Complaint management

Area	Management systems
title	Quality management - customer satisfaction - guidelines for handling complaints in organizations
Brief description:	Complaint management
Latest edition	2010-05
ISO	10002

Complaint management (or complaint management ) is the entirety of all systematic measures that a company takes in the event of complaints and complaints from customers related to the services of the company or its vicarious agents.

General

The company's goal is to maintain customer satisfaction as much as possible despite a negative event and to obtain information on how to avoid the error in the future. The expression of the complaint is at the center of complaint management, but this can be expanded to include additional articulations, such as follow-up complaints, praise, inquiries or ideas and suggestions for improvement.

Since the term "complaint management" can have a negative connotation , some companies refer to this form of customer dialogue with the overarching term feedback management .

Classification of complaint management

Classification of the complaint management in the CRM

Classification in customer relationship management

Complaint management is part of a company's CRM ( Customer Relationship Management ) concept. The aim of this entrepreneurial attitude is to offer the customer continuous added value from the business relationship in the long term - over the entire lifetime of the customer relationship.

This requires the company to consistently focus all of its marketing, sales and service activities on the customer perspective.

Complaint management plays an important role in customer service within the framework of the CRM structure. In addition to task modules in the area of new customer relationship management (new customer and customer loyalty management ) and how the company deals with lost customers (termination and recovery management ).

Objectives of complaint management

Active complaint management provides important information on the strengths and weaknesses of a company from the customer's point of view, in particular on production or service deficiencies - very often errors by employees. Since experience has shown that the majority of dissatisfied customers turn away from a company without further contact, complaints are an important second chance for companies to satisfy the customer. With the implementation of a complaint management, the feedback of the customers becomes ascertainable and can be used for the learning process of the company.

The primary goals of professional complaint management are:

the increase in service quality through rapid resolution of customer concerns
restoring customer satisfaction while minimizing the negative effects of customer dissatisfaction,
the avoidance and reduction of error, follow-up and complaint costs
the use of the complaint information with regard to operational risks and opportunities in the market.

Findings show that successfully resolved complaints have a strong emotional effect and have a long-term positive influence on the customer's feeling of connectedness. Complainants whose concerns have been resolved to satisfaction are often more loyal customers in the long run than those who never had cause for a complaint. The proven positive effects of high satisfaction include the willingness to buy again, the decision to purchase additional products from the supplier and positive mention and recommendation of the company among friends.

Complaint management concept

Complaint management concept based on Bernd Stauss

For the effective processing and use of complaints, all areas of responsibility must be covered: from the provision of easily accessible channels to the use of complaint information. Complaint management is integrated into operational framework factors.

Framework factors

The implementation of complaint management takes place within various framework factors.

Strategy and basics: The strategic anchoring of complaint management includes

a clear commitment by the management to the relevance of customer satisfaction for the company's success
the classification of complaint management in the larger context of further customer loyalty tasks
the recognition of the relevance of complaint management for the company's success and
the delimitation of terms and the definition of a common language usage.

Employees and leadership: Issues relating to employee management and corporate culture have an impact on

employee identification and selection,
Motivation and leadership as well
the remuneration of employees in complaint management.

Structural organization and process organization : concern organizational framework conditions

the decision for a decentralized or centralized complaint management
the classification of complaint management in quality management, sales or another area,
the determination of the number and capacities of employees for the area and
process management in the process organization .

Information technology: This framework factor includes

the systems used
the data concerned and
the necessary interfaces.

Task modules

In complaint management, a total of eight tasks can be distinguished in the direct and indirect complaint management process. The direct complaint management process relates to the external relationship with the customer, the indirect complaint management process relates to internal quality management .

Direct complaint management process

The direct process includes all tasks that are associated with direct customer contact:

Stimulation : The aim of complaint stimulation is to get dissatisfied customers to articulate their problems to the company and to provide contact points that complainers can perceive. This is particularly important as customers often don't know where to complain. While analogue channels of complaint are mostly available in the form of telephone or post, nowadays more and more electronic complaints channels are used, as is e.g. B. by mail, Internet ( social media ) or interactive kiosk systems with touch screens is possible.

Assumption : In order to react appropriately in the first contact, the company must organize the receipt of complaints efficiently and establish clear responsibilities. The customer's feedback is recorded and documented by listening and asking questions.

Processing : The main focus of complaint processing is checking and resolving customer concerns, for example by setting fixed processing dates.

Reaction : In the complaint reaction there is feedback from the company to the customer: As an output of the processing, the company offers the complainant a solution for his concern. In addition to material compensation through the fulfillment of statutory warranty claims , immaterial reactions such as an apology to the customer can also be considered.

