Customer Management Software for Complaints

Customer Service Software to Manage and Track Concerns

Oct 17, 2009 Thomas Alan Gray

In today's competitive marketplace, effectively managing customer relations – and especially, handling customer complaints– is a key factor in brand differentiation and even corporate survival.

Analysis of customer complaints, comments and inquiries provides insights into:

Public perception of the brand
Customer mindset
Problem areas or trends

When resolved with "speed and grace", customer complaints are an opportunity to solidify customer relationships and foster brand loyalty. To achieve these goals, many businesses turn to CRM management software.

Types of Customer Relationship Management Software

Customer relations management software for complaint tracking can be either:

Integrated into a customer relations management (CRM) package
A module in enterprise resource planning (ERP) software
Standalone ("best of breed") software specifically designed for issue handling.

An integrated package has benefits of making some complaint data and reports readily available across departments (cross-referenced against warranty and production data, for example), while standalone complaint handling software usually provides a wider range of features and reports.

Further, the software can be either "thick" or "thin."

"Thick client" (also called "fat client" or "rich client") software is installed on every computer in the business. The bulk of data processing occurs at the desktop or client level with changes and results on the server.
"Thin client" complaint management software is installed on a server and run over a network such as a LAN or the Internet. Most processing is done on the server with only a user interface on the desktop machines.

These factors will affect the speed and cost of the application.

Complaint Tracking Software Requirements for Customer Service Management

Whether it is integrated or standalone, thick or thin, complaint management software should meet certain requirement. The more compete the customer complaint software, the more of these requirements it will handle.

Simple Input – the software should be easy to use to input a variety of feedback
Versatility – good software will accept customer complaints, field reports, service requests, customer inquiries and questions
Routing – various types of input should be automatically routed to the proper department for resolution
Tracking – each customer issue or field report must be assigned a unique identifier
Categorization – must allow (and assist in) development of a category system to aid in analysis and reporting
Consistency – must ensure that no complaint, inquiry, or service call is lost or ignored
Completion – clearly indicate closure of the file and the resolution of the issue
Metrics – measure service quality, performance, time spent per case, time to close
Reporting – real-time reports of categories, trends, and performance (average time to resolution, complaints by category, level of customer satisfaction
Heuristic – the software will provide information the company can use to improve products and/or services

Regardless of the particular software package, the purpose of customer complaint management is to be able to respond to customer issues or requests quickly and efficiently, without "dropping the ball." If the software allows handling every customer interaction in an efficient and professional manner, with most brought to a satisfactory resolution, it will do its main job of improving customer relations and rebuilding customer loyalty.

Types of Complaining Customers – A University of Florida paper classifies customers.
Handling Customer Complaints – One model for responding to and resolving customer complaint issues.
What is a Warranty – Many customer complaints concern warranty service

Customer Management System

Monday, July 12, 2010