How do you handle double-deviation complaints on social media? The role of double service recovery strategies

Purpose This paper aims to examine service recovery in the context of double-deviation complaints – that is, cases in which customers experience both a service failure and a poor resolution. In addition, it considers how companies can effectively address such complaints on social media. Design/methodology/approach Study 1 identifies key attributes of service recovery efforts on companies’ social media pages and underlying recovery themes. Study 2 theorizes how these recovery attributes influence negative emotions – such as sadness, anger and disgust – expressed by customers online. It also explores double recovery strategies that can help to reduce these emotions and highlights the role of failure type in shaping effective responses. Findings Study 1 reveals that firms’ social media recovery attempts often lack empathy and gratitude, focus on rapid initial responses but have delayed overall resolution and rely on uniform strategies regardless of the failure type. Study 2 shows that for outcome-related failures, negative emotions can be alleviated through timely responses, proactive efforts and effective management of asynchronous conversations. Originality/value By analyzing actual social media complaints, this paper offers practical insights into how businesses can craft emotion-specific recovery strategies that improve customer experiences and perceptions during double-deviation incidents.