“Dear John, we are so sorry to hear you had a problem with our product. Could you please go to our website, click on this link and fill out this form so that our customer service department may have a better understanding of your problem and serve future customers better?”
Many big corporations have dedicated entire departments to Social Media. Social Media teams interact with consumers via platforms such as Twitter and Facebook everyday–responding to queries and addressing complaints. One common trend I have noticed with many companies, is asking consumers who have posted a complaint via Social Media to go to the company’s website and fill out a customer complaint form. Every time I see the company respond to the complaint and then proceed to provide the customer with a link to fill out more information, I cringe.
If a customer is so upset they took to Social Media, why would you think they want to help you in addressing the problem by spending additional time writing a detailed description of the issue?! Why give the customer additional work because of your mistake? This is a sure way to lose some of your best clientele.
Another way to respond to complaints via Social Media would be to:
- Publicly apologize for inconveniencing the consumer and make sure to publicly assure the customer that your company will take every step necessary to rectify the problem.
- Privately contact the consumer and ask them for their contact information (private email or phone number). Make it YOUR business to get the entire story and go out of YOUR way to ensure the customer feels as though their concerns have been addressed.
Making the customer feel as though they matter to your company is one of the best ways to ensure customer loyalty, despite any negative experiences they may have had with your brand.
Like human beings businesses make mistakes too. Forgiveness is possible if the response is appropriate.
