Okay, we’ve all had that moment. The moment where a dreaded email comes in and you realize there’s a problem. Someone doesn’t like what they got, didn’t get what they ordered or just plain has an issue. What do we do next? This can define our business, can either give us negative or postitive word of mouth advertising, and can monetarily give us grief if we aren’t careful.
1) Take a deep breath - it’s not the end of the world. To those of us that feel a special personal bond with our products (I am so guilty of this!) it can feel like it! The most important thing is not to speak from your emotions, but to write your responses carefully and thoughtfully. Email can be tricky! Tones and inflections are not there, and some of us (me!) always seem to jump to the worst conclusions. Step away from the computer for 10 mintues and think about how to handle this situation rationally.
2) It may not be you! I’ve found that those who cause the biggest ruckus usually end up being customers that have been burned in the past. It probably has nothing to do with their experience with you, they are just hyper sensitive due to prior situations. For example, a customer that emails a week later stating they have not recieved their item, they want tracking information and if you can’t provide that they want an immediate refund (it happens!) may have waited a month on a previous internet order, just to end up having to dispute the transaction in Paypal and finding out that the seller had cleaned out their Paypal account and disappeared and that they will get no refund or product. Usually once you clearly and calmly put the situation into perspective people will realize they are being a tad unreasonable, and be very cooperative!
3) You both want the same thing! The end result that a buyer and seller want are the same thing. A happy, pleasant, speedy transaction. Usually an angry buyer simply wants to feel like you are willing to work with them. So extend that olive branch and let them know that you are working to the same end that they are, and truly want to help them.
4) Set parameters. Generally you buyer doesn’t know your rules upon their initial email. Be certain to set them. Let them know your personal guidelines, so they know what to expect from here on out. If can’t claim a package lost until 30 days after it was mailed, let them know that. Let them know the actual date you will be able to file it lost, and how long the post office takes to process that request. Or possibly it’s an item they would like to return - let them know your policy. For example, mine is a 7 day return policy. They have 7 days from the date they recieved it to mail it back, and a refund is issued upon reciept in good condition.
5) You can’t please everyone. Some times you run accross a purely unreasonable person. There’s not getting around it and there’s no use beating yourself up about it. In these cases you can only do the best you can, keep your cool, think things through, and offer them a fair deal. I’m not one to advocate giving in to these sort of people’s unreasonable demands. I firmly believe that they will only take advantage of you that way. Instead I offer them a fair resolution, and stick to it, knowing I did the best I could.
So here’s wishing that all our customers are as thoughtful, nice and reasonable as the majority of them, and that all our transactions go smoothly for the next year!
And be certain to check out the amazing Etsy items featured in this article!
Today was one of those days. I randomly googled, and look what I found!
