You want feedback – No you really do!
Are you worried about getting complaints, do you worry if people like or dislike your services, products or company. Because you should and you should also have your answers ready. Or rather you should be prepared to defend yourself. the Internet is an open place and people can write about you anywhere they like. You need to take control of that.
How? you say – the answer is simple… give people a route for feedback, build into your website a way for people to complain or praise, and always answer people truthfully and properly.
Examples:
A client wrote a Blog post of a fairly technical nature which depended on the good use of English, obviously he was had up for Typo’s and his grammar. The answer is not to just correct the mistakes and hide the comments. A better solution is to thank the person who notified him and explain what he was doing. Also it is a good idea to try and stretch the conversation on.
Another eCommerce client has product reviews on their website, the worry is that customers can complain live on the website… the correct answer is to counter the complaint listing the precise action taken to rectify the problem. This simple shows people that you are a company that responds to their clients and that is a much more powerful force for positive thoughts than negative. Finally it also make complainers think twice before complaining, because they know they might be exposed.
So rather than trying to hide feedback, answer it and turn the game around so that you’re in control… here’s some warnings if you don’t:
- People will complain by word of mouth – that will hurt sales
- People will write on Facebook or other networks if they want to complain
- Bad news travels faster than good news
- People are more likely to complain than praise