Zero Complaints: An Aspirational Goal That Leads To Excellence

Zero Complaints: An Aspirational Goal That Leads To Excellence

Vince Lombardi, the legendary football coach who won the very first (and second) Super Bowl, said to his team, the Green Bay Packers:

“Gentlemen, we will chase perfection, and we will chase it relentlessly, knowing all the while we can never attain it. But along the way, we shall catch excellence.”

That’s what I thought of when I started my interview with Bill Price, Amazon’s first vice president of global customer service, president of Driva Solutions and co-author (with Gautam Mahajan and Moshe Davidow) of Zero Complaints: The Path to Continuous Value Creation.

The concept of zero complaints intrigues me, and it should intrigue you as well. At times you may create a perfect experience for your customer, and it may happen often, but it won’t happen every time. In our interview, we talked about Price’s latest book and the importance of a relentless focus on perfection. Below are my interpretations of six of the most important takeaways from our interview:

  • An Aspirational Goal: Like Lombardi’s pursuit of perfection, zero complaints is not attainable, but a lofty goal that will have the byproduct of an excellent customer experience. Price says, “Achieving zero complaints isn’t just an aspirational goal. It’s a practical pathway to sustainable business success.”
  • The Cost of Customer Complaints: Price emphasized that the financial impact of not addressing complaints is costly. Research by Moshe Davidow, one of the book’s co-authors, found that unresolved complaints could account for 16-20% potential revenue loss through lost business, reputational harm and lower lifetime value of existing customers. It’s imperative to adopt a proactive approach to complaint management.
  • Service Recovery: The good news about customer complaints is that when they are managed the right way, you can turn complaining customers into loyal customers. Customers don’t want to complain, but if they have to, they will feel confidence when they realize the company will take care of them. Be sure your customer support—both self-service and with live agents—is consistently meeting and exceeding your customers’ expectations.
  • Proactive Complaint Management: As important as service recovery is, a better solution is to eliminate or reduce the times you have to recover. Study the “journey” your customers take when doing business with you and find ways to eliminate the friction and pain points that they might experience. Focus on delivering an excellent experience, rather than just excellent complaint resolution. This dual approach helps to ensure positive interactions, whether complaints happen or not.
  • Executive Buy-In: Leadership (and that includes the C-suite) should engage with front-line employees and experience the day-to-day operations firsthand. By working in customer-facing roles or performing normal tasks, leaders can gain valuable insights into existing challenges and improve processes. When decision-makers see the business through a customer’s eyes, they are more likely to implement and support meaningful improvements. Price shared that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos would spend time handling complaint calls. “He strapped on a headset (in the support center) or sat at the computer and answered emails. … Back then, his email address was [email protected], and he actually shared that email address publicly.”
  • The ROI of Zero Complaints: There is a significant return on investment (ROI) that can be realized by minimizing customer complaints. First, reducing complaints leads to better customer retention. When customers have fewer issues, they are more likely to remain loyal and advocate for the brand, thereby attracting new business through word-of-mouth. Second, fewer complaints translates to lower operational costs. A reduction in customer issues means less reliance on customer support managing complaints, freeing up agents to help customers solve problems (not complaints) and free up resources that can be better utilized elsewhere.

Customer expectations are continually rising. Customers are smarter than ever and know from their own experiences what great service is. It is essential for businesses to adapt to a higher standard and expectation. Price says, “We must always maintain that what was good last year isn’t good anymore.”

Shep Hyken is a customer service and customer experience expert, keynote speaker, and New York Times bestselling business author. Learn more about Shep's virtual training programs and follow #ShepHyken for more insights into customer service and experience.

This article was originally published on Forbes.com.

Check out Shep's latest research in his Achieving Customer Amazement Study today.

Customer Service & CX Research


Akande Muizz

Email Marketing Specialist | Helping Coaches And Consultant Generate Consistent Sales From Their Email List

4 小时前

This is very true people are more prone to spread their negative experiences than they will boast about their positive ones, this why bad news spreads faster than good news, but Good news do spread slower but is way more beneficial, than the faster effect of the bad news.

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Hector Premuda, CCXP

Senior Advisor & Consultant / Experto en Artificial Intelligence aplicada a negocio por el MIT: Implications for Business Strategy

7 小时前

The concept of zero complaints is as fascinating as it is ambitious. After all, striving for zero complaints in CX is like chasing a unicorn—rare, elusive, but oh-so-inspiring. ?? And while perfection may be out of reach, the journey towards it is where the magic (and business growth) happens. What resonated most is the idea of proactive complaint management. Why wait for the storm when you can reinforce the roof in advance? ?? Mapping the customer journey to eliminate friction points isn’t just smart—it’s survival. In an era where one bad experience can go viral in seconds, anticipation becomes the ultimate competitive advantage. And let’s be honest, there's something refreshingly human about accepting that mistakes will happen, but being bold enough to design experiences where complaints become the exception, not the rule. Because in the end, it's not about chasing perfection—it’s about catching excellence along the way. And isn’t that the kind of journey worth taking? ??

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Gautam Mahajan

Thought Leader, Value Creation and wellbeing, Customer Value. Editor, J of Creating Value, Value Schools at Kobe U and JAIST, Value Research Centre, Kyoto; Denmark; U of Maryland; FAU.

1 天前

Shep, Zero Complaints are doable

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Bill Quiseng

Chief Experience Officer at billquiseng.com. Award-winning Customer CARE Expert, Keynote Speaker, and Blogger

1 天前

First, we will be the best for our guests. Then, we will be first among our competitors. --- ?Shep, I ?? your post to express my appreciation for sharing, and my kudos to Bill Price, for his six key takeaways, especially starting with "And Aspirational Goal." As a resort GM, he always had a plaque on the wall with this: ? and we ended every preshift meeting with everyone collectively shouting, "Let's be GREAT out there!" Our words and actions of our team were recognized when our resort received the Renaissance Hotels and Resorts Award of the Year. So an aspirational goal can certainly be envisioned with a relentless pursuit for guest excellence.

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Vinicius David

Product and Operations Executive | LinkedIn Top Voice | AI Advisor

1 天前

I’ve seen proactive friction fixes, like streamlining a checkout flow, slash gripes and boost loyalty overnight, proving the strategy’s legs. Leadership diving into the trenches, like Bezos with emails, keeps the focus real and sharp, not just theoretical. Zeroing in on this mindset doesn’t just cut costs, it builds a customer experience edge that’s tough to beat in today’s game.

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