Unfortunately, sometimes things don’t go as you hope and a customer may have a negative experience with your business. Now whilst it has always been important to deal with customer complaints effectively, with the growth of social media, it is even more important you act quickly and effectively to minimise the impact of negative feedback and reviews. It can be difficult to accept, but ultimately these reviews will help you improve your business to suit more consumers. Here are our tips to cope with negative reviews.
- It’s Not Personal
Do not let negative reviews personally affect you, as it is a business issue. View negative reviews as a guide to realising problems within your business and opportunities to fixing those issues.
- Opportunity to Rise
Negative reviews create an opportunity for your business to fix issues. If your business deals with the review well, it may build a stronger relationship with the person who complained. In turn, a happy customer will refer your business to friends as quick problem solvers and will spend more.
- H.E.A.R.D
The simple acronym H.E.A.R.D will provide you with the steps to deal with a negative comment by initiating conversation.
- Hear: Listen to what the customer has to say.
- Empathise: Exhibit deep understanding with how the customer feels.
- Apologise: As a business, you can never apologise too much. It is the key for a customer to realise what the business has done is wrong. Even if you did not cause whatever made them upset, it’s easier to apologise and make the customer feel they are correct.
- Resolve: Quickly resolve the issue. The longer it takes the bigger the issue may become and the angrier the customer. If the customer continues to be upset ask what you can do to make it right. You may be surprised at how simple a solution will arise.
- Diagnose: Explain why the issue occurred and fix the problem promptly.
- Follow Up
Placing effort with a follow up email or call shows the customer that you care. Ask them if they were satisfied with how the issue was handled and explain if the issue was resolved as a result of their complaint.
- Customer Experience
Having a great customer service system in place will make customers feel welcome and valued. A friendly atmosphere creates a relationship between your business and a consumer that makes them want to repurchase. Additionally, a friendly and helpful service will lessen the chances of a negative experience.
Focusing on being polite and calm throughout the process helps with the aftermath. Many customers tend to forget about their negative review if it is quickly resolved and may even say how happy they are with how the situation was handled.
Here at Clarity Marketing and Communication, we can develop ways to incorporate a digital marketing strategy for your business to achieve its goals. To learn more, contact our experienced marketers on 1300 060 204 or submit an online enquiry.