Where people work together, there will inevitably be struggles and conflicts from time to time. If you work a lot with customers, you know this all too well. It can click or not click, the collaboration can go well or sometimes not. The results can be better than expected, but sometimes also disappointing. We all have to deal with a dissatisfied customer sometimes; that is part of the job if you are a supplier of services or products.

However, we are often negative in our assessment of 'that customer who always has something to say', or 'that customer who always complains'. Although that is a logical response, in reality we should be mainly concerned about the customers where silence reigns. The customers we don't hear from. Why? We try to explain that in this blog.

Service Recovery Paradox

Someone who has no disease is not necessarily a healthy person. It is the same with business relationships. A customer who does not complain is not necessarily happy or satisfied. But, we don't realize that a customer who comments, often gives critical feedback or even complains, is not necessarily dissatisfied or angry. In fact, research has shown that someone who complains about your offer and then receives good help has higher satisfaction than someone you don't hear from. This is called the 'Service Recovery Paradox'.

The term Service Recovery Paradox was introduced in 1992 by scientists McCollough and Bharadwaj, who described a situation in which customer satisfaction after a conflict turned out to be greater than before the conflict. This shows how important it is that your customers take the time to give feedback or even complain. Then you can do everything you can to make your customer satisfied again, or even more satisfied than before. It's the silent customers you never hear from that can cause the biggest problems. Why? Commitment!

Commitment

A customer who gives feedback or complains about your services and/or products shows commitment to the relationship. He takes the time to contact you, explains the problem and then gives you the opportunity to make it right. That is a very important sign of loyalty and investment in the mutual relationship.

Customers who never hear from us can of course be satisfied. But, they can also be dissatisfied. They often don't bother to express their dissatisfaction because they simply don't feel like it or don't want to put in any more effort. In other words, they've already more or less given up on the relationship. We all know that customer who you thought was satisfied, but who suddenly cancels his contract. You often don't see this coming, because you simply don't get any feedback from your customer.

Conclusion: do not necessarily be happy with a customer who makes little or no noise. Operationally that may sound ideal, but strategically it is often a major threat. Cherish the complainers, they are often the customers who stick around the longest.