I had a Christmas gift to return this weekend. My gift was purchased with cash. I had the original receipt and the unopened product. Thinking I would have a pleasant experience, I was quickly proven wrong. Without being greeted by the four sales representatives at the front of the store (who were busy standing), I walked to the counter where I was asked why I needed to return the unopened electronic. I was then told that I would be sent a check for the refund of the product (which, again, was paid for in cash, by a relative) that would take a month to get to me. My questions of why I was unable to get cash were answered hastily and with attitude that I could only get a check. After that amazing interaction, I went to leave the store, and again, the now five representatives at the front of the store ignored me, reminding me never to shop at this store again.

This experience lead me to write this post today. It is vital that we take care of our customers, no matter how unreasonable, rude, or wrong they may be. Though I think I was neither of those things, I was still treated with disrespect. Customers will often talk about a good experience with their friends and peers, but a bad experience will be talked about more frequently and more often. Forrester Research did a study last summer on the WOM (word of mouth) patterns of consumers and was able to corroborate that bad news travels faster and more often than good news:

More consumers share good experiences. For eight industries, more consumers talked about a good experience than they talked about a bad one. The four exceptions: credit card providers, health insurance plans, Internet service providers, and TV service providers.

Bad news is discussed more frequently. For all industries except retail, consumers discussed bad experiences with more people than they discussed good ones.

(ExperienceMatters talks more about the study here.)

It makes sense that customers would talk more about a bad experience; if things go well and as we had hoped, we really have nothing to share. If the experience and service go above and beyond our expectations or pales in comparison to those expectations, we have something to say and usually will. We will share it with anyone and often at any time it makes sense to be brought into a conversation. Customers are swayed by what their peers think, say, and feel, and a bad experience for a friend can be a bad experience for them. Women, who do most of the purchasing for a household, takes these WOM experiences into consideration when evaluating products or determining where to spend their money. A bad WOM experience can help them make that decision.

Remember that your customers are walking marketers for your brand and company; why would you treat them poorly when the repercussions of their words will be felt throughout your company? It may be easy to rationalize it by telling yourself "it's only one customer and sale", but know that a poor experience can deter future customers from ever stepping foot into your store. I will not be shopping at the store from my above experience, and I know if someone brings it up, my story will come out. If more customers like me have experienced the same thing and are also sharing their bad experiences with family, friends, and peers, this store may not be in business much longer.