You may have an amazing product or service, but your business is only as good as the people who are handling your customers. A poor experience with customer service is something we deal with on a daily basis. If it happens at a bank or another large organization, you may brush it off knowing there are few other options (and they are probably just as bad). However, if the experience is with a small business/or a startup, you may choose to never use this service again. If you are kind, you may send a feedback email to their team describing your experience to help them fix the issue. On the flip side, you may post on Facebook or Twitter warning others about this company. In most cases, you will probably do neither, and this business will never know why they lost a customer. There are a few things you can do to potentially capture and fix the issue. Perhaps you may even turn the disgruntled customer into an evangelist. Here are some ideas:

Capture Feedback. Make sure your customers have a way of providing feedback: On your website, in your app, at your store, after an event. Allow them to submit feedback confidentially if they should choose.

Respond Quickly. Be sure to read emails from your customers daily and respond quickly. A quick response with a remedy can make a big difference.

Remedy the Situation. If you can, offer a free product or service to make up for the problem.

Learn from the Customer. Invite the customer to your office to allow them to share additional feedback to help improve your product or service. Pay them for their time!

Hire Nice People. Make sure everyone customer-facing enjoys interacting with people.

Spend Time on Social Media. Not just posting about your company, but really reading what people are saying about your business.

Hope these tips help your business grow and retain customers in whatever line of business you are in. And if you don’t like them, do let us know :).