Dealing with Negative Feedback on Your Site

Posted on 30. Sep, 2011 by Matthew Toren in Blogging, Business, Entrepreneurship, Internet

In today’s market, businesses are no longer dictating to, but rather listening to and conversing with their customer base.  By opening your company up for this type of conversation, you’re also leaving the ability for unhappy customers to complain. And they will often do so very loudly and publicly.  In cases like this, what should you do?  Below are some steps you can take to turn any negative feedback into a positive experience – not just for your customer, but for you as well.

Identify the Issue

Your very first step should be identifying the intent of the negative comment.  Discover whether the commenter has a legitimate complaint about your product or service, or if they are simply looking for a solution.  You never know – a suggestion in the form of constructive criticism may be how the commenter has decided to express their concern.  Of course, there will always be individuals who have no legitimate complaint at all and have decided to spam or troll their messages online, and these comments can be ignored or, if on your own site, dealt with appropriately.

Humanize Your Responses

Rather than being overly defensive or deleting the criticism left by a commenter, do your best to understand where they’re coming from. Humanizing the response adheres to the guidelines that internet platforms are a conversation first and foremost, rather than being a method to spout off misplaced hostility. By delivering a truly understanding and calm response, you’ll be taking the wind out of the sails of criticism. This will give you a much better opportunity to spin any negative comments in your favor. No matter what, dealing with a straight-forward problem is always necessary. Whether the message is very personal or more of a general one, the need for clarification will depend on the scope of the issue.

Remember, people might legitimately perceive the way your company does some things as a problem. Any customer who takes the time to point out a suggestion through constructive criticism should always receive a response from you.  Although you can’t always implement the suggestion that they are proposing, letting them know that you are listening is a must.  The one and only time a response is not necessary is when someone leaves a trolling (unseemly) comment. People like this aren’t looking for a response to a legitimate problem, nor do they have any ideas on how you should improve your business. Replying to these types of people will only fuel future slanderous fires.

Be Prompt

Your ability to address a problem right away serves two purposes:

1. You’re showing that you care about the needs of your readers or customers.
2. By responding immediately – or at least as soon as possible – you are lessening the time in which a commenter can continue to criticize. Setting up a reputation monitoring dashboard with Google Alerts is one terrific way to quickly and efficiently reply to any and all mentions of your business.

Get Your Customers Involved

The very best defense is having a strong offense.  Allowing your customers to address any concerns they may have directly to you can stop many complaints through a more public forum like Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites.  One good way to confront problems and questions is by sending out surveys to a small group of people within your customer base.  These types of surveys normally go a step past the usual “multiple choice” by allowing your customers to feel much more involved.

Think Twice Before You Delete

It might seem appealing to simply sweep all negative feedback under the carpet, but your customers will notice that much more quickly than you might think.  And it doesn’t it seem rather pointless to deprive your customers from being interactive online?  By learning to embrace and learn from negative feedback, you can turn it into opportunities to show your customers that your company really does care.  This can’t be accomplished by deleting negative comments and pretending the comments and the problem never existed.

As the social media market continues to grow and improve, people will have to adapt and learn the best ways in which to approach problems in a public forum.  Do you have any stories or advice on ways that you have personally combated negative comments?  Please share in the comment section below!

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Tags: Blogging, Business, entrepreneur, Internet, Online, small business, Websites

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