How can you avoid negativity bias in customer service?

A customer can be unhappy because of you/your company or due things that you can't or beyond your control. Running away from the negative environment doesn't help anyone. Its better to face the fire. They may give the negative feedbacks once, twice or thrice - but when they see that actions are happening from your side to mitigate it, slowly, the fire will doze off. And many cases, entering into a negative space and solving them, will create long term relationships with the customer - as they trust you to take care of their issues. To summarize, listen to the customer, try to think from their perspective, accept the errors and find a solution which creates a win-win situation for both you and them.

The first rule of customer service is to treat every feedback as valuable. No feedback is bad! I recommend handling negative feedback by: - Counter negativity bias with proactive positivity. - Prioritize constructive feedback, addressing concerns with empathy. - Showcase success stories; let satisfied customers be your vocal advocates. - Foster a culture of gratitude, appreciating both customers and your team. - Inject positivity into interactions, turning potential negatives into opportunities for stellar service. It's not just avoiding bias; it's crafting a positive narrative that enhances customer experience, creating a brand perception anchored in positivity and empathy.

Provide good customer service with a culture of grateful serving. A happy customer will tell one or two people: an unhappy customer will tell at least seven. "Thank you for letting me serve you today" You must model this by serving your employees with an attitude of respect and gratitude, with better appreciation, pay, and respect than your competitors. Henry Ford did this and his auto company grew when others floundered.

For me, one very powerful method of avoiding negativity bias in customer service is not to over-promise in your marketing communications. Avoid using terms like Best-In-Class or phrases like Look-No-Further. Another thing is to remember the PEAK-END rule, which says that people clearly remember two things 1. THE PEAK - the most intense experience point in a journey 2. THE END - the endpoint or the conclusion of the experience So, if you want to counteract the effects of the negativity bias, ensure that the PEAK emotion felt during the customer interaction is a POSITIVE one.

Train around a "stop and listen" approach to customer engagement. Allow the customer to share their issue first, digest the issue, and then respond with empathetic affirmation of their concerns. Based upon the option(s) at hand, provide guidance to the customer. If the option is not acceptable either escalate the issue or be clear (and respectful) as to why.

One of the most important aspect of training is continous mentorship. The mentee should have a confidence to lean back on the mentor in case of a failing or challenging situation. However, the challenging part is the creation of a collaborative work or project environment where mentoship evolves.

Rather than labelling feedback as negative or positive , we need to label them as just feedback. Every feedback can only lead to two outcomes :- 1) either customer wants more of the same- Reinforcement . This may not always be good or possible for you 2) or customer wants you to change - Improvement . This may not always be bad as it can bring our focus to gap that we had not seen If we look at every feedback this way , we won’t have bias

When possible, let your team experience and enjoy your product. I had a friend who worked at a national hotel chain. All they ever heard were the negatives. No one ever calls hotel customer service to let them know that their hotel is free from bed bugs or that the water is appropriately hot. So, she ensured they had the opportunity (and incentive) to spend time as a guest at the hotels to see that they were truly nice and were only hearing about the edge cases.