Micah Solomon on Effectively Responding to Customer Complaints Online

The following is a guest post by Micah Solomon, author of High-Tech, High-Touch Customer Service, describing the most effective ways to address customer complaints online.

How to effectively address online customer complaints on Yelp, Twitter, TripAdvisor, and other forums.

Principle 1: Minimize the likelihood of public social media complaints in the first place. If your friend saw you had your fly undone, or there was spinach in your teeth, would he tweet about it? No, he’d quietly tell you. [And if nobody tells you that your fly is undone, you clearly have no friends!]  

In this same spirit, why should unhappy customers complain indirectly via Twitter or their blogs when they can use email, the phone, or a feedback form on your website and know that it will be answered—immediately and with empathy? With their round-the-clock access to the social airwaves, make sure that the first impulse of customers is to reach you directly, day or night, by offering “chime in” forms everywhere; direct chat links for when your FAQ’s fail to assist; and an easy way to reply directly to every corporate email you send out.

Principle 2. Digital arguments with customers who do post negative items are an exponentially losing proposition.  

We all know:  You can’t win an argument with a customer. If you lose, you lose directly; if you win, you still lose—by losing the customer. But online, the rule is multiplied manifold because of all the additional customers you’ll lose if they catch sight of the argument.  So, you need to learn to breathe deeply and think of the future of your company rather than reacting in haste.

Principle 3: Turn twankers into thankers: Reach out directly to online complainers

Okay, now that you’re lying back, being careful not to fly off the handle, you can respond in a considered, positive manner. Let’s say you’ve spotted an outrageous tweet about your firm:

Company X double-bills all customers—Must Think We R Suckrs—FAIL

How should you respond? If this person follows you on Twitter, that makes you able to send him a direct message—so do it. Include a direct email address and direct phone number. If, however, said twanker isn’t one of your followers, you’ll need to figure out another way to reach him. How about replying publicly, on Twitter, listing your email address and expressing your chagrin and concern. (In an online forum such as a blog, TripAdvisor, or Facebook, you can respond in a similar manner, but through the comment mechanisms available there.)

By responding this way, you have a good chance to move the discussion out of a public venue and into a one-on-one situation, where you can work directly with your antagonist without thousands of eyes dissecting every move or, worse, catching bits and pieces as things progress, without ever grasping the whole story. This dispute resolution approach is like an in-store situation where you take an irate customer aside, perhaps into your office, to privately discuss the matter, giving you both a chance to work together to arrive at a resolution.

And, after a successful resolution, politely ask the complainer to amend or even withdraw those original ugly comments.

4. Avoid the fiasco formula: a digital stitch in time…

Can you spell F-I-A-S-C-O? The formula is:

Small Error +Slow Response Time =Colossal PR Disaster

That is, the magnitude of a social media uproar increases disproportionately with the length of your response time. Be aware that a negative event in the online world can gather social steam with such speed that your delay itself can become more of a problem than the initial incident. A day’s lag in responding can be too much.

Micah Solomon is a customer service, hospitality, and marketing strategist, professional speaker, and author of High-Tech, High-Touch Customer Service. Find Micah at www.micahsolomon.com, on Twitter @micahsolomon, or his blog, College of The Customer.

Earlier:
Micah Solomon on Building Customer Loyalty in Retail During the Holiday Rush

Podcast: Micah Solomon on Boosting Profits with Exceptional Customer Service

Random Quotes from New Books This May

Click Millionaires by Scott Fox

“One of the first steps on the road to Click Millionaire success is to recognize the value of your own time. You have the opportunity to invest your time instead of just spending it. Even if you only have a few hours to yourself each week after your work obligations are finished, the Internet can help you. Of course you can waste that time online just surfing  around, Playing Angry Birds, or watching goofy videos on YouTube. Or you can invest that time in learning new skills, making new friends and business contacts, and turning your hobbies in to businesses. “

High-Tech, High-Touch Customer Service by Micah Solomon

“I’m going to start this chapter with a vote of support for my geekier friends, a concession, really: It’s crucial to have technologically savvy people supporting your social media customer service work. These are in many ways revolutionary times, and the value of technical knowledge and aptitude can’t be discounted. But while your tech wizards should be interacting with and involved in the team that handles your social media support, the people actually helming the operation and responding to customers need to be the same people who are involved in your day-to-day customer service operations and who are responsible for interacting with your customers.” (page 149)

In the Shadow of the Dragon by Winter Nie and William Dowell

“The implicit message for Huawei was clear. In spite of the public rhetoric from the United States about free markets, business with the U.S. government is nearly always intensely political, and the old saying that all is fair in love and war is even truer when it comes to global business. business at the level of multinationals play it is a no-holds-barred street fight in which anything goes.” (page 66)

The Winning Factor by Peter Jensen

“In developing people, the challenge is not about physical growth but about igniting in them the desire to achieve their potential, whatever their focus. When we speak of commitment, it is about commitment to themselves and their own growth and development, rather than to anything outside them, such as an organization. We want them to begin using all their talents and skills to become the  best they can be. We want them to activate their Third Factor.” (page 7)

Want to sample other AMACOM books? Check out our Random Quotes from New Books series.

