Election day has me thinking about the important role online presence and opinions have played this year. Just like our candidates, local brands and companies are living their lives online and consumers are sometimes left weary and wondering what is true and what is just “a bad review.”
There are absolutely times we all have very little control over our online presence and reputation. However, there are countless things we can and should do to ensure we are putting our best possible image forward, and most of it boils down to outstanding online customer service.
As a business, you can do everything possible to earn your customers trust and favor, however, in this digital age, if you are not careful, all your efforts can be undone in an instant.
We need to understand how important customer service actually is. According to J.D. Power, 67% of consumers have used a company’s social media channel for customer service. And when they do, they expect a fast response. 42% of consumers expect a response with 60 minutes.
So how do you handle bad online reviews or negative comments to your digital marketing efforts? There are tons of blogs on the subject and after scouring through them, I have narrowed it down to what I feel are the two most important tips.
In fact, according to a study from Convince & Convert a prompt response is expected:
“Our research found that among those respondents who have ever attempted to contact a brand, product, or company through social media for customer support, 57% expect the same response time at night and on weekends as during normal business hours.”
Consumers expect round the clock support and you will need to plan and staff accordingly.
So the first step is responding immediately, which leads to the next tip…
Reassure your customers:
Use humor when appropriate and have some fun with it! The more personal the response the better. Be sure your customer service team is empowered to have a little leeway in their responses and is trained to be empathetic and helpful.
While these are not the only tips to consider, they are an excellent place to start. Excellent customer service leads to positive opinions from your consumers and consumers often rely on the opinions of others when making purchase decisions. According to Zendesk, 88% have been influenced by an online customer service review when deciding what to buy.
An additional way Vici can help you is with our Online Reputation Management tool which is included in every Search Engine Optimization campaign we do!
