If your service team fails with a customer, what do you do? Learn the five elements of an ideal service recovery. This data is based upon the best academic research on service recovery.

1. OF THE IDEAL SERVICE
RECOVERY & COMPLAINT RESPONSE
5 ELEMENTS
WHAT SCIENCE SAYS*
1 OFFER A QUALITY APOLOGY FOR THE FAILURE OR PROBLEM.
2 OFFER AN EXPLANATION FOR WHAT HAPPENED.
It’s amazing how far an apology will go to diffuse anger and restore customer trust and loyalty.
Be careful on this one! Customers will see through your explanation if it’s nothing more than
an excuse. A good explanation is an honest description of what went wrong.
Even when remedies to failures are poor, customers still report higher satisfaction
and loyalty when processes are fair and seek their input.
SATISFACTION WITH FIRM RECOVERY
WHAT DOES A HIGH QUALITY RESPONSE INTERACTION LOOK LIKE?
WHAT CUSTOMERS SAY WHEN ASKED
WHY CUSTOMER INPUT MATTERS
GETTING THE FAILURE-RESPONSE FIT RIGHT
DIFFERENT MOTIVES, DIFFERENT RESPONSE
MEANS ON A 9-POINT SCALE
3 SEEK THE CUSTOMER’S INPUT INTO HOW TO BEST
RESOLVE A PROBLEM.
Not all failures are the same, and neither are all responses. The most effective responses
are when there is a good fit between the failure type and the recovery response.
4 MATCH THE RECOVERY RESPONSE TO THE FAILURE TYPE.
All complaints are not the same, and neither are all complainers. When a customer
complains to benefit the firm, an apology and explanation may be all that is needed.
But some customers complain with an eye on the value they have lost, and it is especially
important to offer these customers a remedy that makes up for their loss.
5
ADAPT THE RECOVERY RESPONSE TO THE MOTIVES OF
THE CUSTOMER.
But not just any apology will do – it must be empathetic (given
with warmth and understanding), elaborate (multiple
indications of sorrow), and soon after the failure.
47% 33% 32% 20% 20% 11%
Apology Politeness Empathy Effort Explanation Honesty
High Quality Apology
(empathetic, elaborate, &
prompt)
Low Quality Apology
(says “I’m sorry” but without
empathy, elaboration, or
promptness)
No Apology
Being Asked How to
Remedy the Failure
Perceived Fairness
of Procedures
Overall Recovery
Satisfaction
When
Asked
When Not
Asked
6.1 4.8
When High
Procedural
Fairness
When Low
Procedural
Fairness
6.8 4.1
FAILURE TYPE RECOVERY
RESPONSE
Monetary Failure,
e.g., overcharge,
financial loss
Monetary
Compensation,
e.g., discount,
refund
GOOD
FIT
BIG
IMPACT
Failed Goods or
Service, e.g., low
quality product,
long wait
New Goods or
Service, e.g.,
exchange, new
meal
GOOD
FIT
BIG
IMPACT
Lack of Attention,
e.g., unavailable
staff, poor
attitude
Apology
GOOD
FIT
BIG
IMPACT
Roschk, Holger and Susanne Kaiser (2013), “The Nature of an Apology: An Experimental Study on How to Apologize After a Service Failure,”
Marketing Letters 24 (3) (2013), 293-309.
Tax, Stephen S., Stephen W. Brown, and Murali Chandrashekaran (1998), “Customer Evaluations of Service Complaint Experiences: Implications
for Relationship Marketing,” Journal of Marketing, 62 (April), 60-76.
Karande, Kiran, Vincent P. Magnini, and Leona Tam (2007), “Recovery Voice and Satisfaction After Service Failure: An Experimental Investigation of
Mediating and Moderating Factors,” Journal of Service Research, 10 (2), 187-203.
Holger, Roschk and Katja Gelbrich (2014), “Identifying Appropriate Compensation Types for Service Failures: A Meta-Analytic and Experimental
Analysis,” Journal of Service Research, 17 (May), 195-211.
Yeoh, Poh-Lin, Sam W. Woolford, Abdolreza Eshghi, and Gul Butaney (2014), “Customer Response to Service Recovery in Online Shopping,”
Journal of Services Research, 14 (2), 33-56.
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RESEARCH SOURCES
To learn more about how the world-class professors
of LIFT PhD can help your company, visit our website.
WWW.LIFTPHD.COM
Service recovery & complaint handling refer to the actions taken by a firm in response to a product or service failure or problem.
I want you
to know this
cost me
That’s
what I
expected
I am just
trying to help That’s not
necessary