How should companies respond to complaints? Measuring satisfaction among Generation Z online shoppers

When responding to a customer complaint, companies can choose between five response strategies, namely: apology, excuse, justification, denial and no response. This study proposes a conceptual model for measuring a customer’s satisfaction with how their complaint is handled. Based on a survey of over 300 college students, the study finds that following a service failure, Generation Z consumers value apologies over any other response strategy. These findings serve as a reminder to external communication managers and strategic communicators not to ignore the traditional crisis communication strategy of apology when communicating with Generation Z consumers.