Where should the causes come from?

From complaint records, ticket categories and what frontline agents report, not from impressions. Each cause should map to several real complaints.

What comes after listing causes?

Rank them by how often they occur, fix the top two or three first, and compare complaint volume at the next review.

Can I organize by complaint channel instead?

Yes. Use phone, live chat, app store reviews and social media as the bones to compare problems across channels.

Customer complaints fishbone diagram template

Previewed in the “Light” theme; you can switch themes in the editor

When to use it

Use it for a monthly complaint review, an improvement proposal from the quality team, or a brainstorming session in operations. The head is the problem to solve, the six bones are angles commonly used in service businesses, and each small bone is a specific cause that complaint records can back up.

Make it yours

Change the second line to your problem, with a number if you can, such as "Complaints up 30% in October".
Add or remove categories; an online-only product can drop Delivery.
To keep asking why, indent one more level under a cause.
Indent with spaces only and keep lines on the same level aligned.

Mermaid code

customer-complaint-fishbone.mmd

ishikawa-beta
    Customer complaints rising
    Product quality
        Higher defect rate in new batch
        Manual does not match product
    Staff attitude
        Scripted and cold replies
        Customers passed between agents
    Response time
        Long queues at peak hours
        Overdue tickets not followed up
    Policies
        Too many approvals for returns
        Agents lack authority to resolve
    Communication
        Promotion terms unclear
        No proactive status updates
    Delivery
        Late shipments
        Damaged packaging

Ask an AI for one with this structure

Send the prompt below to ChatGPT or Claude, then paste the whole reply into the editor; the code inside is detected automatically.

prompt.txt

Draw a fishbone diagram with Mermaid ishikawa-beta syntax that analyzes why customer complaints are rising. Write ishikawa-beta on the first line and the problem, indented, on the second. Below it add one line each for Product quality, Staff attitude, Response time, Policies, Communication and Delivery, with two specific causes indented one level deeper under each. Indent with spaces only and write plain text on each line. Output only the mermaid code block.

FAQ

Where should the causes come from?: From complaint records, ticket categories and what frontline agents report, not from impressions. Each cause should map to several real complaints.
What comes after listing causes?: Rank them by how often they occur, fix the top two or three first, and compare complaint volume at the next review.
Can I organize by complaint channel instead?: Yes. Use phone, live chat, app store reviews and social media as the bones to compare problems across channels.

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Updated 2026-11-11