Indirect complaint management process

The indirect complaint management process defines the task modules that are effective within the company and by which the customer is only indirectly affected:

Evaluation : The complaint evaluation is characterized by a situational, non-formalized use of complaint data. The focus of a quantitative complaint evaluation is the monitoring of the scope and distribution of the number of complaints ( complaint rate ) as well as the type of problems most frequently perceived by customers. A qualitative complaint evaluation is used to systematically analyze the causes and develop suggestions for improvement.

Controlling : Complaints controlling differentiates between evidence controlling, task controlling and cost-benefit controlling. Evidence controlling wants to determine what proportion of customer dissatisfaction is actually expressed in complaints. Task controlling tries to develop and monitor standards for the tasks of the direct complaint management process on the basis of objective key figures. Ultimately, it is the task of cost-benefit controlling to monitor the efficiency of all complaint management activities and to prove their profitability.

Reporting : The information obtained in the context of complaint evaluation and controlling must be made available to the decision-makers in the context of complaint reporting .

Use of information : The company derives measures to improve quality from the complaint information . The use of complaint information in the context of innovation and supplier management can also be seen here.

Complaint management standard DIN ISO 10002: 2010-05

In addition to the quality management standard ISO 9001: 2000, there has been another international standard on complaint management since 2005 , which was published in Germany as DIN ISO 10002: 2010-05 under the name Quality Management - Customer Satisfaction - Guidelines for Handling Complaints in Organizations . DIN ISO 10002: 2010-05 contains essential terminology and the description of principles, central tasks and specific aids in complaint management. In this respect, it offers an overview of the - also international - standard requirements for complaint management.

Computer-aided quality assurance

The linking of quality-relevant data with the complaint processing in a computer-aided system ( CAQ ) can lead to a significant reduction in complaint costs if the company can determine the originator of a complaint through the complaint management. The error analysis of goods complained about plays an important role here.

In industry, the procedure for processing complaints is largely standardized in Europe. The procedure for processing a complaint is documented by the 8D report , which is usually exchanged between supplier and customer in the event of a complaint. However, internal complaints can also be supported by the system. The production and quality assurance departments and often sales are involved in the complaint management process.

A high rate of complaints can lead to an information letter to the customer or to a product or batch recall on the legal basis of the Product Liability Act .

literature

Ingo Balderjahn : Complaint management for service providers . Lecture. University of Potsdam, 1996. (full text)
Janelle Barlow, Claus Moller: A complaint is a gift. The customer as a consultant . Ueberreuter, Vienna 1996, ISBN 3-7064-0239-4 . (for implementation)
Manfred Bruhn: Relationship Marketing. The management of customer relationships . Vahlen, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-8006-2711-6 .
Armin Klein: Visitor loyalty in the cultural sector. Verlag für Sozialwirtschaft, Wiesbaden 2008, ISBN 978-3-531-13845-9 .
B. Stauss, W. Seidel: Complaint Management: Dissatisfied Customers as a Profitable Target Group. 4th edition. Hanser, Munich / Vienna 2007, ISBN 978-3-446-40593-6 .
B. Stauss, A. Schöler: Complaint Management Excellence. Wiesbaden 2003, ISBN 3-409-12383-0 .
Brückner: Complaint Management. 2nd Edition. Redline, Heidelberg 2007, ISBN 978-3-636-01445-0 .
Rönnecke: Customer-oriented complaint management. 2nd Edition. expert-verlag, Renningen 2006, ISBN 3-8169-2581-2 .
Uwe Becker, Holger Brachetti, Astrid Eder, Aroon Nagersheth, Fred Niefind, Oliver Ratajczak, Andreas Wiegran: Successful complaint management ways to process improvements and customer satisfaction. Gabler, 2010, ISBN 978-3-8349-1521-4 .

Individual evidence

↑ Daniel Würstl: Complaint Management / Complaint Management QM Goods, accessed on May 12, 2017.

↑ Bernd Stauss : Complaints Management Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon , accessed on May 12, 2017.

↑ B. Stauss, W. Seidel: Complaints Management: Dissatisfied customers as a profitable target group. 4th edition. Hanser, Munich / Vienna 2007, ISBN 978-3-446-40593-6 , pp. 106ff.

↑ DIN ISO 10002: 2010-05 website of the Beuth-Verlag

[1] Daniel Würstl: Complaint Management / Complaint Management QM Goods, accessed on May 12, 2017.

[2] Bernd Stauss : Complaints Management Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon , accessed on May 12, 2017.

[3] B. Stauss, W. Seidel: Complaints Management: Dissatisfied customers as a profitable target group. 4th edition. Hanser, Munich / Vienna 2007, ISBN 978-3-446-40593-6 , pp. 106ff.

[4] DIN ISO 10002: 2010-05 website of the Beuth-Verlag