There it is, the latest review on Yelp. You suck. One star. ★
What do you have planned to overcome negative feedback in social media? Whether it’s Facebook, Yelp, or another specialized community website, your reputation is on the line. What you do next can have a long-term impact on your sales and customer service. Do the right thing.
Here are six important considerations for responding to negative social comments.
Respond quickly
If you’re not engaging your customers via social media, you’re headed for trouble. In addition to the postive benefits described in The Power of Testimonials, you run the risk of a full on revolt if you ignore a complaint. One can lead to an avalanche, while a good response can actually win new customers. Stop the bleeding by responding quickly.
Be nice
Even if the review is wrong, be polite and courteous. Don’t be defensive. The reviewer believes they are right, so don’t be snarky – it works against you 99% of the time.
Address complaints with action items
Acknowledge the problem and suggest a remedy. “Return for a free service”, “Call us to discuss”, or “We’ve changed our policy” go a long way to smoothing out rough spots.
Take complaints seriously, but take action to handle the complaint.
Correct inaccurate information
Without sounding defensive, correct any misinformation listed in the review. “We do not censor negative comments”, “The price is $9.99 as shown on our website”, or “The offer expired on October 31, 2014” – FACTS – can be listed.
Encourage feedback
As for more feedback. That’s right – ask and listen. Consider each comment to be a brick in fortifying your house from the big bad wolf. You get better each time, either through the lesson learned, the ‘turnaround’, or the changes you make to adapt.
Ask other customers to respond
In a way, you may be able to “bury the lede”, an old expression for pushing the news you don’t want to see down in importance by adding something in front of it. If your good customers post new reviews or add their notes to the negative feedback, it cloaks the bad news. I’m not suggesting that you make things up, but you can remind your happy clients to share their stories. It puts the negative feedback in a different light if your fans rally to your defense.
So those are some ideas to help you do the right thing. Plan on tools that can help you overcome negative feedback and keep your sales and customer service on a forward, ascendant path.
[POST MORTEM]
After posting this, someone shared this link with me:
http://themetapicture.com/woman-leaves-bad-online-review/
It fully illustrates many of the points I listed.