CHAPTER 6

Respond Quickly to All Bad Comments

You’ve worked hard for months with your team and a consulting firm on creating social media best practices, and you’ve planned how to integrate social media into your business. You’ve built a Facebook page, a Twitter account, a LinkedIn company page, and a blog, and you’re excited to join the online conversation and foster a burgeoning community. Several coworkers have rallied behind you and your commitment to engaging customers throughout every step of their relationship with your company. Then, the night before the big launch day, you receive a phone call from your frantic chief executive officer:

“Remind me, what the hell are we going to do if people write bad things about us on our Facebook page? We can delete those, right? Because if we can’t delete those negative comments, I don’t think we’re ready for Facebook.”

The answer is simple: if you’re not ready to respond to negative comments, then no, you’re not ready for Facebook yet. If your company is not prepared to embrace the good, the bad, and the ugly, then social media in general isn’t right for you now. If you are prepared to handle criticism and respond appropriately, however, then having your own social network community where people post positive and negative comments will be a huge asset.

EMBRACE WHAT YOU CAN’T CONTROL: SOCIAL MEDIA COMMENTS ARE THE NEW COMMENT CARDS

Remember those comment cards every business used to have with a box you could drop them in? Many small businesses and restaurants still have them today. Whether your company officially has comment cards or not, they exist in the form of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs, and other online social outlets. The good news for the customer is that today’s consumer base is the most empowered in history. If you have a negative experience with any company or professional, you can fill out “a comment card” from your smartphone that instant and then immediately share your comment not only with hundreds of friends but also with complete strangers throughout the world.

Of course, if you consider this situation from the standpoint of a company, this is a scary proposition. Just as the aforementioned CEO is freaking out, so are marketers, public relations executives, and small business owners everywhere. For years, it’s been the role of communications professionals to control public perception of their companies, and now any kid with a Twitter account or Facebook profile can ruin it all. That said, as a marketer, once you accept and embrace the fact that you cannot control the online posting of negative comments about your company, you can begin to formulate a plan for what you’re going to do to respond to criticism.

You could try to ignore it, of course. There are still plenty of companies that refuse to accept the fact that people are talking negatively about them. You could also try to delete things online—sure, on your own Facebook page, you can delete whatever you want—and perhaps your company’s lawyers could write letters to every Web publisher who ever allows negative comments to be published about you, demanding that those comments come down.

But the truth is, there’s no way to entirely stop people from making negative posts about your company, whether you have an official Facebook page or not. So, why not prepare yourself and, instead of avoiding it, embrace negative feedback, comments, and criticism? Especially if you are the frantic CEO in our example, the following idea might sound like a radical and potentially damaging one—so take a deep breath, and brace yourself.

The Do-Not-Delete Rule

The do-not-delete (DND) rule states that unless a comment is obscene, profane, or bigoted, or it contains someone’s personal and private information, it should never be deleted from a social network site. It might be best to illustrate the wisdom of the DND rule by first playing out a scenario in which you don’t follow it.

Johnny Customer posts on Control Freak Inc.’s Facebook page, “I just got a bill for $100 more than I was supposed to. You guys suck!” The frantic CEO insists that the comment be deleted right away so nobody else sees it, and the comment is promptly removed from the page. Johnny Customer logs on later that day to find his comment deleted. He is infuriated that the company has censored his complaint, and he reacts by starting a new Facebook group called “I Hate Control Freak Inc.! Boycott Them!” He also makes a YouTube video singing about his hatred for the company and detailing his bad experience, and he starts a Twitter trend with hashtag #controlfreakincsucks.

As it turns out, Johnny Customer happens to be the captain of the football team at his school and the lead singer for a popular rock band in town. Within 24 hours, thousands of people are posting negative comments on Control Freak Inc.’s wall, and worse yet, customers are canceling orders, and sales are down.

Sure, this is a dramatic rendition of the situation, and it may not be the most likely occurrence, but is it really worth taking the risk (remember “United Breaks Guitars” from the last chapter)? The point is, when you delete someone’s comment, it is the ultimate “Screw you.” It’s like collecting a customer’s comment card, reading it in front of the customer, and then ripping it up in his or her face. You wouldn’t do that, would you? Plus, the Internet is infinite. Anyone who feels wronged or not heard can turn elsewhere to gripe, finding more energy (and maybe more sympathizers) to vent than he or she had before.

Not Responding Is a Response

The second gut reaction of some executives after wanting to delete the negative comment is to ignore it. “Maybe by ignoring the problem, it will go away,” they might think. Or, “We don’t want to give this issue credence because it might lead to more negativity from customers.”

