8 Effective Ways To Manage Negative Comments From Customers

Have you ever thought of why customers’ satisfaction is very important? Do you know that more than 70 percent of customer loss is caused by failure to solve customers problem in a timely manner?

If your business is growing and ever making progress, then at some point you would have to deal with negative comments. But 2 out of 3 business owners takes negative feedback/comment as personal attack, they instantly turn argumentative and protective. Little wonder why US companies loses a whopping amount of $41 billion every year due to poor customer service!

As a matter of fact study shows that for every 1 customer who takes the pain to lodge a complain, there’s being 26 other customers who has decided to remain silent. And guess what 91 percent of customers who are non complainers do. The quietly leave and tell the story outside! Comments and observations from customers is GOLD; be it positive or negative. So you should be happy to get a complain from your customers.

Negative feedback is a positive gift all business owners should be open to. You should note that any customer who lodges complaint is interested in your service but only wants improvement. And if customers like your reaction to their feedback they would be delighted to spend their money with your brand and if they aren’t satisfied then they won’t think of it twice; they would walk away and tell the story.

However, below are 8 effective ways to successfully manage negative feedback or comments from your customers in other to maintain their loyalty.

1. Wait; Smile & Stay Calm

Recently I saw a reply to a customer’s feedback that got me heels bent 🙁

It’s natural to act defensive when we receive negative comments/feedback from our customers. But the question I tend to ask myself is; “Does my defense swallow up the comment?”

Staying calm gives you the privilege to handle the comments better. After all it’s a comment not a question that needs so much prompt answer!

Negative comments shouldn’t reflect on your personal life or on your business. Instead you should understand that it’s a reflection of the customers’ experience with your brand which you will only need to resolve.

If it’s a real life conversation you can tell the customer to give you time to think about what they just said, and if it’s a feedback via email or a comment on your company’s blog, you can leave it for a day or two then you respond to it when you are in a well settled state.

2. There is always a lesson from every negative comment. Very True!

When you receive a negative comment from a customer, the first thing to do before taking any step is to review the comment and figure out the lessons that abound. Every feedback; either it’s true or false, has a lesson for you. If it’s true the better for you to resolve it quickly. And if it’s false, the better for you also to act against future occurrences.

First thank the customer for taking time to reach out, then try as much as possible to break down the comment into the smallest possible unit. Use “emotive reading technique” and try to understand the feeling behind the customer’s’ dissatisfaction.

3. Write it down and make it your business goal.

Negative comment/feedback from customers should be taken as a challenge. It might even be a test of your company’s advance flexibility.

Therefore take it as a chance to show your customers that your brand is capable and open to productive changes.

4. Do things that would make the customer delighted again.

“The single most important thing is to make people happy. If you’re making them happy, as a side effect, they will be happy to open up their wallets and pay you.” ~ Derek Sivers.

It’s not enough to win back a dissatisfied customer with just one happy experience. As a matter of fact, study explains that it takes 12 positive experiences to make up for one unresolved negative customer experience!

Invite the customer over to a team tweetup, provide rational discounts on certain purchase you can as well grant the customer free doorstep delivery.

5. When there’s a botch on your part, don’t forget to apologize

Research shows that 76 percent of customers are fully satisfied when the company apologizes in addition to the compensation they receive when there’s a fault, compared to the 37 percent of customers are who claim to be satisfied with service recovery when they are being offered something of monetary value. That’s double the scale!

Whenever you trace the customer’s dissatisfaction, and realize it’s a mistake from the part of your business, don’t hide it! Open up and apologize. Customers feel more comfortable doing business with brands who accepts their fault after a mistake  and takes all necessary steps to fix it than businesses who sees no fault on their part.

6. Ask your customer(s) to be part of the solution.

Customers loves brands that are inquisitive, they gain pleasure in you asking them for their view point about finding solution to a problem. They would even support your acts as they don’t want their suggestion to result into failure.

7. Would you receive such a comment again?

When you’ve successfully managed a negative comment from a customer, it is important to be sure you wouldn’t receive such negative feedback again. How?  By taking appropriate measures.

Confirm how satisfied the customer is and double-check to see if another customer isn’t facing similar dissatisfaction.

8. Encourage customers response

The last thing you would need to do is to encourage customers’ response. This shows your customers that your brand isn’t just concerned about profit making but aimed at making life better for them. And this would boost customers confidence in your brand.

In Conclusion

Losing just a single customer is costly to your company. Because every single customer you lose due to dissatisfaction would always have a reason to tell 9 people about the bad experience.

Take it upon yourself to address your customers and do everything within your power to make them happy. Not just for the sake of keeping them to your side, but also to avoid the wide spread of negativity about your brand.

Best Regards,

M.O. Daniel

Author: Daniel Moayanda

Dan. is a young strategist, motivational writer and public speaker. He provides entrepreneurs with success strategies and backs it up with the right motivation needed to explore. He also writes about finding a way out of everything in general!

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