In 2012, 70% of people said they trusted online reviews and are influenced by online reviews and ratings. Today, the percentage skyrocketed. As a manager for a small business, a customer’s feedback or inquiry about your products & services can be instantly received through Facebook or Twitter.
These social media platforms are public so the way you respond is very highly regarded by the customers. Anyone can see the interaction and their opinion of your brand can also be altered. Every word you post is hanging by a thread literally, and they are also a form of digital marketing for your business.
If a terrible review of a local restaurant comes up on my Facebook newsfeed and no one has addressed the issue the customer had, or just brushed it aside, or worst of all delete it, I will definitely be much less willing to dine at that place.
A positive feedback is much easier for a business to handle, by simply acknowledging the praise and thanking the customer. A negative feedback on the other hand, must be handled delicately as the whole world is watching. Customers know that giving feedback on a social media platform is public and a timely response is expected.
Here are examples of how a positive feedback from customers should be responded.
Positive Feedback
Nothing really needs to be done with this type of feedback other than acknowledgement through a “like” or ”favorite” of the post and maybe a short and sweet response. If its a loyal customer, perhaps offer them a perk the next time they come use your service or purchase your product. Letting your customers know that you’re listening to them is very important and recognizing their praise helps everyone, including the person who may have stumbled upon your interaction and now has a more positive view of your brand.
Negative Feedback
There are two types of negative posters out there. There are those who are complaining because they want a solution and hopefully you can fix their problem; and those who are complaining just to complain or to make your brand look bad online.
In both of these situations, it’s vital to respond politely and professionally. Acknowledge the customer’s concern and make sure they know you are working to fix it right away whenever possible. Regardless of how absurd a complaint might be, a timely and appropriate response is still very crucial. People will define your company’s reputation by these little online gestures.
Exercising social media correctly and addressing concerns in a timely manner is a simple yet very effective way to positively impact your small business, especially if you’re trying to establish your new brand or uphold a positive reputation. If you can’t afford a full time PR or marketing person (which is true for small startups), Facebook is an easy, measurable way to interact with customers and become more visible when you keep to these common courtesies.
What are some ways that you’ve dealt with positive or negative customer feedback on a social marketing basis? Have you been a bad or good customer yourself? Please share below!
Digital Lounge 
Enjoyable post.
That Turkish airlines example definitely shows that even when a customer is being a nuisance it pays to make them happy.
I once wrote something slightly negative to an online retailer because I had been waiting over 3 months for a delivery that should’ve taken 2 weeks (it was quite a frustrating situation). They responded by giving me my money back and apologising. They told me even if the clothes ended up arriving I could have them for free, they arrived a week later so I saved $350! Definitely an example of responding well to negative feedback.
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That’s a huge saving! Seems like the retailer managed to turn the situation upside down. Instead of having you as a customer feel angry about the long shipping wait time, they made you feel that its alright to wait because you could save money! 🙂
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And by them doing that, they subconsciously made their customers spread the word about their great service even though they may not be the one at fault for the late delivery, but they take responsiblity to clean up the postal’s mess.
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Customer feedback on social media is not a new situation. However, I think most of the companies still need time and practice their ability to handle these feedbacks. Somebody told me that feedback is like a gift! Some gift you like, some gifts you dislike. Therefore, what should we do when we receive a terrible gift? Do we throw it away, ignore or turn it to be something useful? It’s our choices. Customers could post anything they want to talk about the brand, mostly because they can’t tell the brand directly. So I guess social media is an importan bridge to read customers’ wants and needs. Customers are smart, they know what they want and companies, should be smart enough to satisfy these needs/wants to earn profits.
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Yes indeed. I couldn’t agree more, Helen! Your gift analogy is a very good and important guideline which company could follow when having an online social media presence. So, if they got a bad gift, it would be useful to be tactful towards replying. If you have a good gift, well, the reply is easy. Cheers
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Loving the Turkish Airlines case! I think that may companies have caught on to how important word of mouth is and the wonders a happy customer can do for the brand. I feel like it is a given that a company needs to reply to every single piece of reasonable negative feedback they get…its the right thing to do and its showing customers they actually care. 🙂
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Exactly they’re using communication as a marketing strategy. Pretty smart and effective huh? Also they are doing two jobs at a time – answering consumers qns and showing a good front towards the public to build a great brand image.
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i totally agree with this blog that online reviews are very important. i’ve had experiences with bad customer service and the good one. when serviced with a good one it feels like everything is made simple and done, and will do repeat purchase. howvever when given a bad one, i think we should also give negative feedback as for their reflection of how they should fix their mistake. because i have to admit that once dissapointed, i (and most likely everyone) will not buy from there again, which is totally their loss
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Apart from knowing that customer reviews decide the business’s sales, they also need to chase purchasing customers for online reviews by sending the emails after their buys in the next few days. So that people would see that consumers have bought from them before and they would feel more incline to buy from shops whom have customers than those who don’t.
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Sometimes companies must also make it a point to ask their consumers to give them a 5 star review on their shop. No, they shouldn’t not be embarrassed to ask for 5 star reviews, if they have been providing an excellent service. How else then would companies ensure they have more 5 stars review than 4 stars? If they don’t ask for 5 stars reviews. Because not all customers are that nice to give out their 5 stars.
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