Why you shouldn't avoid negative customer feedback.
As with yin and yang, there will always be positives and there will always be negatives. You can’t really have one without the other.
But we prefer the positives. And of course we do, they make us feel good and make us happy. Why would we want to proactively go looking for the negatives? Surely that’s just unnecessarily poking the proverbial bear.
Ah but what if the bear is waiting to be poked? Maybe the bear has something important to say but you’re not listening because you only want to focus on the positives?
If you only have Google Reviews to get your customer feedback, then I hate to break it to you, but you’re probably guilty of only focusing on the positives. Unless you’re getting really bad reviews, in which case reading this article may be of help!
Now is the time to be brave and poke that bear. Find out what she thinks about your product or service and face the reality that not all your customers think you’re great.
So here we are. You’ve poked the bear and she’s given her thoughts and feedback on your product or service. And, as expected, it’s not all good stuff.
What should you do?
First, you should listen. And that’s not just giving the bear time to air her grievances, thanking her, and then moving on. You need to actually LISTEN to what the bear has to say, because she is providing valuable insight into your how your business functions.
Then what?
Once you’ve got over your initial panic about receiving negative comments from a customer, you stop, and you think. No action should be taken at this point as any action would be an overreaction, a knee-jerk reaction based on an emotional response and not backed up by any data or facts.
The bear’s comments need to be considered in full and analysed internally to identify where the issue is so that a solution can be found.
Does the issue relate to a specific department? Or perhaps an internal process is not functioning as well as you had assumed? Is there a lack of communication occurring and causing confusion?
Whatever the issue, once you have found it, you can address it, and then work on fixing it.
But that’s not where this should end. You want your customers to think you’re great, right? Then you need to go a step further, that extra mile, so to speak.
To go the extra mile, you should get back in contact with the bear and thank her for her comments and reassure her that you have put them to good use and are working on fixing the problem. The bear will most likely be grateful for the feedback and being made to feel that she was heard. She may even post about her positive experience on social media and tag your brand.
Your other customers will also be grateful because they will no longer have to deal with the issue raised by the bear.
And you will be grateful because the business is running a bit smoother now, which can only be a good thing all round.
And there you go. That’s why you shouldn’t avoid negative customer feedback.
Apart from anything else, just because you’re avoiding it, doesn’t mean it will go away. In fact, the longer you ignore it, the bigger it will get.
Better to face it head on and start finding solutions whilst the problem is manageable, and you hopefully don’t have too many unhappy customers.
Facing negatives is a challenging thing to do and at Calm Blue, we recognise that. Working with us will require you to step outside your comfort zone and we know that for most people, that isn’t the most enjoyable or natural thing to do.
However, it can be the most rewarding.
So why not get in touch and let's have a chat about poking your own bear and finding out what negatives you could use to your advantage.