I ordered some dinnerware this week (eco-friendly for the green in me) and received the order today. I noticed a few items were missing, so I sent an email to the person I'd spoken with asking if the remaining items were being shipped separately. Here’s the response I got:
“Dear Kevin, Sorry for the confusion. But we did let you know in last email that you will be receiving two packages in mail. The other package is via fedex. The scheduled delivery is for April 25th. Please let us know if you have other questions.”
She’s being polite, and the fact that I got a response in less than an hour from a real person is great. But the (unintentional?) message was that this was my fault for not paying attention to what they’d already told me. That made me a little defensive. So I went back and found the emails, and unless I’m missing something, there was never any mention of separate shipping. I even logged into my account they required me to create to place the order, and couldn’t find any mention of it there, either.
It’s a small thing, but pointing out that a customer is wrong—whether or not it’s actually true—is rarely going to make your customer feel better. They’ll either feel stupid, or become even more frustrated and defend their position. Doesn't seem like either of those outcomes is worth it, especially given that both likely ensure that you'll lose the customer.
The customer is, in fact, not always right. But a customer who expresses confusion or frustration is right about at least one thing—he’s confused or frustrated, no matter whose fault it is.
Had the response been:
“Kevin- Thanks so much for emailing us. Yes, we’re shipping those other items separately because they just came back in stock today. I’m really sorry about the confusion, and we should have made that clear. I’ll make sure they go out on time, and I’ll send you the Fedex tracking number as soon as it’s available. Let me know if there’s anything else we can do.”
Done. She’s not claiming that they screwed up; just acknowledging that there was confusion and that she’s sorry about it. In one paragraph, the problem doesn’t just get addressed, but a potentially frustrating experience now turns me into an even bigger fan and makes me that much more likely to buy again.
Here’s a past post about how to handle customer complaints.