Resolve to Investigate by Attribute Type

When you ask an ongoing customer how things are working out with a product the customer purchased from you a while back, the customer might reply that they are disappointed with certain aspects. Or an ongoing customer, with no prompt from you, might say they’re dissatisfied with a past purchase.
     If either of these happens, assess whether the characteristic of the product leading to the customer’s disappointment is a “resolvable attribute” or an “irresolvable attribute.” Researchers from Indiana University and University of Pittsburg say that this distinction affects how you should respond.

• Resolvable attributes are those which can be corrected or repaired. The noise filtering characteristics of hearing aids could be corrected with an adjustment by the audiologist. A broken heater in a car often can be repaired. 
• Irresolvable product attributes are those for which correction requires purchase of a replacement item. The size of the hearing aids and the car’s acceleration power are irresolvable attributes. 

     Whether an attribute is resolvable or irresolvable comes from how the customer thinks about it. If the rotating food platform inside the microwave oven stops working smoothly, it might be least expensive to replace the entire microwave unless the rotating food platform is still under warranty. As another example, your customer who is a tinkerer might welcome the challenge to come up with a way to eliminate a nuisance.
     How the customer classifies the nuisance might not be the same as how you, the retailer, think about it. Therefore, it’s important for you to investigate the customer’s thinking. More fundamentally, when a customer expresses disappointment or dissatisfaction with a past purchase, find out which specific attributes are leading to the negative appraisal.
     The Indiana/Pittsburg researchers tracked the experiences of 17,000 automobile owners during the manufacturer warranty period. They found that for attributes considered resolvable by the consumer, the consumer would be anxious until the shortfall was remedied. However, for dissatisfactions the consumer viewed as due to irresolvable attributes, the consumer learned to live with the problem and so, even when nothing was done, would become less anxious.
     The implications for your action:

• With resolvable attributes, work with the ongoing customer to at least minimize the nuisance. 
• With irresolvable attributes, let sufficient time pass so that any residual anxiety motivates a purchase decision and is not directed at you as the cause. Then propose purchase of a new product which will eliminate the nuisance. 

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Use Dissatisfaction as a Selling Opportunity