Just to clarify a confusion how to#
Just to clarify a confusion full#

“We’ve already added a new monitoring tool that will alert our Support team immediately if this happens again so that we can get on top of it quickly.” Not only that, but it gives you a chance to prevent other customers from having the same bad experience. This is your chance to show a commitment to improvement and to start rebuilding customer confidence. Explain what you’ll do differentlyĮxplain clearly what you or the company will do differently next time to avoid this happening again. Owning your mistake is an important step in making things right with the customer and in ensuring they don’t think you’re blaming them for the problem. “I can see now that I didn’t read your email properly, and that’s totally my fault.” “You are absolutely right we should have made that clearer much earlier in the process.” It should be a genuine and specific admission. Be specific about what you’re apologizing for, and use the same phrases and words that your customer used. Whether it was your personal mistake or the mistake of the company, service, or product, explicitly admit to it. Instead of being defensive, you’re being transparent by stating exactly what happened. You aren’t trying to get the customer to cut you some slack. Note that you’re not just making excuses. Only when you have validated your customer’s feelings and given them a clear explanation of what happened does your apology have a chance to be accepted as genuine. You can probably provide information that the customer may not have access to that explains where things broke down and what the consequences were.

Just to clarify a confusion full#

Write a full explanation of the situation as you understand it, making sure to address all the points the customer has raised. Investigate reflective listening it’s a valuable skill at work and at home. “You’re right.” (Yep, just those two words can help de-escalate the situation.) “I understand how this has impacted your workflow. “I know it has been really frustrating for you to be held up like this when you just want to get your job done.” Here are a few phrases you can include in your response to validate your customer’s feelings: You don’t have to agree with everything a customer has said, but they do need to know that you have heard them and that you acknowledge how they feel. That doesn’t ever help, but letting myself feel that emotion, and sometimes even writing it down (not in the email - never in the email!), gives me the mental space to write a much better response. My gut response can be to defend myself and try to attack the customer’s views as wrong and unfair. Upset customers can be aggressive or extreme, perhaps because they don’t think anyone is really listening, and they can tell when you’re saying sorry without comprehending why.īefore you respond, give yourself time (and maybe a walk around the block) to understand how you are feeling, too. Instead, ask questions and listen again to make sure you truly understand the situation. If you aren’t genuinely sorry for at least some part of the problem, then don’t apologize. Here are five important aspects of an apology to a customer: 1. The examples below are of written apologies, which we love because an email or letter gives you more time to consider and modify your response, but the same concepts apply on the phone or in person.

Just to clarify a confusion how to#

“Sorry for any inconvenience” is a phrase which now means almost the exact opposite of the words it contains.) How to apologize to a customer (“Effective” is the key word, because not every apology hits the mark. It also helps that an effective apology costs a lot less than a court case or even a refund or discount. It’s the opposite of the “defend and deny” approach that’s tempting to fall into. In a New York Times article that looked at the rates of legal action taken against medical doctors by upset patients and relatives, studies found that the biggest factor in reducing legal action was encouraging the doctors to candidly admit to their patients when they had made a mistake.Ī separate study found “people are more than twice as likely to forgive a company that says sorry than one that instead offers them cash.”Īcknowledgment of fault is a powerful act it tells the customer “You are right, I see your perspective, and I understand it.” It recognizes a shared reality with the customer.

That sort of attitude is infuriating to a customer who wants to hear someone take ownership of the issue. Some companies don’t allow their team members to say “I’m sorry” because they fear the legal consequences of admitting fault.