How to Respond to Customer Reviews

When managing your online business profiles, you can occasionally run across a grumpy customer. So when those customers take to social media to rag on your brand, there are a few options you have. You can delete their comments, ignore them, or use them to your benefit and turn them into positive marketing experiences. In this article, we’re going to walk you through the steps you need to take in order to use bad branding in a positive way.

1. Investigate

The first step is to read the comment(s) and figure out what the issue is. Sometimes angry customers can throw out a lot of verbiage and it can be difficult to decipher facts from objective opinions. It’s also important to leave your emotions out of it. If you’re managing the social media for a page that you own (or deeply care about), then make sure that you take time to calm down before addressing the customer. The worst thing you can do is to send an emotionally charged response over a public forum. An emotional response will likely be detrimental to your brand in the long run.

If a customer is claiming that there were issues with a business process, take the time to investigate. Look into the potential issue from the business end and arm yourself with knowledge. Replying to a disgruntled customer with misinformation can look even worse than no response. In addition to that, replying with a confident understanding of their issue will allow your brand to truly shine.

2. Craft Your Response

Apologize! Humbling yourself works wonders with upset customers. Take the time to write out an apology that addresses their specific concerns. This will make them feel understood, validated and supported. The vast majority of the time, upset customers feel like their complaints are falling on deaf ears. By addressing their concerns in an empathetic way, it allows them to feel truly heard.

While drafting your reply, ensure that your response is grammatically correct. Take the time you need to have someone else proofread it, or draft it in a program like Microsoft Word for spell check. In addition to that, be sure to include only factual details about your brand and the solution you’re implementing (if you choose to share that during this stage).

3. Give a Solution

Offer up a solution to the customer by giving them a point of contact to work with. Provide the name, position and e-mail address in the response so that they know who they’ll be dealing with, as well. Responses that include an apology, solution and a staff resource are consistently the most effective. See this example for ideas:

“Thank you for taking the time to express your concern! We are so sorry to hear that you had an issue with our product. We have notified our Sales Director, Mark Dickson, of your issue and he would love to chat with you to resolve this concern. His e-mail address is Mark@Example.com”

In this example, we’ve created an opportunity for the client to take their frustrations out on an actual person. It also diverts the angry customers’ comments off of a public forum and keeps them away from multiple eyes. Additionally, by creating a relationship with an internal staff member, they’ll feel like there’s truly potential for resolve.

4. The Results

Nine times out of ten, your customer will be more satisfied than they were before you engaged them. They’ll also have positive feedback about your brand and may even become an ambassador to others due to their good experience. Many times, we have seen customers follow up on the public forum with glowing reviews about the way their frustrations were handled. When this happens, it allows others to see that you’re a trustworthy business who is truly dedicated to customer satisfaction.

If you’re a business who struggles with managing your online brand, know that there’s an easy answer. The experts at ShopPulse are always available to discuss your concerns and assist you with solutions. Our marketing programs and website builds allow you to streamline customer engagements and increase your customer satisfaction, as well. We have tailored auto repair shop marketing plans that are sure to resolve your issues.