What do you do when you hear a customer complaint?
Respond? Ignore? Pray it just goes away?
You may no longer have a choice anymore.
Twitter has now changed the game for companies who do business on- and offline. Customers don’t just call your customer service number to complain; they post on the web, they blog. They Twitter.
Not fair, you cry. They never gave us a chance!
Customers aren’t interested in giving you another chance. They figure you already shot your chance.
Before you can even respond to their complaint, they are going viral with it. The Twitters rapping your company get retweeted and pretty soon, word on the Web is that your company doesn’t fulfill your contractual promises. You can offer digital television, plumbing services, massage, burgers, even a simple software program or ebook can offer users an opportunity to shred your company’s credibility.
What are you going to do about it?
1. Assess the situation. Has the situation spiraled out of control? Is it all over the Web already? In June 2006, Vincent Ferrari tried to cancel his AOL account. After being treated poorly and still not able to cancel, Ferrari went to the Web. The Today Show and Nightline picked up the story and by the time the press coverage was over, AOL had abandoned plans to expand its Internet service provider business.
2. Choose a response plan. AOL stayed silent throughout and lost untold profits as a result. You need to say something. You need to respond.
3. Choose your approach. Do you get on Twitter and use it to deal effectively with ongoing customer service issues? Do you blog an apology? There are several options, and it matters which one you take.
4. Become transparent. Use the opportunity to become more transparent to your customers and clients. Can you provide information on upcoming policy changes in advance? Southwest Airlines does this on their blog. The company knows that their clientele is fiercely attached to Southwest’s open seating policies and so asked for feedback on their plan to introduce assigned seating. Obviously, the response registered, as Southwest has put on hold the idea of assigned seating and open seating is still the standard.
5. Your standing is not static. Things will ebb and flow, and not stay the same. It requires vigilance on the part of businesses who are interested in dealing with negative reports about their company and products. You won’t always have a good day. Make sure you have a long-term plan in place and don’t ever think you’re going to get a free ride.
Social media is here to stay. Instead of writing irate letters to your CEO, folks will just write a blog post that is seen by millions more people. Wouldn’t you rather have a way to deal with that effectively? Wouldn’t you feel better knowing you can respond to these issues?
Come on in. No better time than the present.
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