Customer Relationship Management should be at the heart of any business - giving customers what they want. However, when customers complain, too often marketers fail to listen and learn. Not only do brands not hear what customers are saying, they sometimes seem to put obstacles in the way of giving feedback.

Loyalty communication

Many businesses are not focused on listening correctly to feedback because their priorities lie elsewhere. The growth of the business through volume of new customers and cross-selling to existing customers is often a key focus. This means that at their core, businesses are not motivated to deal with customer retention.

It is harder and more costly to get a new customer than to keep an existing one, if talking to consumers increases loyalty, it will be worthwhile. Good customer contact increases consumer loyalty, new brands that strive to find better ways to meet customer needs - take the top slots in Brand Performance. Inviting feedback is crucial in order to do this, as brands that are serious about feedback are those that deliberately make it easy to give it.

To support loyalty Tesco succeeds in continuing dialogues, whenever Tesco gets a written complaint from a Clubcard holder, it thanks them for taking the time to write in and provides them with Clubcard points.

In contrast is Ryanair (worst brand in Best Brand Performers), they focus on keeping costs as low as possible, and a big expensive customer services operation does not fit in with their business strategy, and have the attitude that if you don't like it, then don't fly with us.

Tools to Communicate

Online tools make it easier to receive feedback; many shopping web sites make it difficult for the customer who wants to complain, feedback mechanisms need to be incorporated at the website build phase, this will make it simpler for customers to give feedback. Online surveys are a rich source of customer feedback in addition to using a web analytics tool to ensure you can track all customer behaviour and then communicate appropriately.

Telemarketing offers an additional opportunity to listen to customers, call centres can provide valuable listening posts, which should be used to create structured responses and shape strategies at a broader level.

A key opportunity to make a customer feel listened to is when dealing with a complaint. A dissatisfied customer who is handled well, as a rule will become more loyal than before.

Apologising might be one way of building loyalty, ideally the way apologies and compensation are offered should be part of a well thought-out loyalty programme.

A large percentage of the population say they would rather take their business elsewhere than complain, and a similar proportion say they wanted to complain but didn't because it involved too much effort.