Cresencia Marjorie Chiremba | Inside Business
There was a time when a simple “We’re sorry for the inconvenience” could patch over a service failure.
A time when a discount voucher or a freebie could hush the frustration of a customer who had been ignored, mistreated, or misled. But that time is gone.
We are now living in what I call the Apology Economy—a marketplace where apologies are abundant, but accountability is scarce. Where brands have mastered the art of saying sorry without ever truly changing. Where customers are expected to accept regret as restitution, and where silence, once a symptom of shame, has become a strategy.
But here’s the truth: the modern customer is not just listening for an apology. They are watching for a shift. They are measuring your words against your systems. And they are tired—tired of being gaslit by glossy statements that never translate into safer, kinder, more respectful service.
The Performance of Regret
Let’s be honest. Many corporate apologies today are not written for the injured party—they are written for the public. They are PR-crafted, lawyer-approved, and emotionally hollow. They follow a predictable script: “We take this matter seriously. We are investigating. This is not who we are.”
But if it’s not who you are, why does it keep happening?
If your staff keeps humiliating customers, if your systems keep failing the vulnerable, if your prices keep shifting without warning—then perhaps it is who you are. Or at least, who you’ve allowed yourself to become.
An apology without reform is just a performance. And customers are no longer clapping.
The Cost of Hollow Words
In the Apology Economy, the cost of inaction is rising. Customers are not just walking away—they are walking others away with them. One viral post, one screenshot, one heartfelt story of mistreatment can undo years of brand-building.
But the real tragedy isn’t the reputational damage. It’s the erosion of trust. The quiet decision a customer makes to never return. The dignity that is chipped away when a mother is shouted at in a queue, when a pensioner is overcharged and dismissed, when a young man is profiled in a store he’s shopped at for years.
These are not just service failures. They are human failures.
And no amount of “We regret the inconvenience” can restore what’s been lost.
What Customers Want Instead
So what does accountability look like in this new economy?
It looks like naming the harm, not just the inconvenience. It looks like calling the customer back—not just to apologise, but to ask, “What would repair look like for you?”
It looks like retraining staff, not just reprimanding them. It looks like changing the system that allowed the harm to happen in the first place.
It looks like publishing your learnings, not just your regrets. It looks like inviting the customer into the solution—not just issuing a statement and moving on.
It looks like humility. Not humiliation. Not defensiveness. Not silence.
The Brands That Are Getting It Right
There are glimmers of hope. A local pharmacy that, after a customer’s complaint, didn’t just apologise but redesigned its queueing system to protect the elderly.
A restaurant that, after a public incident of discrimination, invited community leaders to co-create a new code of conduct. A bank that, after a data breach, didn’t just offer credit monitoring but held a meeting with it’s customers at a local hotel to answer every question—face to face.
These are not grand gestures. They are grounded ones. And they are remembered.
Because in the Apology Economy, the brands that will thrive are not the ones that say sorry the fastest. They are the ones that change the deepest.
A Call to Leaders
To every executive, manager, and team leader reading this: your apology is not your redemption. Your systems are.
Ask yourself—what are we apologising for most often? What patterns are we ignoring? What pain are we normalizing?
And more importantly: who is holding us accountable?
If your customers are the only ones pointing out your blind spots, then your leadership is reactive, not responsible. Build internal systems of reflection. Empower your staff to speak up before the customer has to. Reward the whistleblowers, not just the performers.
Because the real apology is not in what you say. It’s in what you build next.
To the Customer
And to you, the everyday customer who has been told to “calm down,” to “understand,” to “be patient”—I see you.
Your frustration is not petty. Your pain is not a nuisance. Your voice is not too loud.
You are not asking for perfection. You are asking for presence. For fairness. For the simple dignity of being heard and helped.
Keep speaking. Keep sharing. Keep expecting more.
Because in this new economy, your silence is no longer the price of peace. It is the currency of change.
*Cresencia Marjorie Chiremba is a Marketing, Sales & Customer Service Consultant. For suggestions and training, contact her at [email protected] or +263 712 979 461 / 0719 978 335 / 0772 978 335.