Practical eCommerce Tip - respond to criticism respectfully
Sep 2, 2008 Tips for Merchants
Respond via comments on blog posts, forums, or consumer review sites. When you find your company is being talked about, don’t be passive, especially if what’s being said is negative in tone. Be respectful and state your case. More than once, I’ve seen critics become advocates simply because their complaints were responded to by a representative in the company.
Paul Chaney Practical eCommerce Contributor
I love this advice because I have been on the wrong side of it so many times as an affiliate manager. I make decision based on the information that someone has submitted in their application, some quick research, and a gut feeling, and next thing I know someone sends me back an angry email and flames me on a blog or forum. Guess what - the decision wasn’t personal… do don’t let your response be.
The same is true with corporate blogs and forums. When someone takes the time to post negative feedback, they are giving you a chance to address their issues and win a convert over. It’s the guys who don’t post and just flame you privately that you need to worry more about. If you get negative feedback on your site or blog here’s what I suggest.
- Acknowledge - post a comment and email the person with the issue and let them know you will look into the issue and get back in touch with them in a reasonable time period. Be positive and thank them for the opportunity to fix the issue.
- Act quickly - do your research and come up with a proactive response. Do this as quickly as you can reasonably. Try to put yourself in their place and come up with a solution that would make you happy in the same situation.
- Follow through - Get in touch with your critic and apologize if necessary and lay out your solution for them. If you give them a well thought out solution that would have made you happy in the same situation, and treat them with kindness, most likely their anger will be defused and they’ll be cool with your solution. Most likely they will follow up with a post or comment on how proactive you were.
One converted unsatisfied customer or prospect can go a long way - especially if you get that positive feedback after all is resolved for the public to see.
A big part of being a Christian in business is applying our values like kindness and forgiveness to business situations as well as personal ones. If we keep this in mind, we should be in great shape when “hiccups” occur.
God Bless,
Wade
Tags: handling criticism, handling negative posts, reputation management
CAM Blog Podcast #6 - Andy Beal on Reputation Management and Trackur.com
May 20, 2008 CAM Blog Podcast
I got the chance to chat with blogger, author, SEO stud and consultant Andy Beal recently.
Andy is the blogger behind MarketingPilgrim.com, the brains behind the Trackur reputation monitoring service and we actually worked “together” for a bit back in the day while he was at Websourced right after Think Partnership acquired Kowabunga Technologies. It appears we both left about the same time and it was actually out of his time at Websourced that his interest in reputation management and monitoring was kindled.We had a really good chat that focused on online reputation, how to monitor it, and why it’s important to do so.
We also spoke quite a bit about Andy’s new service Trackur- a really feature rich and easy to use reputation monitoring system that is also priced really affordably. Are you curious what is being said about your site on the web, in blogs, and in the social media? Give Trackur a try today.
To Andy’s credit, he also knew the answer to the last CAM Blog Twitter Giveaway question.
Enjoy!
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NOTE: This post contains affiliate links to Trackur - I recommend it because I use it myself and believe in the product.
Tags: andy beal, marketing pilgrim, marketingpilgrim.com, online reputation, Radically Transparent, reputation management, reputation monitoring, trackur
Blogging and reputation management
Apr 25, 2008 Tips for Merchants
Whenever I speak with new clients about affiliate marketing, the topic of blogging usually comes up (my fault most of the time.)
Many clients or prospects mention that they are worried about blogging because of users having the ability to comment on their posts and potentially post damaging or negative things. They want to make sure that they can get rid of the negative comments if they want to to protect their company’s reputation.
Wrong.. I tell them. The key is not that you have a negative comment posted on your blog, it’s how you deal with it. If you leave the comment up and respond in a positive and constructive way, thanking the poster for their feedback and working to get to the bottom of their issue, you can turn around the situation. Best of all, you can do it in front of your blog’s entire audience and likely in front of Google and it’s searchers.
“But what if the person is an unreasonable jerk who won’t be helped?”
Well then… most likely, they will be seen for what they are.
Your blog is another medium for you to have conversations with your customers and prospects. Embrace it and you will reap the benefits.
Web 2.0 (and beyond) is all about conversations. Don’t miss out on your chance to connect with your prospects and customers through the blogosphere.
God Bless,
Wade
Tags: blogging, reputation management
