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The Good Ones Are Quiet - How to shut up bad, loud customers?

Topics relating to managing people and relationships
G

GuestUser140

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Hi guys,

I've been working hard for the past couple of years building a successful ecommerce store. I just broke the 5000 customer mark and got a good thing going. Millions in sales, a few hundred thousand in profit. Opened a first physical retail location three weeks ago and sales are good.

The vast majority of my customers are happy.

A small minority of customers/people is virtually impossible to please

...no matter how much time and service you provide.

The good ones quietly refer others which is lovely. The 1 in 1000 bad ones invest their limited time in writing bad reviews.

So what does one do when a customer threatens to plaster social media with negative reviews even after you've apologised verbally and financially for a small hickup?
I'm the kind of guy who overcompensates in the rare event that an order doesn't go as planned. I go the extra mile in service, always, because I know I need to serve thousands more. But sometimes nothing helps.

How does one make satisfied customer share their good purchase more openly?
 
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Glorydog

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I don't really have any experience, but a few things come to mind, so do with them what you will.

To get customers to share more reviews: Offer discounts on future purchases for reviews.

Regarding the bad reviews: Are they on eBay, or something like Yelp? On Yelp, you could do something like respond saying you have been attempting to remedy the issue. I've seen local businesses do this before. It makes me trust them a little more.
 
G

GuestUser140

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I don't really have any experience, but a few things come to mind, so do with them what you will.

To get customers to share more reviews: Offer discounts on future purchases for reviews.

Regarding the bad reviews: Are they on eBay, or something like Yelp? On Yelp, you could do something like respond saying you have been attempting to remedy the issue. I've seen local businesses do this before. It makes me trust them a little more.
€25 gift cards could be an option! Doesn't that feel like bribing them, though? Or we could say they get the gift card for an honest review on our Facebook page.

We sell through our own ecommerce store. I guess negative reviews would be on their own Facebook page or on public forums, so much harder to respond to.
It's not like we would want to delete the negative ones, but get the satisfied customers to speak up. Because if they did, the few negative reviews would be buried by the thousands who do like what we do.
 

parkerscott

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€25 gift cards could be an option! Doesn't that feel like bribing them, though? Or we could say they get the gift card for an honest review on our Facebook page.

We sell through our own ecommerce store. I guess negative reviews would be on their own Facebook page or on public forums, so much harder to respond to.
It's not like we would want to delete the negative ones, but get the satisfied customers to speak up. Because if they did, the few negative reviews would be buried by the thousands who do like what we do.

You could write your own fake reviews to blur the bad ones. You could incentivize real reviews. The thing about reviews though is that it takes a lot to get someone to write a good review unless its convenient. People will go out of their way to write a bad one. If you can offer a one or two click way for someone to write a good review you may just get them. You can also under promise and over deliver.

Again. People go out of their way to write bad reviews. People dont go out of their way to write a good one unless its the best service and product they have received or its convenient.
 
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Zachariah Lange

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Hi guys,

I've been working hard for the past couple of years building a successful ecommerce store. I just broke the 5000 customer mark and got a good thing going. Millions in sales, a few hundred thousand in profit. Opened a first physical retail location three weeks ago and sales are good.

The vast majority of my customers are happy.

A small minority of customers/people is virtually impossible to please

...no matter how much time and service you provide.

The good ones quietly refer others which is lovely. The 1 in 1000 bad ones invest their limited time in writing bad reviews.

So what does one do when a customer threatens to plaster social media with negative reviews even after you've apologised verbally and financially for a small hickup?
I'm the kind of guy who overcompensates in the rare event that an order doesn't go as planned. I go the extra mile in service, always, because I know I need to serve thousands more. But sometimes nothing helps.

How does one make satisfied customer share their good purchase more openly?


In my experience the best way is to first try and spot problems before they reach the internet, which it sounds like you do. Second, do your best to make it right within reason, if someone is being completely crazy, more than likely people that read there bad review will recognize "crazy". When they do put a bad review online you will be able to respond with, "I noticed "example problem" early on, I tried to make up for the mistake by doing "example solution". I know there has to be a way to earn back your business, please contact me if there is anything further I can do to make this situation right."

When people see something to that effect online, they know if there is a problem that you try to handle it and that you actually actively listen to what your customers are saying about there experience. Nobody can bat 1000 with online reviews, just make sure you have a good percentage of positive ones.

One thing I do as a car salesman is I have a cars.com questionnaire printed off. I just have my customers fill it out and I upload it for them. The nice thing is I can catch there spelling errors (calling me zacK or Jack sometimes haha). I don't give the sheet to the rare customer that doesn't seem happy, but if I did I could simply choose not to upload it or handle the issue right then and there. So, perhaps at your brick and mortar location you could have a brief questionnaire for customers to fill out (offer a discount off there purchase just for filling it out). When your percentages are down, run the questionnaire campaign with the discounts until it is back where it needs to be.
 

Glorydog

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€25 gift cards could be an option! Doesn't that feel like bribing them, though? Or we could say they get the gift card for an honest review on our Facebook page.

We sell through our own ecommerce store. I guess negative reviews would be on their own Facebook page or on public forums, so much harder to respond to.
It's not like we would want to delete the negative ones, but get the satisfied customers to speak up. Because if they did, the few negative reviews would be buried by the thousands who do like what we do.

In order to make it not seem like a bribe, you would have to word your proposition very carefully. Here is what I had in mind:
Print out some type of sheet that looks nice and professional (I'm sure you're more than capable of this judging by your posts) that states something like "Enjoy our services? Let us know at yourwebsitehere.com for a 20% discount on your next order! Not meeting your expectations? We want to hear from you also! Let us know at youwebsitehere.com for a 20% discount on your next order!" I've used too many words here, but you get the point. Find a way to condense the message, print it off, and ship it in the box with every order you send out.
 

