25 October 2005
Businesses need to seek forgiveness from disgruntled customers to prevent negative word of mouth, retaliation and enduring resentment and hostility, a Monash University study has found.
Dr Yelena Tsarenko, from Monash's Department of Marketing, surveyed a bout 50 customers who had made a complaint in the retail, finance or healthcare sectors to assess how their complaint had been addressed, how the customer coped, and what forgiveness meant to them. She will present the findings at a seminar tomorrow, Wednesday 26 October.
"More than ever, competition for customers requires new perspectives on relationship marketing," Dr Tsarenko said.
She said although the handling of customer complaints had been a feature of service marketing, little attention had been paid to how consumers dealt with stressful events and what emotional states they moved through -- such as attempting to eradicate negative emotions, empathy, and ultimately forgiveness -- in complaint resolution situations.
Dr Tsarenko said companies were more likely to achieve favourable outcomes during complaint resolution if they trained their personnel to better recognise customers' negative emotions and developed strategies to deal with dissatisfied customers.
Although one rule for complaint resolution didn't exist for all situations, one could usually be created for each organisation, she said.
"One study participant said they had been treated better at a supermarket than they had at a hospital, but felt an apology from the hospital would have been enough to forgive them," Dr Tsarenko said.
"Even if customers are not able to forgive, the recognition of service providers' efforts leaves the potential for re-establishing the relationship in the future and decreases the negativity attached to broken relationships."
What: 'Forgiveness: A forgotten concept in services marketing' seminar
When: Wednesday 26 October, 7.15 am registration for 8 am start
Where: Peter Lawrence room, Caulfield Racecourse, Station St, Caulfield
RSVP: Ms Lynda Cunningham on +61 3 9903 2151
For further information contact Dr Tsarenko on +61 3 9903 2354 or Ms Natasha Whalley, Media Communications, on +61 3 9905 9201 or 0437 458 457.
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