Rolling Sands Consulting

Feedback Matters #3 – How should I respond to online reviews?

What advice do I give to clients who are scared of flipping their online reviews switch ‘On’? Here’s my quick and easy cheat sheet for when they take the plunge.

Always say ‘Thank You’ regardless of how mundane, negative, or belligerent the feedback may be. Acknowledging and showing appreciation for a customer taking the time to review your product or service, puts you in a good light even when the review is bad. Like I said in my Feedback #2 post, customers don’t expect you to be perfect, but they do expect (and deserve) to be heard.

Of course, what you say next will depend on the actual content of the review.

Case 1 – You and your product ROCK! – Stellar reviews – Five Stars

Congratulations! These are marketing gold. People are much more likely to take time to complain about a product or service they purchased.
Say, “Thank You for taking the time to post a review. We are thrilled that you liked our [insert product/service here]!”
Share the review on your (other) social channels…”Look at this…we’re so thrilled!“*
Flag their account in your CRM tool and consider contacting the customer for a testimonial in the future.

Case 2 – It’s satisfactory. – Good reviews – Four Stars

Say, “Thank You for taking the time to post a review. We’re happy you like our [insert product/service here].
Invite them to contact you offline if they have any questions about this or any other product/service you offer.
Consider asking them for suggestions. You might get interesting ideas for your future product/service offerings. Just be sure to manage expectations in your conversations with your customers. Suggestions will run the gamut from insightful to impossible to impractical.

Case 3 – It’s OK, I guess. – Mediocre reviews – Three Stars

Say, “Thank You for taking the time to post a review. We’re sorry that we didn’t knock your socks off.” Perhaps there is another product/service that would be more suitable.”
Invite them to contact you offline (away from public scrutiny) to help them resolve any issue(s) they have.

Case 4A – It sucks. – Genuine negative reviews – One or Two Stars

Say, “Thank You for your feedback. We’re sorry that you didn’t like [insert product/service].”
Invite them to contact you offline (away from public scrutiny) to help them resolve their issue(s) and address their complaint.

Case 4B – You, your company, your whole family, and your dog suck! – Trolls

Begin with the same approach as Case 4A. Sometimes it’s hard to spot the trolls.
Say, “Thank You for your feedback. We’re sorry that… “
Invite them to contact you offline (away from public scrutiny) to help them resolve the issue(s).
Some might suggest that you just delete these “reviews”. However, handled properly, the general public will recognise the deliberate attempt to bait you and feel some sympathy with you as the target of the unreasonable attack. It is also impossible to delete user reviews on some platforms, e.g. Amazon.
If the review is truly from a troll, they won’t contact you directly. If they continue trying to draw you into a public fight, restate that they can contact you directly a second time, thank them for their opinion, and don’t engage with them again.

Case 5 – Complaints about issues outside of your control. – The uninformed

As always, thank them for taking the time to submit a review.
If there are positive comments, acknowledge those first.
If there are issues with a part of the product or service that you have no control over, express your regrets and point them in the direction of the appropriate place to direct those comments. For example, when there are shipping delays but you don’t run the shipping company.
If the issue is particularly egregious and distressing to your reviewer, consider doing something to help resolve the issue.

Do you have any tried and true methods for handling customer reviews?

*If you feel the need to ask the reviewer for permission to repost reviews, please do so. You know your customers best. However, anything published in a public forum is technically fair game for display in another public forum…barring copyright issues and the like of course.

Do I really need a proofreader?

Even though modern apps check for spelling and grammar errors, I spot errors online and in print all the time. If your document is important personally, professionally and/or commercially, you can benefit greatly from a second pair of eyes on your copy. Whether you ask a friend for a favour or get a professional to review your writing…YES, you need a proofreader!

Why are there still errors in published copy?

1 – Actual words won’t be caught by your spellchecker. Missed typos can range from nonsensical to downright cringe worthy like this huge ad on the side of a bus shelter in the UK. (I could say more here, but in the interest of work-safe content, I will not.)

2 – Your brain can trick you. According to psychologist Tom Stafford at the University of Sheffield, writing is a high-level task and, “We don’t catch every detail…we take in sensory information and combine it with what we expect, and we extract meaning.” When you review your own writing, your brain ‘knows’ what the text should say and often scans past typos.

3 – Homonyms! Two or more words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings. This is really a special case of the first point above, but this error is so common that it is worth special attention. Here are just a few examples:

Your
You’re

There
Their
They’re

Than
Then

4 – Nobody is perfect.

This happens to the best of us! I once sent new price pages to a customer with some of my pricing notes still attached. No confidential information was disclosed (per se) but having to go back to the customer with a correction and ask them to delete the previous version of the file was awkward.

What’s your most embarrassing typo or oversight? Please share in the comments!

Feedback Matters #2 – Direct Comments

“If you don’t care, your customer never will.”
Marlene Blaszczyk, Founder and Editor of Motivateus.com

Beyond online reviews, many customers provide feedback via emails, web forms, and comments to sales or customer service reps. While these messages are more private in nature, they are direct. The customer has an even higher expectation of getting a response than with online reviews or comments.

No response is MUCH worse than acknowledging a message, even when there is nothing you can do to improve the situation. Your company doesn’t have to be perfect, but you are expected to care about your customers.

The consequences of no response

The customer takes their original complaint PLUS their disappointment to a more public forum just like I did in my blog/LinkedIn post Customer Service Fail!
Your competition gets an opportunity to make their case.

I’ll be offering my advice on how to respond to different types of feedback in a future post. Or contact me directly for personalised recommendations.

Tell me about the last time you experienced or witnessed a customer service fail in the comments below!