How To Offer An Apology To A Customer That Is Effective
There are ways to apologize to customers that will calm them down, and turn their anger into something less volatile, and there are ways to apologize that actually make the situation worse. Here are some guidelines.
Apologies: Neither Too Short Or Too Long
Apologies should be neither too short or too long. For example “I’m sorry” is too short and glib. On the other hand a 1 minute, throwing yourself on you sword speech is too long. One or two sentences is good.
Be Specific With Your “I’m Sorry”:
Your apology should be specific. For example: “I’m sorry about this incident”, is not good enough, or specific enough.
Instead, say: “I’m sorry that I didn’t get back to you when I said I would. I’m taking steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Don’t Over-Explain
For the most part, customers aren’t interested in long explanations about why something went wrong. They usually don’t care that you had the flu, or your car broke down. Offering up the reasons will sound like you are offering excuses.
Customers DO care about your ability to ensure the problem won’t be repeated.
That’s why, in the above example, we say: “I’m taking steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
