Better Messaging Only Gets You So Far. Before You Change Your Marketing, Learn From Your Customers’ Complaints.

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Key Takeaways

When customers complain, better messaging isn’t always the answer. Recurring complaints can reveal problems that no marketing campaign can fix.
When the same complaint keeps appearing, marketers should ask: Are we failing to deliver the promise, or are we making the wrong promise?
Reviews, social posts, support conversations and sales calls are valuable sources of intelligence. The point isn’t to react to every angry customer. It’s to look for patterns.

When customers complain, companies tend to focus on the complaint.

They respond to the bad review. They apologize on social media. They ask customer service to smooth things over. If the problem shows up often enough, someone eventually asks what marketing can do to improve the company’s reputation.

That’s often the wrong question. The better question is whether customers are pointing to a real problem. If they are, the most useful thing marketing can do may be to help the company see it.

PwC’s 2025 Customer Experience Survey found that 52% of consumers had stopped using or buying from a brand because of a bad experience with its products or services.

Better messaging can only take you so far.

Customers don’t separate the brand from the experience

Inside a company, everything has an owner. A late delivery is an operations issue. A software bug belongs to product. An unanswered call might be customer service.

Customers don’t make those distinctions. They experience the company as a whole.

A hotel can promote exceptional service, but guests will remember waiting 20 minutes at an empty front desk. Once customers share experiences like that, they become part of your brand story.

That’s especially important as AI becomes part of how people research companies. An Idea Grove survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers found that only 2% would buy from an unfamiliar brand based on an AI recommendation without additional research. Reviews were the top trust signal respondents evaluated.

AI may change how customers discover you. It doesn’t prevent them from checking whether your claims hold up.

Complaints can expose two different problems

When the same complaint keeps appearing, marketers should ask: Are we failing to deliver the promise, or are we making the wrong promise?

Those aren’t the same problem.

If a hotel promises a fast, frictionless check-in and routinely leaves guests standing at the front desk, that’s an execution problem.

But imagine a company that markets itself around white-glove service while its business model is deliberately low-cost and self-service. Customers complaining about limited support may not be exposing an operational failure. Marketing may have created an expectation the company was never designed to meet.

In that case, the answer isn’t to fix operations. It’s to fix the promise.

Marketers naturally look at complaints through the lens of perception. But sometimes the market doesn’t misunderstand the company. The company has misrepresented itself to the market.

Good marketing can make a bad problem worse

There’s another uncomfortable possibility: Sometimes doing our jobs well can make a company’s reputation worse.

Suppose customers are already complaining about a recurring product or service problem. Marketing launches a successful campaign, demand increases and thousands of new customers encounter the same problem.

Now the company has more disappointed customers, more negative reviews and more evidence contradicting its own claims.

Marketing didn’t cause the problem. But it amplified it.

Before pouring more customers into the top of the funnel, marketers should understand what’s happening at the other end.

Complaints tell you what customers actually experience

Companies shouldn’t wait for customers to tell them directly. Qualtrics XM Institute’s 2026 consumer research found that only about three in 10 consumers now explain directly why they’re leaving.

That makes reviews, social posts, support conversations and sales calls valuable sources of intelligence. The point isn’t to react to every angry customer. It’s to look for patterns.

A 2026 survey from property technology company Rently offers a simple example. Only 11% of 800 U.S. renters surveyed said they fully trust security claims in apartment listings, while 56% said they had lived somewhere where a security feature existed but didn’t work.

A property can promote itself as a gated community. But if renters arrive and discover the gate doesn’t work, fixing the marketing isn’t the answer. Fixing the gate is.

Marketing should bring the outside world inside

Marketing teams spend enormous amounts of time trying to understand the market. That gives them a perspective other departments may not have: They can see the gap between what the company says and what customers experience.

When a pattern emerges, quantify it. How often does the complaint appear? Is it affecting reviews, renewals or sales? Then take that evidence to whoever can address it.

Sometimes that’s operations or product. Sometimes it’s customer service. And sometimes it’s marketing itself.

Once the problem is fixed, marketing has something better than a claim: evidence. Show customers how their feedback led to improvements, whether that’s faster service, a simpler product or a better experience.

That’s the difference between telling customers what they should believe and giving them a reason to believe it.

When complaints keep contradicting your marketing, the problem may not be the story you’re telling. It may be the experience customers are having. Before you change the message, find out what needs to change in the business.

Effective product pages help online shoppers decide whether an item fits their needs and what buying it involves. A beautiful photograph gets attention. Product details such as dimensions, available sizes, delivery details, and a clear price help turn that attention into a purchase.

Even established retailers miss these basics. In its benchmark of leading U.S. and European retailers, updated in March 2026, Baymard Institute rated 52% of desktop sites and 62% of mobile sites “mediocre or worse” for product-page usability¹.

Product-page changes can affect revenue, too. In a 27-day test for Life Pro Fitness, agency Media Contour made product images, key details, and buying buttons visible without needing to scroll. Testing vendor Wingify reported that the revised page generated $0.67 more revenue per visitor than the original².

If you are building a new store, follow the five tips below as you create your product pages. Have those pages ready before running ads that send shoppers to them.

If you already have an online store, choose one product page to improve. Reference these steps to check whether it answers shoppers’ questions and lets them add the right item to their cart.

1. Answer shoppers’ questions in the product description

Identify the main question a shopper needs answered before buying. Look for questions customers ask repeatedly or misunderstandings behind returns. For a new product, start with fit, compatibility, or what is included. Confirm the answer against your product specifications, then put it near the start of the description.

For example, consider a pet-supply retailer selling a dog harness. Someone choosing their first harness needs measurements and adjustment details to judge the fit. Someone replacing a harness they already own needs to recognize the same model and size. The page should make both tasks straightforward.

