Complaint (economy)

The complaint is in the economy , the negative manifestation of customers , suppliers or third parties about a company , its products / services or personnel .

General

The prefix verb "complain" comes from Middle High German and means something like "make heavier, burden, press, annoy". Complaint in the broadest sense includes all potential behavioral reactions of customers to dissatisfaction (see customer satisfaction ). In a narrower sense, complaints are all "company-oriented customer articulations after the purchase of products or services that aim to eliminate subjectively perceived customer problems that are directly related to the purchase and / or use of the product or service."

shape

Complaints can be made verbally (e.g. telephone ) or in writing (e.g. email ). they can be addressed to

• the causing point,
• Responsible person in the company causing the problem ( supervisor , board member , auditor )
• external bodies (e.g. ombudsmen , data protection officers , trade supervisory authorities , consumer organizations ).

economic aspects

In large companies , complaints are processed in complaint management , otherwise by customer service or sales . The content of a complaint concerns a company in general, its staff or products / services:

• Complaints about companies in general can affect their market behavior , public relations , shelf gaps , technologies , environmental management or company policy and endanger their image or reputation .
• Complaints about staff can relate to unfriendly service, inadequate or missing advice , inadequate or missing customer service or queues .
• Complaints about products / services only relate to secondary obligations such as poor delivery service ; the breach of main obligations from the delivery contract, on the other hand, triggers complaints .

Complaints only arise when customer expectations were higher than the actual situation. The complaint management must first check whether complaints are justified or not.

The complaint rate indicates how high the number of complaining customers is in relation to the total number of customers : ${\displaystyle K_{b}}$ ${\displaystyle K_{g}}$

${\displaystyle Beschwerdequote={\frac {K_{b}}{K_{g}}}\cdot 100\,\%}$.

This business key figure indicates the degree of customer dissatisfaction. A high complaint rate requires a weak point analysis and the subsequent elimination of weak points . In order to increase customer loyalty , the aim is to keep the quota as low as possible.

Use

Complaints from customers are

• a sign of active customer interest in the company and its products,
• valuable feedback on potential for improvement in the company and
• an opportunity to strengthen the customer relationship through a fast, appropriate and accommodating arrangement.

Complaints from customers can be used to measure, on the other hand, to increase customer satisfaction and are therefore an important instrument in quality management . A lack of sensitivity to the effects of customer complaints has negative consequences for a company, which are often underestimated by companies. For example, if customer complaints are not dealt with or are dealt with poorly, customers no longer complain but switch providers without comment.

Demarcation

Basically, it makes sense to differentiate between the actual complaints and complaints that are routinely processed. Complaints are performance disruptions resulting from a main obligation , complaints, on the other hand, only concern secondary obligations of the contract such as unfriendly service. It is characteristic of complaints that the seller is liable for material defects . In complaint management, not only complaints, but all customer feedback are systematically collected and evaluated.

Web links

• BMBF - Every complaint is an opportunity ( Memento from March 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Christian Brock, Complaint Behavior and Customer Loyalty , 2009, p. 17
2. ↑ Jagdip Singh, Consumer Complaint Intensions and Behavior , in: Journal of Marketing 52 (1), 1988, p. 95
3. ↑ Achim Hoffmann, The success control of complaint management systems , 1991, p. 2 f.
4. ↑ Willy Schneider / Alexander Hennig, Lexicon Key Figures for Marketing and Sales , 2008, p. 59
5. ↑ Jörg Bürkle, Chefsache Marke , 2019, p. 191
6. ↑ Willy Schneider / Alexander Hennig, Lexicon Key Figures for Marketing and Sales , 2008, p. 59
7. ↑ Jörg Bürkle, Chefsache Marke , 2019, p. 45