No matter how good a company is at what they do, there will always be at least one unsatisfied customer. This can happen for a number of reasons, and it isn’t always the fault of the company. The problem is that one customer’s bad experience with your company can lead to a poor reputation in the community and online.
The Power of Word of Mouth
Word of mouth is a powerful thing. Many small businesses rely on word of mouth advertising for bringing in new customers. However, it works the other way as well. If someone has a bad experience they are actually ten times more likely to share that experience than if they had a positive one. This potential for disaster is compounded by a customer’s ability to spread their bad experience all over the internet.
Reviews on the Internet
All it takes is one informed customer with a bad experience to ruin a company. The customer can go onto profiles like Facebook, Google Places, Yahoo Local, and other sites that offer the option for reviews. Their negative reviews can often be hazardous to the reputation of the company, especially if it is posted in numerous places.
So, how do you combat this negative feedback? It is important to deal with it as soon as possible, rather than ignoring the issue. It is possible to protect your reputation, even in light of a bad review. One way you can try to combat the issue is by responding to the review. Some sites that offer the ability for customers to post reviews also allow the owner of the profile to respond to those reviews. If you can respond in a positive way, resolve the customer’s issue publicly, or explain why the customer had the issue, you can turn the negative feedback into a positive reputation experience. Showing that you care about the customer’s opinion goes a long way with most people.
Other Solutions
If the review site does not allow you to leave your own responses to the negative feedback, then you have a serious problem. However, there is still a solution. Your reputation can be protected; it is just more difficult. It may become necessary to get outside help to protect your reputation against such attacks. Reputation.com protects online reputations quite well. They, and companies like them, have the knowledge and tools at their disposal to ensure that negative feedback does not harm your reputation in the long term. Consider this option if you really want to make sure your reputation does not suffer from negative feedback.
As a people manager in a BPO industry, I have learned how to provide a not-so-positive feedback to my team and turn it to a more fun and positive experience. I guess, its just a matter of how we deliver the feedback and how we were able to make them understand of what we are really trying to say.
I guess people can say what they want but at the end of the day, let your work do the talking.
I wonder how these online reputation companies do their work. I think it sure is difficult to protect online reputation once a negative feedback has already spread in the internet.
“All it takes is one informed customer with a bad experience to ruin a company.” – Disaster looming. This brought about a lot of suspense in theory class (gradschool 100 years ago).