How to Respond to Negative Feedback on Social Media
There is no denying the recent change in how consumers communicate with a brand, and this is primarily due to social media. Customers can now visibly connect with their favourite (or even least favourite ) brand through social media, by leaving comments, questions and complaints on a facebook page, or by tweeting or even blogging about their products and services.
Call centres, though still present, are not the only route to take to ask questions or raise a complaint with a brand – and any business with sense will have an attentive eye on their online presence and the people interacting with it.
There have been a number of rather public cases in the media, involving brands and a social media backlash, which will have caused a very negative impact on their reputation. A good example comes from VW’s facebook page which, up until the end of last year, was doing fairly well in the social media stakes- engaging with it’s followers and providing friendly, helpful support.
That was until it asked this question:
Since that post was written in early January, over 1,000 comments appeared, requesting VW stop recent lobbying against environmental laws. Thousands of Volkswagen fans waited for a response from the brand. And waited. And waited. Despite VW responding quickly and cheerfully to many of the other posts written on their Facebook page, their tactic seemed to be to ignore anything regarding Greenpeace protests. A few weeks later, and with over 1,000 posts questioning their environmental motives, VW are still publically ignoring their customers, showing the world their solution to customer dissatisfaction – the silent treatment.
In much the same way, the ethical brand Fashion Conscience chose to ignore complaints via Twitter for almost a week, by which time the message had circled the social site, that they were disregarding customer complaints and refusing refunds. This case was made especially prominent by the fact that it was social media marketer Cat Turner who was ignored by Fashion Conscience who fully understood the detrimental effect social media can have. A hashtag was created, to further promote the cause.
How to Respond to Negative Feedback:
- Acknowledge the complaint swiftly, and thank the customer for their feedback.
- Offer an email address or phone number to direct their complaint.
- Be friendly and apologetic
- Don’t rise to the bait – a calm and helpful response will reflect well on you, and in most cases calm the customer.
Brand’s must learn from others’ mistakes. It is not enough to have a presence on Facebook and Twitter, it’s something that must be maintained. The challenging part of social media marketing, is that it’s very transparent, and very public, and when a brand fails a customer it’s recorded in writing for all to see. Social media teams must have tried and tested strategies in place, to tackle anything the customer may throw at them, and to offer excellent customer support in return.
I don’t think Fashion Conscience has learnt to respond to negative feedback. Their customer service is still terrible. Nobody answers the phone on the numbers given on their website and I’ve e-mailed 3 times to the e-mail addresses given over 3 weeks and received no response at all about a refund. It is 20 days (on their website they say you ‘should’ get a refund in 14 days but it may take 30 days which is up to the legal limit and I’ve never had to wait more than 20 days with any other company before) since I sent back an expensive item but have received nothing yet, and it is very worrying. I resorted to asking for help on their Facebook 4 days ago but still no refund. I wouldn’t recommend buying anything from this company.
I have the same problem, I sent an item back weeks ago, no response to any emails. If you phone the number on the website you get the message mail box full. I will NEVER buy from this company again.
Yes, I had exactly the same problem with fashion.conscience.com trying to get a refund for a dress I returned. It took the threat of legal action to get them to response to my many emails, sent over several months. I could never even leave an answerphone message as their mailbox was always full. Appaling customer service, can’t believe they are allowed to trade.
If you are having problems getting a refund from this company, don’t bash your head against a brick wall, just write a letter giving them 28 days to respond, and then go through an ombudsman.
I ordered a bag on 30th September 2012 (for an event taking place 2 days later) which cost £94 and I paid £5 for 1st class delivery. I’m still waiting for it! I sent an e-mail 3 days ago but haven’t heard back. i also tried calling both numbers on their website but they just ring out and mailboxes are always full. Been getting a little concerned so I’ve started doing research on them online and there are so many people either waiting for refunds, goods etc. for several months.
This is an awful company! I think I’ll give it a month total and then go the ombudsman route.
So disappointed!