What is service recovery?
Service recovery is how a company responds when its service fails, by acknowledging the problem, apologizing, fixing it quickly and often adding a goodwill gesture, so the customer's trust is restored and, ideally, their loyalty strengthened.
Steps
- Listen and acknowledge.
- Apologize sincerely.
- Fix the problem fast.
- Offer appropriate compensation.
- Follow up.
- Fix the root cause.
Example
A delayed shipment: the agent apologizes, upgrades shipping for free, adds a credit and confirms delivery.
The service recovery paradox
Customers whose problems are handled very well can end up more loyal than those who never had a problem, though results vary.
