Customers don’t just raise their voice with complaints on the phone anymore. They’re louder and clear with online complaints, too. Here’s how to handle those very public gripes.
Whether customers blog, tweet or post on Facebook their complaints about your organization, follow these tips from FoxBusiness experts:
- Be ready. Because online complaints are often real time, companies and their contact centers may make knee-jerk decisions – which are often a bad idea. Create a process for handling online complaints like the one you have in place for phone or email issues.
- Keep it under one roof. Have staff who are tenured and most familiar with your policies handle online issues. Avoid handing duties out to interns just because they’re most familiar with social networks.
- Get a name. Online rants are often anonymous. When you spot a complaint, reach out, identifying yourself as a company rep and asking him or her for contact details. Then check the customer’s account history and make a quick decision on how to handle it.
- Acknowledge publicly, fix privately. Once you let customers know you want to help on the channel they used, take the solution offline (over the phone or via email). They’ll likely post good things about you after the fix.