Also, use consistent labels and units across similar products to make comparisons easier. Include limitations, such as incompatible models or items sold separately, so shoppers can rule out an unsuitable purchase.

In e-commerce platform BigCommerce, for instance, online sellers can use the product description and custom fields—additional facts such as material or compatibility—to present these details. Preview the product page to check that shoppers can find the information they need.

Then, use those same facts to help shoppers recognize the item in search results. In BigCommerce’s page title field, use the product name and a relevant detail, such as its model or material. Avoid repeating keywords or giving every product the same title.

2. Give every product image a question to answer

Plan your gallery around what someone needs to inspect. Show the whole product, a useful detail, and the product in use. For example, a lighting retailer could photograph a lamp beside a chair to show its scale and how it lights a reading space. A close-up of the switch shows how someone would operate it. Together, these images help shoppers picture using the lamp at home. Keep written dimensions available as well.

The same Baymard overview describes how shoppers use images to judge size and can struggle when photographs lack a familiar reference.

If you sell a bundle, make clear which pictured items are included. For products that need assembly or demonstration, you might even consider creating a short video. Add alt text: a short description of the useful information in an image. Screen-reader software can read that description aloud or present it in braille. Keep essential instructions available as text as well.

BigCommerce supports product images, images for variants such as different colors, and YouTube-hosted product videos. Check that your gallery presents the right item as shoppers change their selection.

3. Make choices, prices, and recurring charges clear

Keep size, color, quantity, and purchase options close to the buying button. Label them plainly, show the current selection, and make unavailable choices recognizable. If the size options fit on the screen, show them as labeled buttons, such as S, M, and L. This lets shoppers see which sizes are available without opening a menu, as the Baymard overview explains.

Place helpful links beside the choice it explains. For the dog harness, for example, consider putting a measurement guide beside the size selector so shoppers can check the fit before choosing. Keep it visible or provide a clearly labeled link that works by touch and keyboard.

In BigCommerce, online sellers can configure choices such as size and color through product variants and options. Then check that the displayed price and availability match the shopper’s selection. For multipacks, show both the pack total and the unit price. Make the full pack price easy to find so shoppers know what they will be charged.

If you offer subscriptions, let shoppers explicitly choose between a one-time purchase and a recurring order. Put the recurring charge, delivery frequency, and change or cancellation terms beside that choice so shoppers can compare the commitments before selecting. Confirm that these terms match how your subscription service works. Select a subscription yourself and verify that checkout shows the plan, price, and frequency you chose.

4. Make sure delivery, returns, and reviews are easy to find

A shopper who needs an item by a particular date wants to know whether it will arrive in time. Show a delivery estimate for their destination. Put a short explanation of shipping and returns near add to cart, with links to the full policies.

Show shipping fees or explain how they will be calculated. Clearly describe return windows, fees, and exclusions that matter for the item. If pickup is offered, distinguish stock at the selected location from stock elsewhere. Avoid presenting an estimate as a confirmed promise.

Also consider making reassurances that are specific to the purchase. Using the dog harness as an example again, you’d want to explain whether a shopper can exchange it if the fit is wrong and which conditions apply. That answers the practical concerns that a badge saying “Shop with Confidence” leaves unresolved. Use only promises your business can honor.

Customer reviews provide another way to assess the product. Show the review rating, text, reviewer’s display name, and date on the relevant product page. If reviews come from another service, name that service. These details help shoppers understand whose experience they are reading and how recent it is.

5. Test the path from product page to cart

Shoppers need to know that the page has registered their choices and whether adding an item succeeded. Open your chosen product page on your phone. If a required option starts unselected, try adding the item before choosing it. The page should tell you what to select or explain why “Add to cart” is unavailable.

If the product has options, choose them, then change one selection. Check that the price, availability, and any option-specific images match. Add the item. While the request is processing, the page should make that clear. Once it succeeds, a confirmation or the cart itself should show what was added. If an error occurs, it should explain how to continue without losing other selections.

From there, make sure to check the item’s quantity, options, and price in the cart. If you chose a size or color, return to the product page and check whether it still shows that selection. These checks help catch a wrong selection or an uncertain result before a shopper encounters it.

Shoppers who cannot use a mouse need to select options and add products using a keyboard. To check that they can, repeat the steps above on a computer without the mouse. Use Tab to move forward between controls and Shift+Tab to move back. A visible outline or other marker should show which control you are about to use. Press Enter to activate links and Enter or Space for buttons. In a drop-down list, such as a size selector, use the arrow keys to move through the options.

Shoppers who need larger text must still be able to read product details and reach Add to cart. Use the browser’s Zoom control to enlarge the page to 200% and try the same steps again. Check for overlapping text or controls that disappear. Across all these checks, record anything that prevents choosing the product, adding it, or correcting a mistake.

Keep improving one page at a time

Clear facts and images help shoppers judge the product; clear choices, terms, and working controls help them act on that decision. Choose one issue from your review to fix first. Give priority to a problem that prevents adding the correct item to the cart. If shoppers can add the correct item, address an unanswered question that could lead someone to buy the wrong product.

Record what you changed and when. If you have sales reports, compare purchases and revenue for the product over equal periods before and after the change. Note any promotions or changes in visitor numbers that could also explain the results. Customer questions, order corrections, and return reasons can help you check whether the same misunderstanding persists.

For more examples, explore BigCommerce’s product-page guide, then apply the same review to the next product page.

¹^{Product Page UX 2026: 10 Pitfalls and Best Practices}^{(Baymard Institute)
2}^{Media Contour uses split URL testing to improve the revenue from product pages}^(Wingify)