Tactics to Restore Damaged Customer Relationship after Negative Events

Negative event about companies is widespread in media recently. Corporate image, trust and customer relationship of an organization can be damaged once negative media publicity is spread in the marketplace. How to restore damaged customer relationship becomes a critical task for management. This study examined effect of different repair tactics to repair corporate image and damaged relationship with customers after negative publicity. Effects of social account (apology, excuse, promise) and substantive actions (financial compensation, etc.) differ in different types of violation events. A combination of social account and substantive actions based on event characteristics may work better than using any single strategy. This study can help management effectively cope with the adverse impact of negative publicity. An efficacious combination of social account and substantive actions may maximize the effect of repair. Management of the companies should understand what the affected customers really need to figure out a most effective repair tactic.