As promised, here is the second part of tips (courtesy of the Social Media Examiner) on how to deal with upset customers.
Make sure to have your social media agency or Internet marketing expert read this!
1. Be human. Customers hate canned corporate response. You might as well ignore them than give them the standard reply. Any Internet marketing expert will tell you that empathy is the best way to go, especially in this day and age of social media. Being human should be the easiest thing to do. Be friendly. Don’t be afraid to put a “face” to your company. Your upset customers will appreciate it.
2. Offer a direct apology. Don’t say sorry if you’re not really sorry. If you are, say it straight. It will earn you more respect.
3. Offer to make it right. Offering a sincere, straight-to-the-point apology is one thing. Offering to make it right is another. Humans as we are, we all make mistakes. How we correct those mistakes is what will make the difference. This is true in life and in business. Talk to your internet marketing expert about what you can realistically offer upset customers. You can’t just offer refund or free items all the time. The point here is to show the effort that you have acknowledged the problem and you want to fix it.
4. Don’t get into a fight. Once you start getting defensive and combative, you start losing the battle. Don’t get emotional. Customers sometimes think and feel that they are talking to a faceless company. So don’t take it personally. If you’re the sensitive type, have your Internet marketing expert represent you but make sure they are relaying the message that you want to say.
5. Keep the discussion public. You or your Internet marketing expert might be tempted to quickly quiet down a negative issue. That’s understandable. But addressing negative issues about your business in public is an opportunity to show the world how professional you are. It gives them the chance to see how you fix the problem. It earns you word of mouth. And if other customers have the same problem, they’ll feel that you are being proactive about it.
Negative word-of-mouth does not always have to be a bad thing for your company. With careful coordination with your Internet marketing expert and these tips, you can successfully turn bad situations into opportunities to win over customers.
Let us know what you think!