If you run a business, you probably have come across negative reviews, angry emails, rude social media comments, refund demands, or any other related situation. Fear not!
There are proven ways to de-escalate and get to the bottom of a situation with these steps.
Are you ready to up your customer service experience in 2020?
Problems arise when you don’t set clear expectations from the get-go. Make sure your message is the same and communicated across all your platforms.
It is nearly impossible to have a conversation with your customers if you are not in line with what you promised across all channels (Social Media, Marketing, DMs, and Facebook Messages), not just your website.
Everything must work together like a well-oiled machine.
Things may not always work in your favor. Mistakes and glitches happen from time to time, but you should always keep your customers in the loop on what is happening.
Hiding things from your customers will not only escalate the situation to where you may lose customers, but it may also compromise trust in your brand.
Be sure to familiarize yourself with our replacement policy before you engage with your customers. We have established clear replacement policy guidelines. Being prepared with the knowledge of how we work here at CustomCat will help you down the road in conversations with customers. Head over to FAQs to learn more. 
Here are some of the most common types of customer complaint situations:

• Where’s my order?
• It’s not the right size.
• Your website sucks.
• I received the wrong item!
• The product quality doesn’t match the advertised product.

1. Stay Calm

It’s easy to think that those customer complaints are targeted at you as a person. After all, your business is your livelihood, and it took a long time to get where you are with your business today.
Nine out of ten times your customers are mad at the situation, not you.
Your customers may be frustrated because things have not been communicated well enough, or they feel like they’ve been ripped off, but it’s almost rarely about you as a person.
Keep your cool, and do not take the angry customer personally.

2. Listen Closely To What They Have To Say

In the ecommerce industry, you don’t have the luxury of in-person conversations.
Active listening is what gets you from point A to point B.
Checking your phone while having an in-person conversation would be considered inappropriate and rude.
Get rid of all the distractions (texting, YouTube, etc.) and give your customers your undivided attention.
Use the same language as your customer, instead of following some generic script that you can find on the internet.
Keep in mind that not every person or scenario is the same, and that every person responds differently.

3. Acknowledge the Customer

Avoid using generic phrases such as, “I understand that you are feeling this way.” Generic phrases are not designed to help you get to the root of a problem, and are likely to irritate your customer further.
Here are some alternatives to make your customers feel heard and valued.

• What I am hearing is ______. Let’s find a solution.
• I’m sorry to hear you are having a problem with _________. We will get this resolved as quickly as possible.
• Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I can certainly help you with this.
• Absolutely, I would feel the same if this happened to me. We will get to the bottom of this.

While you may be a one-person company, you’ll want to use the pronoun “WE” to create a notion of teamwork and leave the customer feeling like they are not alone in the process of finding a solution to the problem.
Call to action should always follow the acknowledgment statement. That sets a clear sign that customer satisfaction is vital to your business.

4. Give Options

Share a few different options on how to achieve their goal and leave them to choose how they want to proceed. That leaves your customer feeling in control, and you are more likely to conclude quickly.
If you are on the phone longer than expected and there is a long silence, make sure to periodically update your customer on what you are doing at the moment to avoid any confusion or long awkward silences.

5. Give Space For Feedback

Allow them to express how they feel about the solutions you provided in the step above. Welcome their feedback and let them know that you are ready to listen if they need further assistance.

6. Say Thank You

It may sound odd to thank someone for expressing their concerns, but when everyone walks away from the situation feeling like a winner, it’s safe to say that. You’ve successfully mastered a new scenario, and it will help you grew as a person and customer representative.
Next time you face a similar scenario, you are prepared to tackle it head-on.