KNOWLEDGE & PERSPECTIVES
The blog for Complaint and
Customer Service Management
New perspectives for your customer service: expertise, experience and ideas for better service processes.
Customer complaints are an integral part of complaint management and often reflect deeper psychological factors. Why do customers express dissatisfaction, and how can companies use these complaints effectively? This article explores the role of psychology in complaint management and how a better understanding of customer needs strengthens retention.
Why customers complain: The psychological background
The reasons for complaints vary and are often deeply rooted in psychology. A common trigger is the need for recognition and appreciation. Customers want to know their voice is heard. This often occurs when expectations of a product, service or customer service itself have not been met. Disappointed expectations can cause frustration and ultimately a complaint.
Emotional factors also play an essential role. Anger, frustration and disappointment often drive complaints. Companies therefore need to recognise and address these emotions to reach a constructive solution.
The role of empathy in complaint management
Empathy is central to complaint management and successful conflict de-escalation. When customers feel that their concerns are taken seriously and understood, satisfaction can improve significantly even if the problem is not resolved immediately. Customer service employees should be trained to recognise emotional signals and respond appropriately.
An empathetic approach supports retention and helps collect valuable feedback for improving products and services.
Psychological factors and their importance for success
In a digital world, customers expect quick solutions as well as emotional connection and understanding. Considering psychological aspects in complaint management can therefore be crucial to success. Here are three important reasons for incorporating these factors into customer service:
More effective conflict resolution: A deep understanding of a complaint's psychological background often leads to faster, more effective solutions.
Emotional connections strengthen loyalty: Customers who feel that their emotions and needs are understood remain loyal for longer.
Better satisfaction through individual communication: Personalised communication that addresses a customer's specific needs and emotions can significantly improve satisfaction.
Incorporating psychological insights into complaint management is a valuable opportunity. Companies that understand and respond to customers' emotional and psychological needs will be more successful over time. Empathy, targeted communication and a considered strategy can significantly strengthen retention.
The psychology of customer complaints: Why customers complain
What customers express through complaints and how understanding and empathy help you respond better.
Read article ↗Professional complaint management in 5 steps
Five steps to structure responsibilities, complaint capture and root-cause analysis.
If you want to establish professional complaint management, here are five practical tips and a step-by-step guide.
1. Build a complaint management team
The most important task is preventing customer loss. Team members therefore need:
- Detailed knowledge of company products and services
- Excellent communication skills
- Coordination with the legal department to avoid legal escalation
- Familiarity with all regulatory requirements
- Coordination with product management to improve quality
2. Ensure every complaint reaches the team
An overview of every complaint across the company is essential, regardless of the customer's communication channel. How can you learn without complete information? Only complete knowledge allows companies to learn and improve products and services.
3. Categorise complaints from the customer's perspective
Categorisation enables detailed reporting and reveals product and service weaknesses from the customer's viewpoint.
Building categorisation trees is challenging. The level of detail needs to support structured registration of every case. Trees can become so large that assigning complaints correctly becomes difficult.
Customers prefer email or contact forms, so complaints arrive as unstructured text. Analysis requires data structures, which categorisation trees provide.
Build trees from the customer's perspective. These multilevel hierarchies include every relevant customer experience.
Top levels often relate to products or processes, which can quickly become unwieldy depending on industry and volume. We have developed practical alternatives to maintain clarity, which I will discuss in a future post.
4. Identify causes and solve the problem
You cannot learn from complaints without knowing their causes.
Investigation takes time. I have repeatedly seen companies skip meaningful root cause analysis because of time pressure.
Others engage in extensive blame, damaging internal acceptance. Aim to learn constructively.
Useful root cause analysis should include at least:
- The product defect, linked to the product or article and supplier
- The specific process, rather than a generic “process problem”
Avoid targeting individual employees or entire departments, which opens the door to counterproductive blame.
Customers expect solutions: replacing a faulty product, apologising for late delivery or refunding services not received. The range of solutions is so broad that, depending on volumes, manual processing may no longer be feasible.
5. Respond comprehensively and promptly
No response, or a late response, can seriously damage a relationship. At minimum, send an immediate acknowledgement. This already shows whether your company takes service and complaints seriously.
I often read: “We are currently experiencing high volumes. Please be patient and refrain from further enquiries.”
How does that make customers feel? Am I important? Am I just one of many, despite being a regular customer who has generated substantial revenue?
Professional complaint management is extremely important. You lose customers when you do not take complaints seriously.
Build a professional system
Customers expect complete, comprehensive answers. Address every point in their complaint. Not every complaint concerns a defect or a problem caused by the company. Nevertheless, each response is an opportunity to restore satisfaction and build long-term retention.
Do not miss this valuable opportunity. Build a professional complaint management system.
A complaint management example: We have no complaints
Why recognition, customer feedback and a complete view of complaints matter.
Many years ago, I presented the first version of our TurnFriendly complaint management system to a board member of an insurance company. I proudly showed him how easy it was to manage complainants and their complaints. Even then, the web application allowed users to create their own categorisation trees, which remain an essential building block in complaint management today. What follows is a practical example of complaint management that I still cannot forget.
