Consumer complaints by e-mail: an exploratory investigation of corporate responses and customer reactions

Abstract

Effective consumer complaint handling via postal mail, telephone, and in-person has been shown to increase customer satisfaction and build long-term relationships. Is the same true for complaints by e-mail? This study fills a void in the literature by exploring company responses to genuine complaints via e-mail and consumer reactions to these responses. In this study 47% of the firms responded to complaint e-mails and this resulted in higher customer satisfaction, purchase likelihood, and other perception measures. Additionally, response e-mails that were received quickly, addressed the specific problem, and were signed with an employee's name resulted in higher consumer satisfaction. Many unexpected results emerged in this study, especially relating to response content variables such as addressing the customer by name and forms of customer redress: important CRM findings.