Customer Service Providers: Share with Us Your War Stories

AMACOM author Rich Gallagher is taking aim at people’s worst customer nightmares in his new book What to Say in Your *Very Worst* Customer Service Situations, and he wants to hear from you.

Rich is the author of two AMACOM titles: What to Say to a Porcupine  and How to Tell Anyone Anything: Breakthrough Techniques for Handling Difficult Conversations at Work. In his new book, he will be exploring your most difficult customer situations using techniques that hostage negotiators, crisis counselors, psychotherapists, and others use in their very worst situations.

This is where you come in. Have you ever had someone completely lose their temper? Or make a ridiculously unrealistic demand? Worse yet, have you ever had to defuse a situation that was totally, utterly your fault (or your organization’s)? Here is a chance to show what positive skills you used to turn these situations around, and share your talents with a bigger audience.

Many people feel that tough customer situations are meant to simply be endured. Other lash back at customers who make their lives miserable. But the best of the best know how to put themselves in another person’s shoes, even with their most challenging customers, and turn crisis situations into productive dialogue. Are you one of them?

If we use your story, your name will be mentioned in the book’s acknowledgments, and your talents will be published for posterity. We’ll also send you a free copy of the book. Good luck!

Contact Rich Gallagher at gallagher(at) pointofcontactgroup(dot)com to participate.

Rich Gallagher MA, MFT heads Point of Contact Group, a training and development firm that has taught over 20,000 people what to say in their most difficult workplace situations. A former customer service executive and practicing psychotherapist, he is the author of eight books as well as the subject matter expert for AMA’s Communication Bootcamp program. His work has been featured in CNN.com, BusinessWeek, Dale Carnegie Training, and numerous other media outlets.

Professor of Learning and Performance in the Workforce Education and Development program, Department of Learning and Performance Systems, at The Pennsylvania State University

International Interpretations of Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service

Twenty years ago, AMACOM published the customer service classic Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service. We recently published the fifth edition, and we thought it would be fun to take a look at how foreign translations have handled an idiom that doesn’t translate well.

Japanese: Service Love by Customers: You Are Everything to Customers.












Portuguese: Atendimento Nota 10 translates literally to “A+ Service,” which we’re assured sounds great in Portuguese!











Korean: A Secret Note of Service Expert.













Spanish: Wow!: Leave Your Customers With Their Mouth Wide Open with Service That is Out of This World. (Wide Open=Jaw Dropped.)











What words come to mind when you get great customer service?

Spring 2012 Catalog Online Now!

Our Spring 2012 catalog is online now! You can download the AMACOM Spring Catalog HERE, and check out AMACOM’s past catalogs HERE.

We’ve got some great books coming out this spring:

Click Millionaires: Work Less, Live More with an Internet Business You Love by Scott Fox. E-commerce expert Scott Fox teaches weary corporate warriors and aspiring entrepreneurs how to trade the 9–5 job they hate for an online business they love.

Lead with a Story: A Guide to Crafting Business Narratives That Captivate, Convince, and Inspire by Paul Smith. Stories have the ability to engage an audience the way logic and bullet points alone never could. Whether you are trying to communicate a vision, sell an idea, or inspire commitment, storytelling is a powerful business tool that can mean the difference between mediocre results and phenomenal success.

High-Tech, High-Touch Customer Service: Inspire Timeless Loyalty in the Demanding New World of Social Commerce by Micah Solomon. Old-fashioned customer service, fully retooled for today’s blistering pace and digitally connected reality, is what you need to build the kind loyal customer base that allows you to survive—and thrive. And High-Tech, High-Touch Customer Service spells out surefire strategies for success in a clear, entertaining, and practical way.

I Got My Dream Job and So Can You: 7 Steps to Creating Your Ideal Career After College by Pete Leibman. Recent graduates looking to enter the workforce face a discouraging job market and stiff competition for even the most entry-level positions. Yet with the right attitude and strategies, they can break into any organization in any industry and start climbing the ladder to success.

Leading at The Edge: Leadership Lessons from the Extraordinary Saga of Shackleton’s Antarctic Expedition by Dennis N. T. Perkins. Stranded in the frozen Antarctic sea for nearly two years, Sir Ernest Shackleton and his team of 27 polar explorers endured extreme temperatures, hazardous ice, dwindling food, and complete isolation. Despite these seemingly insurmountable obstacles, the group remained cohesive, congenial, and mercifully alive—a fact that speaks not just to luck but to an unparalleled feat of leadership.

We’re really excited about these books, and hope you are too! Let us know what you think in the comments!

Earlier: I Got My Dream Job and So Can You Now Available on NetGalley