Managing Negative Feedback Has Never Been Easier

Despite all your hard work, negative feedback is inevitable and how you respond to it can make all the difference. But don’t let it get you flustered, responding can be as easy as crossing the road. Whether you’re able to correct the customers negative experience or not, negative feedback should always be taken as an opportunity to learn and improve your brand.  

Finding Feedback.

Not responding to feedback is as effective as standing still when the light turns green.

Not responding can have just as a negative impact as a poor response. First things first you need to be able to see the negative feedback to respond to it. People tend to take to social media to express their negative experience in order to capture your attention, as well as the attention of other customers or potential customers. Disgruntled client’s feedback could be hiding in places you least expected. Therefore, you need to keep a close eye on your socials, scour the comments on posts, old and new. Stay up to date with your client’s social media. Monitor your brand mentions with tools such as Google Alerts and Mention.   

Stop, Look, Listen, Think.

Responding to feedback shouldn’t always be a difficult task however like crossing a road there are a few things you need to do first. Once you’ve read the negative feedback, you may be feeling a little fired up, and ready to come back with a quip worthy of a roast, STOP! In terms of social media, a well written timely response will have a more effective outcome than an immediate impulsive response. Don’t forget your response will have an audience. LOOK at the feedback again and make sure you haven’t miss read it. However, don’t just read the feedback, take it in, LISTEN to what they are saying. Now you’ve cooled down or put away the tissues it’s time to THINK of a response. 

A few more Do’s and Don’ts

Do’s

If a complaint has been made publicly, respond promptly on the relevant platform. However, depending on the nature of the feedback a private response could also be necessary.

Apologise or acknowledge the feedback, don’t forget your audience is watching, “Thanks for your feedback, we are currently working on this issue and will get back to you as soon as possible”.  

Despite the initial sting of negative feedback, it’s important to remember that there is a lot that can be learnt when genuine issues are brought to your attention and can help to improve the quality of your service or product. 

Don’ts

Although you want to think of the best response possible it’s also important to be timely. Giving feedback days later will reflect poorly on your brand. Social media is fast pace so a response shouldn’t take more than an hour (within business hours). Not acknowledging the complaint may also be interpreted as a lack of care for the customer or an attempt to ignore the issue altogether.    

In response to negative feedback being witty, rude or sarcastic will get you nowhere. It will imply that you aren’t taking the customers concerns seriously. Avoid brushing off their concerns, playing it down or making excuses.  

Now that you’ve successfully crossed the road and your customer is satisfied with your response and the issue is resolved, ask them to remove any negative feedback or to leave a positive reaction. 

However, at Wild and Free Media, we know this can be a time-consuming task that may not get to the top of your priority list as often as you would like. If you need a hand crossing the road give us a shout at hey@wildnadfree.com.au and we can point you to the nearest crossing.