Prompt Analytical Thinking About Complaints

If your customers have had a bad experience with a product purchased from you, your first priority is to offer to remedy the problem. After that, you’d like to accurately assign responsibility for the shortfall. How much is due to the manufacturer of the product, and how much to you, the retailer? How does the customer allocate the responsibility?
     Researchers at Bryant University in Rhode Island reply that the customer’s initial allocation of blame depends on whether the customer is an analytical thinker or holistic thinker. This distinction between analytical and holistic thinking pops up in lots of consumer psychology research. Analytical thinkers would consider the details of the product’s shortfalls and what may have caused those shortfalls. Holistic thinkers would be more likely to consider the overall shortfall of the product and the overall consequences for the consumer.
     The Bryant researchers say that analytical thinkers place relatively more blame on the manufacturer. The analytical thinkers may pull back on purchasing items from that manufacturer even if the problem is resolved satisfactorily, but there’s little effect on the consumers’ intentions to do future business with the retailer. On the other hand, holistic thinkers place relatively more blame on the retailer for a bad experience with a product, and this can affect these consumers’ intentions to purchase again from the retailer.
     Other research has found that if the retailer resolves an initial complaint to the satisfaction of the customer, loyalty to the retailer can actually increase. However, the Bryant research indicates that purchase intentions will fade quite sharply for holistic thinking following a repetition of bad experiences with products.
     To prompt more analytical thinking about complaints, present explanations in ways which slow down the processing by those receiving it. For example, according to studies at University of Washington, University of Illinois, and DePaul University, text is better than video.
     When the information was presented in a text format, there were no significant differences in rated trustworthiness of the business leadership, whether or not the leadership took responsibility. On the other hand, in the video format, the trustworthiness rating was about 54% higher when the leadership took responsibility than when not.
     Video gets a message out quickly and captures attention better than does text. But if you’re wanting consumers to realize an error was beyond your control because of the actions of others, you’re better off with a text press release.

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