Building interpersonal closeness in complaint responses in customer service

Abstract

Positioned in interpersonal pragmatics, this article examines the role of building interpersonal closeness in complaint responses in telephone interactions. Based on four extracts drawn from the data of about two hours of 15 recordings of telephone interactions between customers and the customer service agents of one Chinese airline, it reveals that the agents mainly employ six types of strategies as ways of building interpersonal closeness: alignment, compliment, affiliation, solidarity, self-disclosure and empathy. The use of these strategies, very often in combination, is intended to create and/or enhance interpersonal closeness in behavioural, affective and cognitive dimensions to facilitate complaint settlement. The findings shed light on the improvement of customer service in a more and more digitalised world.