If deleting a comment is the equivalent of ripping up a comment card in someone’s face, ignoring a negative comment is the equivalent of putting a caller on hold and never getting back on the line (with thousands of people watching the phone call!). No, it’s not as bad as hanging up on him, but he’ll still get the impression that you don’t care about him. Worse yet, everyone else who sees the comment and lack of response from the company will conclude that your organization just doesn’t care. By not responding, you’re actually sending out a strong message: the customer’s opinion doesn’t matter to you. This is a dangerous message to convey to your current consumers, prospects, and the general public, many of whom would interpret a lack of response in just this way. You don’t want to make matters worse, so what’s a company to do?

THE SOLUTION: RESPOND QUICKLY AND PUBLICLY, AND THEN TAKE THE ISSUE PRIVATE

In the situation just mentioned, Johnny Customer wants a reply to the apparent $100 discrepancy on his bill. What do you think of the following response?

First, one of your company’s representatives publicly posts, “I’m sorry you had an issue, Johnny. Please see the private message we sent you to resolve the matter.” Next, this post is followed immediately by a private message sent directly to Johnny, “Sorry you had a bad experience, Johnny. If you e-mail us with your account information to [email protected], we’ll try to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.”

By responding quickly and publicly, you not only respond to someone’s complaint or concern but you also send the message out to the world at large that you’re the kind of company that listens to its customers and fixes problems promptly. By taking the individual matter private, you avoid a public back-and-forth between company and customer, which wouldn’t help anyone involved but only prolong the negative situation. And when you’re apologizing, refer to people by name: it goes a long way toward helping them feel heard and understood. We’re all human, and we all make mistakes. Even the angriest of customers will recognize this truth and will be quick to forgive you, but only if you apologize and fix the problem as soon as possible.

Depending on the size of your organization, you’ll need to make sure you have enough internal or external resources to handle complaints in a timely manner. You probably already have a sense of just how many complaints you typically receive, maybe from those traditional comment cards if you have them. Of course, comment cards used to get forwarded to a department where someone would read them, write replies, and mail them out a week later. In the online world, things happen a lot faster.

Put on your consumer cap. If you had a complaint or question about something, how quickly would you want to be, or expect to be, answered? Of course you’d like to receive a response almost immediately, so you should answer your customers right away as well. As a rule of thumb, make sure you have the resources in place to answer people’s negative comments within 24 hours or sooner if possible. Even if your initial response is, “I’m sorry, and we’ll look into that and get back to you with a private message within 72 hours,” at least you’re immediately telling the customer that you care and you’re going to fix the problem as quickly as you can. After all, an angry customer is just like all of us: she wants to feel heard, and understood.

“I’m Sorry” Is Not an Admission of Guilt

Many legal departments are reticent in allowing marketers to say “I’m sorry” on Facebook and Twitter. It’s as though lawyers are convinced that apologizing is an admission of guilt and makes a company liable for damages. Some industries are more highly regulated than others, and sometimes, it’s just not feasible to apologize. (For instance, as mentioned in Chapter 1, often pharmaceutical companies can’t legally apologize in response to online complaints made about their products.) But, in general, the words “I’m sorry” or “We’re sorry” can go a long way in helping a customer feel heard and diffusing a potentially hazardous situation. There are lots of ways to put an apology in writing without admitting any wrongdoing:

  •   “I’m sorry you had this experience.”

  •   “We’re sorry you feel this way.”

  •   “I’m so sorry you’ve had a problem.”

  •   “That sounds so frustrating. Sorry you felt like that.”

Responding with a short but genuine apology is a great start, but equally important, you’ve got to be able to fix the problem. For many companies, this means that the marketing and public relations departments have to work closely with the customer service team to resolve people’s complaints in a timely manner. Remember, customers don’t care about what department you’re in—they care only about whether you can solve their problem or not. There’s really no difference to customers between a public relations associate and a customer service rep.

Prioritize Your Response Based on the Commenter’s Online Influence

It’s easy to say, “Respond to every customer who complains,” and though this should be the goal, it is not always possible. Some organizations are so vast they don’t yet have the resources to answer every single person’s complaint. Take online social networks, for instance, such as Facebook and Twitter—that is, the companies themselves. Each has hundreds of millions of users but fewer than 2,500 employees. There’s simply no way they have the ability to answer every complaint made. In these situations, and perhaps for your company, you may consider prioritizing how quickly you respond based on the customer’s online influence.

Klout (Klout.com) and other services rank people online based on how many friends and followers they have. Just as you’d probably respond a little faster to celebrities who filled out comment cards years ago, you might consider prioritizing your response time based on how influential the customer is. The harsh reality is that if Johnny Customer has 40,000 followers on Twitter, he can do far more damage to your reputation online than if he has 4. Again, in an ideal world, you could respond to every Johnny Customer’s complaint, but you may not have the ideal resources to do so currently.

TURN COMPLAINERS INTO SUPPORTERS

Depending on how efficiently and effectively you can solve a customer’s problem, you just might turn a hater into an admirer or even a major brand supporter. Consider if Johnny Customer, from our example, heard back from you immediately, and you were able to address his specific complaint with ease. His mind is likely to be changed about your company, and he might be so impressed and pleased that he recommends you to his peers. Consider the following real-life example of an unsatisfied Verizon customer.

