Let’s face it — no one likes complaints. Early in my career, they felt like landmines: customer grievances, regulatory inquiries, even lawsuits. My gut reaction was to minimize the damage and move on.
But then I had a realization: complaints are gold. They’re not just problems to fix — they’re insights waiting to be uncovered. Every complaint is a direct line to what your customers need, what your product lacks, or where your team could be stronger. Now, when complaints land in my inbox, I lean in with curiosity: What can this teach us?
Here’s how I’ve learned to flip complaints into a competitive advantage — and how you can, too.
Listen To The Bigger Problem
A lawsuit over unclear terms of service. Angry reviews about a confusing refund process. These aren’t just fires to extinguish — they’re clues to deeper issues. One lawsuit about subscription renewals pushed me to rethink how we wrote our agreements. We stripped out legalese and replaced it with plain, human language. Complaints dropped, customer satisfaction soared, and we built a foundation of trust — all because we listened.
Recurring complaints often reveal bigger, systemic problems. Addressing those root causes doesn’t just solve the immediate issue; it makes your product better for everyone.
Mine Legal Challenges For Innovation
It might sound strange, but lawsuits are some of the best feedback you’ll ever get. They’re hyper-detailed insights into where your company might be missing the mark. A privacy-related inquiry once led my team to revamp our data practices. What started as a reactive fix turned into a proactive selling point: a data-handling feature that wowed customers and exceeded compliance requirements.
Don’t shy away from legal challenges — treat them as blueprints for improvement.
Design For When Things Go Wrong
Most teams focus on the perfect customer journey: everything works, and the customer leaves happy. But complaints shine a light on what happens when things don’t go as planned.
For example, a spike in refund-related complaints had us completely overhaul our process. By simplifying the terms and communicating them more clearly, we turned a source of frustration into a moment of trust. Focusing on these “unhappy paths” prevents issues before they snowball — and builds loyalty in the process.
Complaints Are Invitations To Build Trust
Here’s the magic: when you respond to complaints with real, meaningful changes, customers notice. They don’t just see a problem fixed — they see a company that listens. After customers raised concerns about our data privacy, we launched new features that gave them more control. The result? Not just compliance, but a huge boost in customer confidence.
Handled right, complaints aren’t risks — they’re trust-builders.
The Takeaway
Complaints are gifts, not burdens. They’re a direct line to what your customers want, and they’re packed with opportunities to improve, innovate, and differentiate your brand.
For more strategies on turning challenges into opportunities, check out my book, “Product Counsel: Advise, Innovate, and Inspire.” It’s filled with actionable insights and real-world examples to help you transform complaints into competitive advantages.
How have you turned complaints into wins? Let’s swap stories — I’d love to hear yours.
Olga V. Mack is a Fellow at CodeX, The Stanford Center for Legal Informatics, and a Generative AI Editor at law.MIT. Olga embraces legal innovation and had dedicated her career to improving and shaping the future of law. She is convinced that the legal profession will emerge even stronger, more resilient, and more inclusive than before by embracing technology. Olga is also an award-winning general counsel, operations professional, startup advisor, public speaker, adjunct professor, and entrepreneur. She authored Get on Board: Earning Your Ticket to a Corporate Board Seat, Fundamentals of Smart Contract Security, and Blockchain Value: Transforming Business Models, Society, and Communities. She is working on three books: Visual IQ for Lawyers (ABA 2024), The Rise of Product Lawyers: An Analytical Framework to Systematically Advise Your Clients Throughout the Product Lifecycle (Globe Law and Business 2024), and Legal Operations in the Age of AI and Data (Globe Law and Business 2024). You can follow Olga on LinkedIn and Twitter @olgavmack.
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