simply to find out what’s going on? Making the information visible reduces their need to call or email. This way the support agents are relieved of unnecessary calls, this enables them interact more efficiently with those customers who really want to speak with someone.

#2. Apologize to the customer

Whether or not the service failure was within the organization’s control, when a customer makes contact to complain, the first thing to do is – to apologize to the customer. It doesn’t matter if the service failure was as result of a freak cyclone or Tornado.
If any organization fails to live up to expectation and disappoints its customers, those customers deserve an apology.

By apologizing to the customer you are equally indicating that you acknowledge the situation and their disappointment, that you value their relationship,  and you’re humble enough to say sorry.

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The support agents should also brace themselves for angry customers, if they are handled properly, they can become advocates. (Read: how to turn angry customers into advocates).

#3. Fix it

This is the most important step. It is not enough to apologize to the customer (they too might have their own customers breathing down their neck!), what any customer really wants to hear after the apology is something that sounds like this;

‘We are working hard on resolving this’

‘We have fixed it, it should be back on shortly’ 

This process should start even before the customers make contact. As soon as the occurrence of the service failure is noticed, proactive steps should be taken immediately to fix or resolve it.
Apologizing to the customers should be secondary – something done to appease them and keep the relationship together while the issue is being fixed.

An indicator of how much an organization really cares about it’s customers, is how much effort they put in, to get such issues fixed as quickly as possible.

#4. Keep the customer informed

While the issue is being fixed, depending on how long it takes to fix it, the organization should try as much as possible to keep the customer(s) informed on the status of resolution or how much longer it’s estimated to take. It could be via periodic updates on the company website or social media handle.

Ben Garvey in this article shows how Basecamp (formerly known as 37 signals) was able to keep their customers up to date via their website, when they experienced massive service outage as a result of damaged equipment.
Keeping customers informed prevents them from getting anxious and making (erroneous) assumptions, which negatively impact on their perception of the organization.

#5. Reach out to Customers

Now the issue has been resolved. Customers can now use products and services without a hitch, it as if nothing ever happened. Wrong! something happened, even if the customers have moved on, it is on record that the organization failed its customers in some way. This is now a matter of trust & credibility.

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The company must make extra effort to renew customer confidence, and give them reasons to continue patronage. This is done by reaching out to the customers after the issue has been resolved. The aim of reaching out is to;

  • Apologize again
  • Thank the customers for their patience
  • Reassure them of unfettered service delivery in future

This is a very important step in cementing the relationship between the customer and the organization, and improving customer confidence.

#6. Analyze the issue & Extract learning points

This is the final a step and a critical one at that. It’s time to go back to the drawing board and ask these two important questions;

What was the cause of this service failure?

What can we to do prevent it or mitigate it’s occurrence?

Finding the answers to these questions will go a long way in tackling the root cause of the problem and creating viable solutions that prevent recurrence. After fixing the issue, this stage is just as important and should be taken seriously.

According to customer service expert Shep Hyken –

“No matter how good you are, no matter how long you have been doing business with someone, the future of doing business with a customer will depend on how you recover from a problem or mistake that is made.  “

Service failures are bound to occur from time to time, what really matters is HOW the issue is handled. Using these steps as a guide will be of great help in events of service failure. 

Kelechi Okeke
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