A Foe of FiOS Becomes a Fan

Verizon FiOS is the television, Internet, and phone bundle offered by Fortune 500 company Verizon in select areas across the country. The Fans of FiOS Facebook page has been a marketing, promotions, and customer service asset for Verizon since 2008. When first launched, the page was designed to provide regional support for Verizon FiOS’s marketing and promotions initiatives. Customers, however, are typically more concerned about their own service problems than about the marketing and promotional material posted—and they’re not afraid to publicly share their issues. The FiOS team always attempts to quickly resolve such customer issues in conjunction with Verizon policies and procedures. My favorite interaction was with Ray Umstot-Einolf, who posted the following on the FiOS fan page on March 22, 2009:

       Hey Verizon why won’t you give me my money back!!! I signed up for your Verizon Bundle Pack and I’m paying $300.00 a month and my service is supposed to cost about $120.00. We call you every month and the problem is never fixed. Funny thing is I know of about 10 other people you are doing this to. Telling them one price and billing them another and not refunding when you admit you are wrong. You guys Suck!!! And a lawsuit may be in your near future. Have a great day, you bunch of crooks!!!!

Members of the Verizon team breathed and quickly considered their options. There were admittedly a couple of individuals who suggested the dreaded “delete” tactic, in fear of giving credence to such a complaint. But cooler heads prevailed, and the do-not-delete rule won out. They responded this way:

       So sorry you’ve had a problem, Ray. We’ve sent you a private message and someone from Verizon will be in touch with you shortly. —Devin, from the Fans of FiOS

Ray was put directly in touch with the customer support team. A few days passed, and Verizon worried the next post from Ray might be even worse than the first. Then, on March 26, 2009, Ray posted the following on the page:

       I wanna thank Fans of FiOS for fixing my billing Problem. Devin was awesome and I would like to thank her for her help. Had a Regional Manager call us today and went over the bill and corrected our bill. Thank you!!!

            And for the Record. I love the FiOS service and the Extreme Internet package makes me jump up and down every time I download anything or play a game. Thank you Verizon FiOS. No more Crookcast for Us.

It was difficult to believe, looking at both posts, that Ray was the same person. And yet there they were, in front of Verizon and thousands of fans on the page. In a few days, Ray went from being a raving hater to being a full-on supporter with an audience of thousands. In this situation, customer service and marketing were blurred together, resulting in a great promotion of the company and an incredibly satisfied consumer.

CONSIDER RESPONDING WITH SURPRISE AND DELIGHT

Responding with an apology and a quick solution to the problem is essential. But remember, unlike the comment card, which is a private matter, social media is of a public nature, so there’s more at stake here when replying. Is there a way you can go above and beyond to fix the problem—exceeding the unsatisfied customer’s original expectations? Maybe you send a bonus gift in the mail, or you refund the customer’s invoice without telling her, or you give her a deep discount on the next month’s service. Consider the options, get creative, and the customer’s next comment to all of her friends may be raving about the amazing company you are.

1-800-Flowers.com Responds by Surprising

1-800-Flowers.com is the world’s leading online and phone service providing and delivering floral and other gifts to customers across the country. It provides services all year long, but its two busiest weeks of the year, as you might expect, are around Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day.

While the conversation in its online communities is usually quite positive, occasionally customers post complaints that we at Likeable respond to in conjunction with the customer care team. During the two key holidays, the stakes are raised, as many competitors are advertising in the market. The last thing we want is for complaints to go unanswered at this time. Any complaint could quickly snowball and have a major negative effect on sales.

1-800-Flowers.com decided to staff up its Facebook community 24/7 for key holidays beginning in 2010, and it committed to responding publicly within an hour of any complaint. Further, it resolved to not only fix customers’ problems but to also overdeliver, with larger bouquets and orders than the complaining customers had paid for. It was a risk because customers could potentially take advantage of the situation, and profit margins could easily slip. However, the results were great. There were just as many complaints as in the past, but they were responded to quickly, and when the orders did arrive, recipients (and senders!) were surprised and delighted. Many of them ended up posting online again, much more positively this second time. The added spending paid off in keeping the public brand reputation at a high during a critical time.

ACCEPT THAT COMPLAINTS ARE UNAVOIDABLE, AND REACT QUICKLY: TURN YOUR CUSTOMER CARE INTO A MARKETING ASSET

No human being is perfect, and therefore no organization is either. Your company will surely make errors, and now, thanks to social networks, the whole world can easily find out about these mistakes. But you also have the ability to show the world how responsive a company you are. If you can respond quickly and authentically, with an apology and a solution, you can avoid any damage to your reputation. Further, if you provide an additional reward to your customers when tackling the issue, you can actually turn your response and customer care into a marketing asset. Wouldn’t you rather have people like Ray on your side?