At the end of my presentation, I asked: ‘Can you imagine using TurnFriendly to record, process and analyse all complaints across your company?’ Given its very large customer base, I was absolutely convinced that the company needed it.
The board member replied: ‘We have no complaints, Mr Rothberg.’ That brought the presentation to a natural end. ‘I see,’ I replied, trying to pack away my projector with some composure before saying goodbye.
Every company has complaints
I thought about this conversation for a long time—as you can see, I still do. Many questions went through my mind.
- Are there companies that really have no complaints?
- Has a complaint management process even been established?
- Does company policy declare complaints to be irrelevant?
My starting point is that no company is free of complaints. That perfect company has yet to be invented. Some companies, however, have service quality and customer satisfaction embedded in their DNA. Amazon is certainly one of them, and its success bears out Jeff Bezos's approach.
Complaint management is not valued enough
In sales, the number of successful deals is something to be proud of. It generates revenue, and that success is highly regarded. Complaint management cannot shine through the number of successfully closed complaints, because in practice companies often do not measure whether a customer remains loyal after receiving a response to their complaint. We will discuss how satisfaction relating to complaints can be measured and made transparent in a future article.
In my experience, company policy is often the reason complaint management does not receive the recognition it deserves.
How do you measure success in complaint management?
I return to this question again and again. My customers are complaint managers, whom I want to help handle as many complaints as possible—and, above all, handle them successfully. Guess what gets analysed? The number of complaints processed per employee per day. Would it not make more sense to measure customers' satisfaction with the handling of their complaints? The dilemma is that this would create more work, which ultimately nobody wants.
My advice: use a complaint management system that sends customers an email survey about complaint-handling satisfaction at the click of a button. This does not mean more work; it means gaining valuable insights.
A practical example: Complaint management at Air Berlin
Some years ago, when Air Berlin was still one of Germany's leading airlines, technical problems prevented our aircraft from taking off. We waited, increasingly frustrated, in the departure lounge for more than six hours. As I am familiar with travel law, I submitted a written complaint to Air Berlin's customer service team.
The story did not end well for me. I was put off for months and did not obtain the remedy I was entitled to. I would have had to involve a lawyer, which I did not do out of convenience. I had firmly decided never to fly with the airline again.
Air Berlin's eventual fate is well known. The open question is: to what extent did its poor customer service contribute to its insolvency?
The 3 key benefits of a professional complaint management system
Three key benefits: stronger customer relationships, opportunities for improvement and attention to regulatory requirements.
Much has been published about the need for complaint management systems. In the last 20 years, I have not met a sales manager who disputed it.
Does every company want loyal customers? I do not think so. Why should a monopoly worry about loyalty when customers have no alternatives?
Other companies avoid the effort of establishing an effective system, arguing that the work is too great and the investment apparently does not pay.
Why invest if customer losses seem tolerable? While acquisition works, motivation to introduce complaint management is limited.
Let's examine the three most important benefits.
1. Support loyal customer relationships
Systematic processes have repeatedly been shown to improve retention and satisfaction over time. But which companies are truly convinced? Do loyal customers exist at all? Customers want faster answers and solutions through every available channel. This requires investment and structured processes.
2. Improve products and processes
Record and analyse the causes of each complaint systematically. This needs investigation and good communication.
Much can go wrong and undermine internal acceptance. What does the complaint count relative to customer numbers tell you without understanding causes? The aim is to eliminate causes of dissatisfaction. Even force majeure or familiar problems may still be associated with the company from the customer's perspective.
3. Address regulatory requirements
The European Banking Authority (EBA), European Securities and Markets Authority and BaFin have adopted guidelines and requirements, including frameworks such as MiFID II, governing complaint management processes for financial service providers.
In travel, the EU Package Travel Directive and air passenger rights regulation protect travellers.
Many countries inside and outside Europe establish consumer protection programmes requiring professional complaint management in further industries.
Customer feedback and continuous improvement
How to use customer feedback to improve services step by step.
The importance of customer feedback
Customer feedback is a valuable tool for improving services. Companies should actively seek responses and integrate them into processes. Analysing customer opinions helps identify and address weaknesses.
Strategies for improvement
Feedback mechanisms and regular reviews help ensure that services meet expectations. Companies should remain open to change and continually develop their offerings.
Automation with AI features
How AI-assisted automation can improve workflows and reduce the workload for your team.
The future of automation
AI-assisted business process automation is a growing trend. Companies increasingly use intelligent systems for routine tasks and greater efficiency, allowing employees to focus on strategic work.
Benefits of automation
- Efficiency: Automated processes can work faster with fewer errors.
- Lower costs: Reducing manual tasks can save money.
- Better experience: Prompt, accurate service improves satisfaction.
FROM KNOWLEDGE TO ACTION
What does this mean for your team?
Which idea from these articles would you like to apply to your service work? In 30 minutes with Marco Rothberg, discuss a typical customer case and the next steps. Free of charge and without obligation.