The art of apologizing

There's a Tamil proverb that goes, "Yaanaikkum adi sarukkum." A rough translation of this would be: "Even an elephant can make a misstep and slip." To share a more familiar equivalent, "Even Homer nods." Regardless of your company's size, things are going to go wrong occasionally because to err, after all, is human. Okay, enough proverbs about how it's normal to make mistakes. Let's see how you can respond when things go wrong and make amends—especially by issuing an apology.

Why do apologies matter?

There's a school of thought that believes that apologizing when things go wrong is a sign of weakness, but nothing can be further from the truth. Yes, maybe you have SLAs and warranties in place; maybe there's some form of insurance that protects your customers; maybe the issue is easy to fix. Irrespective of the intensity and scale of the issue, it's essential that you, as a brand, first apologize to customers for any disruption in their experience, and here's why:

• It's the best way to de-escalate the situation and calm angry customers.
• It reflects empathy and shows that you take CX seriously.
• If done proactively—that is, even before customers point out that something's gone wrong—it assures them that you're aware of the issue and are working on fixing it.
• It's a way to retain customer trust—a fact that's backed by research.

The anatomy of an apology

So, is a simple, generic apology message—one that goes something like, "Dear customers, we regret the inconvenience caused and are working on fixing this issue"—enough to assuage the negative emotions brewing in your customers' minds? To an extent, maybe. The most impactful ones, however, are those that contain the five essential components identified by Blum-Kulka, House, and Kasper:

1. Acknowledgement of fault - Admit that something has disrupted the ideal experience that customers expect.
2. Expression of remorse - Convey the fact that you regret it happened.
3. Expression of responsibility - State that you take responsibility for fixing it.
4. A promise of forbearance - Assure that the situation won't worsen further; or, if needed, provide monetary relief or compensation.
5. An offer of repair - Clarify what steps you'll take to set things right and how you'll assist your customers on that front.

Let's look at an example that illustrates why all these assurances and reassurances are integral to an apology.

Back in July 2024, there was a massive IT outage that disrupted services across the world. Several industries were impacted, but airlines, healthcare, and banking were the ones affected the most. Given this situation, guess how the CEO of CrowdStrike—the company in the eye of the whole storm—responded? Like this.

Needless to say, the apathetic tone in his X (formerly Twitter) post didn't go down well with both customers/end users and observers. Just skim through the replies and quotes to get an idea of how much negativity it brought towards him and his organization. Some users opined that the post was deliberately worded that way to avoid legal trouble, while others shared alternative posts that would have probably evoked more empathy and understanding from customers. This post, in particular, stands out because it includes most of the apology components mentioned earlier.

So keep this in mind: Irrespective of the possible consequences of a negative event, issuing a heartfelt apology makes customers empathize with you and want to continue their journey with your brand.

Now let's look at more best practices, along with great examples of each.

Communicate openly

One thing customers expect from businesses when things go wrong is open and clear communication. Being honest and open about the root cause and necessary fixes reassures customers and helps retain their confidence and trust in you. A recent incident involving a vibe coding effort by SaaS veteran Jason Lemkin is a great example for this practice.

A few weeks ago, Lemkin had started building an app using the AI tool Replit. Unfortunately, though, the tool "went rogue" and even deleted his production database. He later detailed the whole ordeal through an X thread filled with screenshots of his prompts and the tool's responses. The thread received a lot of impressions within the tech community, which was appalled by the AI agent's behavior—and rightfully so.

It was a blot on Replit's reputation for sure, but the response by the company's CEO, Amjad Masad, received both appreciation and praise from X users, including Jason. In his post, Masad listed all the corrective measures that he and his team were making and all that they were planning to do to prevent a repeat of this blunder.

Act promptly

No matter how much verbal reassurance you give your customers, your actions speak louder than those words. And the sooner you act, the more trust you stand to regain. An incident from October 2024 illustrates this well.

Deepinder Goyal, the CEO of the Indian food delivery app Zomato, went undercover as a delivery agent to learn firsthand the challenges the job entails. In his very second order, he stumbled upon a challenge, wherein the security personnel of a particular mall asked him to use the stairs to retrieve the food to be delivered and use the elevators. An unpleasant experience for delivery agents, which he recorded in an X post.

Soon after coming across the post, the mall's CEO seems to have got in touch with Goyal and asserted that they'll work on making things better and acted upon it immediately. Goyal published a follow-up post appreciating the quick action from the mall's management.

The bonus lesson here? EX is always integral to CX.

Address issues proactively

Acting on issues directly addressed to you is good; acting on those that aren't is even better. And that's exactly what the CEO of Zimbabwe's Steward Bank, Tawanda Nyambirai, demonstrated recently.

A few weeks ago, a TikTok satire group called Bus Stop TV took a dig at the lack of quality customer service at Steward Bank and a few other government organizations. The bank's CEO Nyambirai took the criticism in stride and responded gracefully. Just like some of the other CEOs mentioned in this article, Nyambirai took to X to tell customers what he intends to do. He assured that the management team would work on fixing its service experience and declared a financial reward for an unknown bank employee who received praise in the satirical video. He might not have used the words "sorry" or "apology" in his post, but he says, "But I own up," which shows that he feels bad for the negative experience and takes responsibility to fix it.

What more does one expect?

To sum up, things may go south in CX when you least expect it. How you respond to such instances plays a major role in retaining customer trust and loyalty. Be genuine in your words and sincere in your actions, and you can be assured that your business will be remembered for the right reasons.