Responding to Negativity
July 21st 2008 Posted at General Information
3 Comments 
Google “Dell Hell”. Go ahead, I’ll wait. Or click this image to read about it from the source.
What is to be learned here?
You should definitely respond to negative posts. In fact, you simply must respond quickly and carefully. Say you’re sorry, offer to fix the problem, and provide contact information. There are few things more frustrating to a consumer than attempting to reach someone in customer service and getting the run-around. Or a stream of automated form e-mails.
Get a person involved, even if it is an answering service that will take a message and provide additional contact information. It can cost a lot more in the long run. Human contact can soothe the savage beast with the awesome power of the words, “I’m sorry.”
For the final step, be sure to deliver on your promises. If you do not you will get:
“YOU SUCK. YOU LIE. Put that in your Google and smoke it”
(paraphrasing Jeff Jarvis)
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[...] have written about Responding to Negativity before, “You should definitely respond to negative posts. In fact, you simply must respond [...]
[...] Keeping an eye on what people are saying about you online is an important part of your marketing effort. Ideally this job is handled by someone at your company that surfs the internet and looks for mentions of your company, good and bad. When they find a compliment, they thank the person and add them to the overall conversation. If this employee finds a complaint or negative comment, they must be empowered to get the complaint fixed and trained on how to respond in a positive way (see a little history at “Responding to Negativity“). [...]
[...] Respond thoughtfully [...]