Don't Avoid Complaints. Invite Them

Your partner abruptly ghosts you. Vanishing into thin air without so much as a “it’s not you, it’s me” text. They’ve left you holding a big, confusing bag of “what just happened?” You’re stuck piecing together the puzzle of their departure. Was it your dance moves, your love of cats, or some deep-seated flaw only they could see? Your dumper has completely robbed you, the dumpee, of any chance to figure out where you went wrong, fix things, or at least learn what not to do in your next romantic misadventure.

Hands up. A terrible analogy. But one which is clearly translatable to the world of business.

No news isn’t good news

When a customer disappears without warning, it’s not just a lost sale. It’s a missed chance to understand what went wrong. Without a clear reason, teams are left guessing. Was it the product? The process? The follow-up? Silent churn creates a gap in understanding that makes it harder to improve and easier to repeat the same mistakes.

In the financial services sector, especially, this guessing game is costly. Industry research shows that nearly 90% of customers might abandon a provider entirely after a negative experience with how their complaint was handled. And for those with unresolved problems? 44% are highly likely to switch banks. When customers go quiet, the business often loses the chance to learn- and worse, loses the customer entirely.

The absence of complaints isn’t a sign that everything is working. It’s often a sign that people have stopped bothering to tell you what’s not.

Trust is built in how you respond

Complaints may not be pleasant, but they are almost always valuable. When a customer takes the time to voice a problem, they are offering a clear signal and an opportunity to put something right.

The way organisations respond to those signals matters. In a landscape where trust is currency, especially in the financial services sector, complaint resolution has become a litmus test for credibility. When done right, it’s powerful. One report found that 88% of customers are more likely to stay loyal to companies that resolve their issues effectively the first time. Speed and sincerity count. So does consistency.

Organisations that treat complaints as information rather than an interruption put themselves at an advantage. Each piece of feedback can reveal where expectations were missed, where something underperformed, or where communication fell short. Seen together, complaints provide a clear view of where the customer journey needs work.

They do not just highlight problems. They point to the next improvement.

Rethinking Complaints

We help organisations move from reactive, scattered handling to a complaints process that’s clear, consistent and actually works.

• Centralised view
  We establish a single source of truth, giving teams shared visibility over every case and eliminating fragmented data.
• Structured journey
  Clear roles, policy-aligned processes and quality checks are built in from the start. Cases move smoothly from intake to resolution.
• Actionable insight
  Our Innovation Centre helps teams analyse trends, test improvements, and drive continuous change based on real feedback.

It Works. Here’s How.

We worked with a leading retail investment platform to redesign their complaints process and close gaps around DISP and Consumer Duty. Complaints are now acknowledged within 24 to 48 hours, down from six days. Improved visibility has strengthened SLA reporting and made it faster to produce FCA-ready compliance packs with clear, auditable data.

The result is a process that’s faster, more transparent and easier to trust.

Make it easy to speak up

Silence doesn’t always mean satisfaction. More often, it signals that customers are choosing not to tell you what went wrong. That feedback still exists; it may be shared with a competitor, posted in a forum, or passed around in a private group chat. When it’s easy to share feedback, you’re more likely to hear the truth. And when the truth is visible, it’s something you can act on.

As KPMG aptly put it, “Complaints, far from being mere inconveniences, represent invaluable ‘gifts’ to an organisation.”

If you’re congratulating yourself on having no complaints, pause for a moment. It could mean you’ve made it easy to stay quiet.