As brands follow their potential customers wherever they are, building a good reputation is vital for any organization. With the rise of social media and ever-growing use of internet all over the world, companies along with traditional offline branding activities also have to build their digital presence.
Not to mention the importance of building a good digital and social media profiles / existence for the success of any business in this age, some companies are rather reluctant to invest their efforts to build good online profiles. But have to do it so that they don’t lose out to the competition, so they just go with the flow and make sure that at least they have a website and accounts on popular social media sites.
Also, for some companies, like an e-commerce store or an online subscription service, building good online presence, frankly speaking, is a pre-req for their existence, for their bread and butter.
Coming back to the reluctance of establishing digital presence by some companies, it may be because of it’s just too much effort or because of the fear of negative online reviews and comments by dissatisfied customers hurting the business.
In both cases, it’d be foolish to refrain from investing in and building good online presence. Come on! Who backs down from a challenge?
It’s not like that negatives comments will go away if you are not there. Burying the head in sand can have catastrophically consequences on any business in such circumstances. This post is specifically written to help such companies, who’re afraid from negative reviews. I’ll explain how to tackle such instances and even possibilities to satisfy angry customers and increase their lifetime value.
Well for the too much effort part for building good online presence, web is full of articles and writings; all speaking loudly about its importance and what one can lose by avoiding it.
So, how to satisfy angry customers?
Online world can be the sweetest of dessert a business could ever have with the ability to turn unsavory at the whims of angry customers in an instance.
There are some practices brands can use to neutralize angry customers and may even carve out good PR from them.
Don’t try to buy your way out
Publicly offering financial incentives like discounts, vouchers to counter angry customers is akin to adding fuel to fire. It could lead to perception that the brand in question thinks of its customers as a buyable commodity and if they feel disrespected, things could go worse.
One better way to do this is to solve the customers concerns first then any discounts or cut-offs should be given but still privately. Now if the satisfied customer goes public with the discounts and posts happy snaps it would be a win-win situation for both, it could very well result in positive publicity.
Don’t go in to hibernation mode and leave the issue unaddressed
Already I have written a lot on this in the introductory part for this post. Being on silent mode and thinking that negative reviews and feedback will fizzle out on their own is the biggest mistake a brand could commit.
Good way to go about it:
- Is to take a step back, carefully analyze whole situation and figure out where did it went all wrong.
- Identify all the shortcomings on your part that have resulted in angry customer. It could be bad quality product, poor service, staff disciplinary issues, technical complexities and host of other issues.
- To acknowledge the shortcomings is the first step towards rebuilding relationship with any aggrieved party. Same is the case here.
- Make corrections, whatever it takes. It could be providing the customer with free replacements, solving issues with the malfunctioning unit, or delivery issues etc.
- And make sure that everything is out there for everyone to see and not in private. As criticism and outcry is out there for everyone to see, a brand’s point of view should also be in public and it helps greatly if anyone wants to know the other side of story.
Also take internal customers into consideration
Provided there is no criminal offence, lashing out punishments to employees for mistakes or errors could lead to different types of problems for brands and companies altogether. Instead of looking for scapegoats, all the focus should be on solving the problem at hand.
There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to dealing with angry customers online. Sometimes people like to criticize just for the sake of it. Above are some of the points which can lead to dealing the problem in a better way.
Also, some time customers build unrealistic expectations which lead to frustrations, so it should be made sure that the message dished out in advertisements and marketing material is clear and doesn’t fosters unrealistic expectations.
It’s absolutely necessary for businesses to have an online presence across all major platforms on web, no matter which industry it is operating in, what type of company it is. Consumers today, before transacting with any organization, like to search them on internet. So why not lean in to this and control some of the information they digest.
Moreover, people also expect companies to be online, for better communication and information. A business could lose the free opportunity to increase its customer base, being online enables to market the business to whole lots of people across different boundaries.
Author Bio:
Saud Ibrahim is a digital marketer. He loves to write informative articles on business, fashion, tech and sports. Presently, he is the digital marketing manager at www.thejacketmaker.com
