Everyone without exception has to deal with negative feedback. If you work with clients, you will inevitably have to deal with the fact that they will express their opinions about you in a public space.

So, we have an angry client who thinks your company has treated him badly and has written a negative review about it on some resource or social network.

Another useful information about Affiliate marketing online…

HOW TO SAVE FACE AND ANSWER THE CLIENT?

And you need to do something about it. You understand that you need to respond and interact, but you don’t always understand how to do it right.

I have a few recommendations for you that will help improve your performance.

1. DON’T TRY TO ARGUE WITH THE AUTHOR OF A NEGATIVE REVIEW

Everyone who works with negative feedback in the public arena must remember – the job of the respondent from the company is not to argue with the author of the negative feedback, or to change his or her mind. If the negative message is ordered, you will not convince anyone.

The main task – to show everyone else, the entire community and the entire Internet that you, your company and its employees are normal, sane people, responsible, caring about their clients and trying to make their lives better. We are on the bright side.

Yes, your company employs live people and they can make mistakes. Maybe something really went wrong and a problem with a customer happened. If that’s the case, you will definitely figure it out and take action. And solve the client’s problem. Because there are also spots in the sun, that is, even the best company’s employees can make mistakes.

And maybe the problem is not on your side, the client misunderstood something or was in a bad mood. But even in this case, you are willing to politely and kindly deal with the problem.

With this approach, you will always save face, image and reputation, even in spite of possible problems in service or other areas of the company.

It is important for us to solve a problem with a particular person, but sometimes it is more important to create the right impression for others. That is why we will both be empathic and choose the right words to answer. About this – in the following tips.

2. NEVER GET PERSONAL

When a customer has had a negative experience with your vendor (the vendor was rude, the steak was undercooked, the furniture was not delivered on time, a faulty gadget was sold, etc.), he sits down at his computer and begins to vent his frustration and emotion about what happened online.

He may write what he thinks about you, your mother, your organization, etc.

When we respond to negative posts, we should only respond to the factual part and never to the emotional part. No matter what the client calls you, no matter what hurtful epithets he throws at you, we never write in the style of “you’re a fool.

We patiently endure insults and try to find out what really happened, to understand whether it’s our fault or not. Because if we begin to respond with insults, then (see point one) – we lose face and image.

Everyone will see that we are simply rude in response to criticism. And the principle of “and he started it” will not save us in any way.

3. “WE’RE SORRY.”

Since we’re on the bright side, in any situation where a client is upset, we’re sad. Even if what happened is not our fault. It may be the customer’s own fault for the situation-the wrong order, a broken appliance that is now out of warranty, etc. It doesn’t matter.

The customer is upset and we are sorry. We empathize. That’s why in any response to negativity that describes the customer’s problems and experiences, we include the words “we’re sorry”, “we’re sorry you felt hurt”, “we really hate that you’re upset”.

But don’t confuse “we’re sorry” and “we’re sorry”! Those are very different things. We empathize with any of our clients, even the nasty and petty ones, but we only apologize if there really is our fault and we are willing to admit it.

4. “WE ARE GRATEFUL.”

Negative feedback is an expression of concern. It is a message to us about our problems and shortcomings. True or imaginary – in this case it does not matter. Therefore, we in any case, we thank the customer for feedback.

And then we begin to clarify what happened and who is really wrong. That is, we start each response with words of gratitude. “Thank you for the feedback”, “thank you for the signal”, “thank you for the information”.

5. HIGHLIGHTING THE POSITIVE

If the client mentioned any of our pluses in a negative review, we should definitely emphasize that in our response.

“The service in your cafe is nice, but your coffee is disgusting…”, the customer writes.

We reply: “Thank you for pointing out the quality of our service. Service is a high priority for us…”. And then we begin to find out why the person didn’t like the coffee.

This technique helps to fix in the minds of other readers of our pluses. Many people will remember this first, not the bad words about the coffee. Especially if they prefer tea, but appreciate quality service.

6. DON’T USE THE WORDS “BUT” AND “NO.”

As in any negotiation, we try to avoid negative words, softening the wording. It doesn’t mean that we can’t refuse the client, just that we will do it in a more non-confrontational way. Because the words “but” and “no” additionally anger an already agitated person and will contribute to the escalation of negativity.

No need to say, “I understand that you have not brought the goods on time, but …”. Say instead “and at the same time” or “and at the same time, I want to point out. In the same sense, it will sound less confrontational. And, therefore, it will help the tension in the dialogue subside sooner.

Is the client demanding overcompensation? Don’t say “no.” Say, “I don’t think that’s possible.” Yes, that’s a rejection, too. But psychologically perceived softer.

7. SEPARATE FACTS AND OPINIONS

As we have said many times, the target audience of our response – all the readers of the page or site reviews. Many people don’t know how to separate facts from opinions themselves. To them, everything written is facts.

A client writes, “The rooms in your hotel are terrible, they look like a barn, not a five-star hotel. What is this? A fact? Of course not. It is a subjective opinion of a particular person. To one person a barn, and to another a beautiful hotel with comfortable rooms. Therefore, our task in response to such a review, be sure to emphasize that this is not an objective fact, but a subjective opinion.

This can be done in the gratitude at the beginning of the review – “thank you for your opinion” to make a distinction. But in a further response must be sure to emphasize that the expressed negative – it is only an opinion.

Cockroaches in the room (if anyone else has seen them, except the guest) – this is a fact. The windows overlook the garbage – this is a fact. The plumbing in the room does not work – this is a fact. But the room looks like a barn, the waiters are morons, the food is tasteless – this is an opinion. And so it can be subjective, or even erroneous. And we need to give a clear signal about this to the rest of the readers, who are not very well developed critical thinking.

I hope that these tips will help you in the difficult task of dealing with negative reviews online. And your reputation will get a little, maybe a lot better.