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These days when people have something negative to say about a brand they don’t just moan about it to a few friends, they take to the internet to broadcast their displeasure. This is an issue for brands because bad news travels fast – the average person has around 120 Facebook friends (not to mention Twitter followers). Consumers are also becoming savvy about this, they know how to make sure the brand sees their tweets and they know that a complaint posted on a brand’s Facebook wall will be picked up more quickly than one emailed directly to the company.

Once the consumer has vented the brand must decide how to react. Sometimes the best plan is to ignore the complaint (if it seems unreasonable for example) but generally speaking, ignoring the problem will make it worse. Most brands will discreetly contact the consumer and try and sort out the complaint behind the scenes. Other brands however will try to turn a negative into a s positive which requires a bit of effort and creative thinking (or a free voucher).

Case Study: Glasses Direct

I recently had some problems I had with an order with Glasses Direct. I sent my sunglasses off to them to have new lenses put in but when they returned they were wonky, one of the arms had been damaged. I sent the glasses back but when they were returned to me they were still wonky. This annoyed me so I tweeted about it:

Glasses Direct replied, as I expected they would, with a tweet saying that they would look into my complaint. Then a few hours later they send my the following tweet:

Which contained a link to this video:

The result was 300 views, 20 retweets, a link from my Facebook page and a little boost of positive press. If you were being cynical you might suggest that the video might have been motivated by the fact that my Twitter account is linked to this blog with posts about Social Media but hey, it worked. The video put a smile on my face and turned a negative situation into a positive one.

The Secret (is not a secret).

The moral of the story obviously isn’t to make a video for every unhappy customer, but to carefully judge the situation. If the complaint was more serious a funny video might make it even worse (Stop making videos and sort my order out!). The secret is to:

• Acknowledge the complaint
• Apologize for the problem
• Take control of the situation
• Explain how you are going to fix the problem
• Fix it

These aren’t actually secrets of course, this is exactly what you would need to do if you worked in a high street shop. The only difference with Social Media is that you must be quick (time moves faster on the internet) and you must be seen to fix the problem. Social Media sites are public places, if you resolve a complaint make sure you make this clear (“Just checked your account – we’re going to sort out a new frame for you…”) so that everyone who sees the tweet/post knows that the problem is being solved.

It’s one of those phrases that makes me feel a little bit nauseous but it is good practice to “own the problem”. Introduce yourself and make it clear that you are going to be responsible for finding a solution and preventing it from happening again. Don’t pass the blame or get someone else to sort the problem – you are now the customer’s point of contact.

The Importance of Word of Mouth

The most important point is to fix the problem, whatever it takes as this is the only way to make the consumer trust you again.  If you don’t you risk losing more than just one customer. Consumers trust word-of-mouth recommendations from people they know more than any other factor when deciding what to buy:

When asked what sources “influence your decision to use or not use a particular company, brand or product” 71% claim reviews from family members or friends exert a “great deal” or “fair amount” of influence. (Harris Interactive, June 2010)

The average consumer mentions specific brands over 90 times per week in conversations with friends, family, and co-workers. (Keller Fay, WOMMA, 2010)

In a study conducted by social networking site myYearbook, 81 percent of respondents said they’d received advice from friends and followers relating to a product purchase through a social site; 74 percent of those who received such advice found it to be influential in their decision. (Click Z, January 2010)

between 10% and 24% of [US] social media users turned to social networks when making purchase decisions about various categories of products and services. (eMarketer, October 2009)

Stats via Bazaar Voice