I’m Sorry for not Being Sorry: An Argument for Withholding an Apology After Service Failures – MSI

Working Paper

I’m Sorry for not Being Sorry: An Argument for Withholding an Apology After Service Failures

Mason Jenkins

Northeastern University

Paul Fombelle

Northeastern University

Mary Steffel

Northeastern University

Jul 21, 2021

Uses a 5-month field experiment with a restaurant delivery service to test customers’ responses to proactive apologies for late delivery service failures.

Topics

Consumer Behavior & Insights Omnichannels & Customer Journey

research recap

When Should You Apologize for a Service Failure?

With digital technologies such as GPS, companies can anticipate even small service failures and proactively apologize to consumers in real time. This can backfire, however, by making customers more likely to encode a service experience as a failure, decreasing customer satisfaction, trust, recommendations and patronage. Understanding customers’ perceptions of service failures will help managers decide whether, when and how to apologize.

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