You’re ready to respond to a customer who vows online that he’ll hate your company until the end of time. Now what do you post online and what do you save for one-on-one interaction?
Someone in your contact center should regularly monitor Twitter, Facebook, popular blogs and consumer sites for customer complaints. When the agent spots them (and there are plenty of vendors offering software to help do that), it’s a good idea to publicly post:
- that the agent is with the company
- an apology for something (the situation, the customers’ feeling, a confirmed error or delay, etc.)
- a request for a second chance, and
- an offer to help.
It might look like this: “I’m Jean, a customer service rep at XYZ Co., I’m sorry you experienced this situation. I hope you’ll give us a second chance to make things right. You can contact me directly at … to get this resolved right away.”
From there, agents want to work offline on:
- the resolution. Agents don’t want to make offers on solutions publicly because not all solutions work in every situation and they don’t want to create an expectation for others.
- rebuilding the relationship. Once the situation is resolved, agents can offer restitution, if necessary, on a case-by-case basis.
