Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other Internet communication tools have empowered customers with the ability to express their grievances and complaints like a megaphone to the world. The old adage that a satisfied customer will tell three people and an unsatisfied customer will tell ten has expanded exponentially with advances in technology. Now disgruntled consumers can rant online about their bad experiences dealing with a business to audiences of thousands, or in some cases millions, of people.
Recently, a musician who felt United Airlines damaged his guitar on a flight was so fed up with trying to get reimbursed that he wrote a song, made a video and posted it to YouTube. Titled “United Breaks Guitars,” the video was viewed more than 2.5 million times in less than a week and prompted national media attention. As a result of the video’s popularity, United Airlines contacted the musician and offered to reimburse him for his guitar, but the damage was already done.
In the same way that an online rant can damage a company’s reputation, successfully handling complaints online can showcase a company’s dedication to customer service, setting it apart from the competition. Companies like Comcast and Zappos.com, for example, have received praise for their Twitter accounts that respond to tweets from unhappy customers. Successfully responding to consumer complaints can build customer loyalty and enhance a business’s reputation which can turn an initially negative situation into a positive one for a company. The following are a few tips to assist your company with addressing online complaints and comments regarding your business.
Continually Monitor the Online Conversation. In addition to personally surfing through popular social networking, news, and review Web sites looking out for postings, there are also tools you can use to monitor who is talking about your company online. For example, Backtype.com and Google Alerts will send you e-mail messages when people post comments online or if your company is mentioned in the news. One of the easiest ways to monitor the conversation, however, is to simply do an Internet search of your company’s name every couple days, keeping an eye out for new results.
Pick your battles. Depending on the size of your business, it can be extremely time consuming to address every blog post, comment or tweet. When choosing rants to respond to, look for ones that are less than a few days old, on prominent sites and are about problems that you can solve.
Offer full disclosure. When defending your company online, don’t pretend to be an unbiased consumer. Tech savvy individuals can easily deduce who is behind comments so it’s best to be honest and admit up-front that you represent the company.
Take the conversation offline. Some companies have made the mistake of hashing out disputes online for everyone to see. Instead, respond with brief and polite messages that ask the customer if you can contact them directly by e-mail or phone to discuss the specific details of their complaint.
Don’t say anything privately that you wouldn’t want public. Just because you’ve taken the conversation offline, it doesn’t mean that your e-mails and phone conversations won’t end up on the Internet, so always remain polite and professional.
Follow through. Don’t drop the conversation when resolving a dispute and always follow through on promises. Consider providing a little extra perk, such as coupons, after the issue has been resolved.
Know when to walk away. There’s no satisfying some angry customers and at times a business can only offer a sincere apology and walk away from the conversation.
Tim Burns is the Public Affairs Director for the Better Business Bureau Serving Eastern Michigan. The BBB is a non-profit organization that works to promote trust in the marketplace and prevent fraudulent and unethical business practices. Your local BBB can be reached online at www.bbb.org or www.facebook.com/myBBB.