From the Archives: The Relational Approach: Fishing for Complaints
The "relational approach" is not just a strategy for customer retention, it's also valuable as a way of encouraging customers to voice their complaints, according to a September 1999 Journal of Market-Focused Management article by Isabelle Prim and Bernard Pras. Titled "'Friendly' Complaining Behaviors: Toward a Relational Approach," the report argues that using information derived from complaints, as well as providing the correct answers, is an essential part of making a relational marketing approach a vital part of the marketing mix. After all, it suggests, when a customer is satisfied by the response to his complaint, he becomes more loyal than other consumers. Complaints, in other words, can be a means for communicating with consumers, as well as for building and maintaining loyalty.
