How do I deal with the modern disgruntled customer?
In pre internet days if you upset a customer then they simply didn’t come back to you.
In the worse case scenario they might tell a few friends that they didn’t like how they were dealt with. It was easy to get somebody in, piss them off and not care about it, as there was a constant stream of new leads.
Things have changed!
The modern, web savvy, shopper is a well informed and dangerous animal, especially if you upset them. No matter if you’re a small local shop or a worldwide retailer your customers have a mountain of weapons in their arsenal to discredit you and your business.
- The customers claims may be completely incorrect
- They may have made their own mistakes
- You have dealt with their issues in accordance with all the best practice rules.
- If you are a manufacturer, be aware that mail order sales have 7 days grace, where products can be returned for no reason.
It doesn’t matter who’s wrong, a customer like this can do far more damage to your brand than the price of the order
Just take a look at this disgruntled customer. He was so angry that he patiently sat and made a video about his bad experiences.
Reviews sites, Forums, Blogs, Facebook, Twitter and even YouTube offer them a lot of options. In most cases you won’t have a right to reply.
Your Weapons
Unless you really are offering bad service, all is not lost. In most cases the reviewer is alone, they may have hit every social network they can find but they are normally still alone.
- Your biggest weapon is your existing happy customers. If you can persuade them to start writing publicly available reviews, you’re onto a winner. 1 bad review and 20 good reviews and 30 glowing reviews is more likely to win you a customer than 30 glowing reviews, it looks more real…
- Do a quick Google search for “your company” reviews , look for bad reviews. If the complaint is unfounded some sites will give you the option to reply. If you can’t respond, get onto your friends, family and everybody else you know to get some responses back in there quick.
- Don’t all respond from the same office – most sites will look at your ip address when you post to check you’re not spamming them.
- Speak to the customer concerned, what can you do to change his mind?
The ultimate weapon, go above and beyond normal service levels and turn an upset customer into somebody who actively tells people how you solved the issue.
