People use various platforms to notify a company of an issue. Most commonly, they’ll send an email or utilize the phone’s built-in features (i.e. SMS or phone calls). However, some people might choose to write a formal complaint or send a letter. Regardless of the method, many companies have a complaints department that handles these types of issues. For instance, at the time of writing, the average customer complaint rate for AWeber is 3.4 complaints per 100 subscribers.
Why Are Customers Complaining?
Although no one factor inevitably leads to customer complaints, four main areas seem to trigger the majority of problems:
Customer Support
Good customer support can be the key to avoiding almost all complaints. If a company provides fast, responsive service to its customers, they’ll have very few problems with customer retention. Additionally, good support can prevent customers from having to write complaints in the first place. When customers have an issue, they’ll want to talk to someone who can help them. If the company provides good support and resolves their issue quickly, they’ll likely prevent a lot of future problems. Customers will be more likely to continue using a company’s product if they feel that it is worth their while.
Unlimited Plans
Some companies offer only limited plans, with all of the perks associated with those plans. For instance, a business may only offer a free plan with certain features or offers a plan with a higher price point but has a streamlined user experience.
If a company transitions from a free plan to an unlimited plan without offering any additional perks, they’ll likely face an increase in customer complaints. While the price hike makes the product more attractive to customers, it can put additional pressure on the company to provide more value for the money. This can cause conflict between customer support and management as well as lower productivity as support and management focus on tracking down the source of problems instead of adding new features.
Fraudulent Activity
Some companies offer a feature that allows customers to receive periodic notifications when others sign up for the same product, usually followed by an announcement encouraging people to come join the club. While this may sound like a perk, it can also be a source of security risks. For example, let’s say that a certain product has a 3% complaint rate. In a perfectly fair and just world, this would mean that out of every 100 people who joined the company, three would be dissatisfied customers. Now, imagine that this product has an unlimited plan with a $5 per month charge. If one person wants to remain anonymous, they can pay $5 per month and sign up for the product. Over the course of a year, this will cost the company $60, not including the $5 that they’ll charge the customer.
The point is that the 3% complaint rate might not actually be 3% complaint rate. It could be higher if we assume that a significant portion of the complaints are from people who intend to remain anonymous. Essentially, the more people who use a product, the greater the security risk. This is why it’s often touted as a bad idea to have a popular product as it makes it easier for people to take advantage of you. As long as your product is free or has a very low price point, there’s little to stop someone who’s not satisfied from leaving a bad review.
Accounts Receivable
The last area of concern is accounts receivable. Simply put, this is the department that handles money owed to the company. Generally speaking, when customers are dissatisfied with a product or service, they’ll want to keep supporting their favorite brands with cash. However, this can become problematic if the cash flow is not sufficient to cover the cost of operating the business.
This brings us back to our initial question: why are customers complaining about AWeber? The answer, as we mentioned, is that it depends on the industry, but in general, it seems that customers are worried about the following four areas:
User Support
Good user support can be the key to avoiding almost all complaints. If a company provides fast, responsive service to its customers, they’ll have very few problems with customer retention. Additionally, good support can prevent customers from having to write complaints in the first place. When customers have an issue, they’ll want to talk to someone who can help them. If the company provides good support and resolves their issue quickly, they’ll likely prevent a lot of future problems. Customers will be more likely to continue using a company’s product if they feel that it is worth their while.
However, not all good user support leads to happy customers. Sometimes, customers will have bad experiences with customer support and still choose to use the product. This leads us to ask: how effective is the user support offered by Jeeves?
Unlimited Plans
Some companies offer only limited plans, with all of the perks associated with those plans. For instance, a business may only offer a free plan with certain features or offers a plan with a higher price point but has a streamlined user experience.
If a company transitions from a free plan to an unlimited plan without offering any additional perks, they’ll likely face an increase in customer complaints. While the price hike makes the product more attractive to customers, it can put additional pressure on the company to provide more value for the money. This can cause conflict between customer support and management as well as lower productivity as support and management focus on tracking down the source of problems instead of adding new features.
Fraudulent Activity
Some companies offer a feature that allows customers to receive periodic notifications when others sign up for the same product, usually followed by an announcement encouraging people to come join the club. While this may sound like a perk, it can also be a source of security risks. For example, let’s say that a certain product has a 3% complaint rate. In a perfectly fair and just world, this would mean that out of every 100 people who joined the company, three would be dissatisfied customers. Now, imagine that this product has an unlimited plan with a $5 per month charge. If one person wants to remain anonymous, they can pay $5 per month and sign up for the product. Over the course of a year, this will cost the company $60, not including the $5 that they’ll charge the customer.
The point is that the 3% complaint rate might not actually be 3% complaint rate. It could be higher if we assume that a significant portion of the complaints are from people who intend to remain anonymous. Essentially, the more people who use a product, the greater the security risk. This is why it’s often touted as a bad idea to have a popular product as it makes it easier for people to take advantage of you. As long as your product is free or has a very low price point, there’s little to stop someone who’s not satisfied from leaving a bad review.
Accounts Receivable
The last area of concern is accounts receivable. Simply put, this is the department that handles money owed to the company. Generally speaking, when customers are dissatisfied with a product or service, they’ll want to keep supporting their favorite brands with cash. However, this can become problematic if the cash flow is not sufficient to cover the cost of operating the business.
This brings us back to our initial question: why are customers complaining about AWeber? The answer, as we mentioned, is that it depends on the industry, but in general, it seems that customers are worried about the following four areas:
-User Support
-Unlimited Plans
-Fraudulent Activity
-Accounts Receivable
Customer Research
The key takeaway from this blog post is not that you should avoid AWeber or any other product, but rather, it demonstrates the importance of doing your research before buying a product. Just because a company has millions of users doesn’t mean that they’re automatically providing good customer support. In some cases, they might actually have a bad support team who is overwhelmed by the volume of incoming queries. This can lead to slower response times and dissatisfaction on the part of the customer. Even if the product is excellent and the company has outstanding support, you should consider other options due to the heightened risk of being compromised. Even the most sophisticated companies have been compromised due to the volume of attacks and the increased number of people looking to exploit these products.