Teaching Insights

Marketers should consider appreciating (e.g., saying “thank you for the wait”) rather than apologizing to (saying “sorry for the wait”) their customers in redressing most service failures, because doing so increases the customers’ self-esteem which in turn leads to favorable consumer responses such as higher customer satisfaction, positive word of mouth, and repatronage intentions.

Related Marketing Courses: ​
Consumer Behavior; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Services Marketing

Full Citation: ​
You, Yanfen, Xiaojing Yang, Lili Wang, and Xiaoyan Deng (2020), “,” Journal of Marketing, 84 (2), 133-150.

Article Abstract: 
In their initial recovery efforts after a service failure, service providers need to decide what to communicate to consumers to restore their satisfaction. Prior work has primarily examined apology (saying “sorry”) as a symbolic recovery strategy; the current research suggests appreciation (saying “thank you”) as an alternative, often more effective strategy. Drawing from research on linguistic framing and self-view, the authors reason that the shift of focus in the service provider–consumer interaction, from emphasizing service providers’ fault and accountability (apology) to spotlighting consumers’ merits and contributions (appreciation), can increase consumers’ self-esteem and, in turn, postrecovery satisfaction. Across multiple service failure contexts, Studies 1a–1e establish the superiority of appreciation in redressing service failures. By measuring and manipulating self-esteem and examining the moderating role of narcissism and recovery timing, Studies 2–5 provide converging evidence for consumers’ state self-esteem as the underlying mechanism. Studies 6 and 7 go beyond examining appreciation in isolation and show that it is as effective as recovery messages that combine appreciation and apology (Study 6) and that its superiority over apology holds when service providers combine symbolic and utilitarian recovery (Study 7).

Special thanks to  and , Ph.D. candidates at Duke University, for their support in working with authors on submissions to this program. 

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In their initial recovery efforts after a service failure, service providers need to decide what to communicate to consumers to restore their satisfaction. A new study in the Journal of Marketing focuses on two symbolic recovery communications commonly utilized by service providers—appreciation (saying “thank you”) versus apology (saying “sorry”). For example, when there is a service delay (e.g., a plumber shows up later than the scheduled time), the service provider could either say, “Thank you for your patience,” or “I am sorry for the wait.”

We proposed and discovered that appreciation (saying “thank you”) is often a more effective strategy than apology (saying “sorry”) in restoring consumer satisfaction. That is, in the case of service failures, when service providers redress such failures with the appreciation (vs. apology) recovery communication strategy, consumers are more satisfied with the way service providers redress the failure, report higher overall satisfaction, form higher repatronage intentions, are more likely to recommend the service provider to other consumers, and are less likely to complain.

We reasoned that a shift of focus in the interaction between service provider and consumer—from emphasizing the service provider’s fault and accountability (apology) to spotlighting the consumer’s merits and contributions (appreciation)—can increase consumer self-esteem and, in turn, enhance post recovery satisfaction.

We also identified situations in which the superiority effect of appreciation (vs. apology) holds or disappears. We discovered that the superiority of appreciation over apology is more likely to be observed among consumers who are narcissistic and when recovery communications are communicated after (vs. before) the service failure. We also examined more complex recovery situations. For example, we found that the appreciation strategy is as effective as recovery messages that combine appreciation and apology. The appreciation strategy’s superiority over apology also holds when material recovery needs to be provided in severe failures (a server may offer a free drink in addition to expressing appreciation or apology).

Our findings have substantial implications for service providers about how to effectively recover from service failures. As an initial step, service providers need to decide what to say to consumers to redress the failure and restore satisfaction. Despite abundant guidance on whether and when to redress a service failure, researchers have offered little advice on what service providers should say, except for recommending that they apologize for the service failure. We suggest that saying “thank you” is more effective at restoring consumer satisfaction than saying “sorry.”

Moreover, we emphasize that what service providers ultimately say (“thank you” or “sorry”) should be tailored to certain situational factors (i.e., timing of the recovery, severity of failure, and presence of utilitarian recovery) and individual traits (e.g., consumers’ narcissism). For example, our results suggest that the superior effect of appreciation disappears if service providers redress potential failures in advance. Furthermore, we show that when the service failure is severe, utilitarian recovery or material compensation is a prerequisite for the superior effect of appreciation. We also suggest that service providers should use appreciation in their service recovery for consumers with a higher narcissistic tendency (e.g., those who use social networks more, are younger), but should be aware that appreciation is not necessarily better than apology for those low in narcissism.

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ąó°ů´Çłľ:ĚýYanfen You, Xiaojing Yang, Lili Wang, and Xiaoyan Deng, “,” Journal of Marketing.

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