Inviting customer complaints can kill business

http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/2012/11/29/inviting-customer-complaints-can-kill-business-ubc-research/

Media Release | Nov. 29, 2012

Giving customers a chance to complain can be a bad idea if customers believe they’re to blame for a product’s failure, a new study from the Sauder School of Business at UBC shows.

“It’s commonly assumed that giving customers a chance to voice grievances allows companies to maintain relationships,” says Marketing Professor Darren Dahl, who co-authored the recent Journal of Marketing study with PhD student Lea Dunn.

“But our research shows that when a person feels implicated in a product’s failure – think building Ikea furniture – they’re more likely to shift blame to the product when complaining and increase ill will toward it.”

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A further experiment showed that when self-blamers were provided with affirmative statements about their competence, they became more likely to rate a product favourably after complaining – 5.22 versus 3.36 on a nine-point scale.

“With companies turning to social media to communicate with consumers, the power of customer complaints has been amplified,” says Professor Dahl. “Our study shows that companies shouldn’t just let people sound off. They need to be stroking egos, as well.”