How to Accept—and Use—Customer Compliments

Listening to customer complaints is challenging but essential when doing business. We all have experience with handling an order that didn’t go quite as they expected or a shipping delay. But just as challenging—and perhaps more difficult to handle—is positive feedback. How can you build on a compliment to get better at your job? How can you use it to make the customer’s next order even better? Here are our tips for accepting positive feedback, and for building on it to lead to even more future success.

Thank Your Customer
This might seem like the obvious first step—and for many people it is—but it bears repeating that thanking your customer for the positive feedback is important. Not only does it show that you’ve listened and appreciated their feedback, but it shows that you would appreciate more in the future. Positive feedback can boost morale at your business, and encouraging it to come again can help keep the positivity flowing.

Don’t Brush it Off
For some people, it can be tempting to downplay your successful customer interaction. Don’t do that! Brushing off the compliment with “It was nothing” or “No problem” might seem like you are emphasizing that you would be willing to do more for your customer, but it can come across as ungracious. A simple “Thank you” really is the best option in most cases.

Follow Up
Following up isn’t fishing for compliments—it’s making the feedback clearer. Take a moment to ask your customer if they would be willing to go into more detail about what made their order experience a positive one. That way you can learn more about what you did right and, hopefully, build a foundation for repeating that success in the future.

Does your customer not have time now? Ask if they would be willing to receive a call from you later to discuss it further. This will give you the chance to learn more and emphasize that you value your customer’s time.

Remember What You Did Well and Talk About it Later
One piece of positive feedback can make you feel warm and fuzzy inside—many pieces of positive feedback can be a useful tool in your marketing arsenal. You don’t necessarily need to encourage customers to publish public reviews, but listen to what they are saying. Do they love the quality of the print you offer? Was your customer service top-notch? Did you have the product they wanted and a few that they didn’t even know were available? If you’re hearing one piece of positive feedback consistently you should be talking about that value when working with new customers.

How do you approach positive feedback from customers? We’d love to hear your feedback in the comments below.