Durete

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I deal with thousands of people on a daily basis, and a lot of complaints as the services that we sell are worth thousands of dollars.

Few things:
- There are no "bad customers" the only bad customers are the ones that do not pay.
- Always put yourself in their shoes, stop thinking from your business point of view.
- Offer the best service ever.
- Go above and beyond.
- If there happens to be a bad review or complaint, read it. take all points out of it, test your service.
- You can respond to bad messages and reviews. BUT be VERY carefull with what you write.
- Always know: A customer that takes the time to complain or write bad reviews is a customer that cares, as they take their most valuable currency(Time) and spend it on you.
 
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Phones

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I've had good experience with Yotpo after-shipment e-mails.

Just be sure to make it personal, make them know you value their opinion and you won't need any bribes.

Also, make sure do add your "personal e-mail" in case something didn't go as planned, that way you avoid a bad review before it gets posted and most times you're able to amend them.

I don't know for sure but I think I have 15-20% reviews from all my orders (mostly positive ones). Most of them are just 1 or 2 lines which can be good (makes it easier for new prospects to read them).

Cheers
 
G

GuestUser140

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A customer that takes the time to complain or write bad reviews is a customer that cares, as they take their most valuable currency(Time) and spend it on you.

Agree with everything you write, but: most sidewalkers don't value their time at all. It's usually the type of person that isn't where he/she wants to be in life, sees success and without hesitation envies it. Combine that with a keyboard and...

But, I know, there's something to learn from each and every situation to make sure it never happens again.
 
G

GuestUser140

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I've had good experience with Yotpo after-shipment e-mails.

Just be sure to make it personal, make them know you value their opinion and you won't need any bribes.

Also, make sure do add your "personal e-mail" in case something didn't go as planned, that way you avoid a bad review before it gets posted and most times you're able to amend them.

I don't know for sure but I think I have 15-20% reviews from all my orders (mostly positive ones). Most of them are just 1 or 2 lines which can be good (makes it easier for new prospects to read them).

Cheers
I use Yotpo as it's a easy to use module with Prestashop.

But: the reviews are on your website. No matter how independent your plugin is, it's still on your website, aka people know you can manipulate it easily.

It's more about the reviews on social media / public forums, which are important.
 
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axiom

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Drop them. 80/20. Devote all of your attention and service to your best customers and you'll wipe out both problems.

If you ignore the bad customers, they will eventually get bored.

If you use the extra time you gain from this towards your good customers, they will be happy to give you good feedback--whether you ask them to or not.

There are such things as bad customers and they aren't worth your time.
 
G

GuestUser140

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You could write your own fake reviews to blur the bad ones.

Tell me how.

Social media?
Public forums? (It'll be obvious if your account is a day old).

All ethics aside, 99% of our customers are delighted and it would be a shame to scare future customers away because of one or two bad reviews.

The thing about reviews though is that it takes a lot to get someone to write a good review unless its convenient. People will go out of their way to write a bad one.

True. Similar to googling the reliability of a certain type of car, the happy ones quietly enjoy their purchase and you don't hear all that.
 
G

GuestUser140

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Drop them. 80/20. Devote all of your attention and service to your best customers and you'll wipe out both problems.

If you ignore the bad customers, they will eventually get bored.

Well it's not like the bad ones are continuously posting, but the fact is I'm running an ecomm store that doesn't have a ton of reviews, and when there only a few bad ones out there, it makes a huge impression on future buyers.

80/20 would be paying someone $xx to write a bunch of good reviews and forget about it.
 
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Durete

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Well it's not like the bad ones are continuously posting, but the fact is I'm running an ecomm store that doesn't have a ton of reviews, and when there only a few bad ones out there, it makes a huge impression on future buyers.

80/20 would be paying someone $xx to write a bunch of good reviews and forget about it.


Maybe it's time to think of a way to make writing reviews an interesting choice for your buyers.
For example, ask for writing an honest review in your receipt/email etc.

Use the "Make friends and influence people" way of thinking.
Make them feel important, that you need their expertise on the product, and that you value their input to make your product even better. and then ask them to write an honest review.
 

Formless

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There are no "bad customers" the only bad customers are the ones that do not pay.

Wrong.

A customer who doesn't pay is a customer whose business you don't get.
A customer who loves to bitch is 50+ customers whose business you don't get.
 

DennisD

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Don't write fake reviews. That's F*ckin lame.
Offering discounts or coupons in exchange for reviews is akin to bribery.

After each transaction, do what podcasters do and just ask nicely.

"Tom,

I truly appreciate the order, I hope you love your new toaster.

Would you please consider leaving a 2-sentence review on my store page?
Usually the only people who think to leave reviews are those who are unhappy. I really want the reviews to reflect actual experience with me.

So good or bad, will you take a quick moment to let people know how your experience was?
I'll send you one last reminder once your item arrives.

Thanks, and let me know if there's anything else I can do for you

-Michael"
 
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G

GuestUser140

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Don't write fake reviews. That's F*ckin lame.
Offering discounts or coupons in exchange for reviews is akin to bribery.

After each transaction, do what podcasters do and just ask nicely.

"Tom,

I truly appreciate the order, I hope you love your new toaster.

Would you please consider leaving a 2-sentence review on my store page?
Usually the only people who think to leave reviews are those who are unhappy. I really want the reviews to reflect actual experience with me.

So good or bad, will you take a quick moment to let people know how your experience was?
I'll send you one last reminder once your item arrives.

Thanks, and let me know if there's anything else I can do for you

-Michael"

Good point.

As mentioned above, I already use Yotpo which sort of does that for me. It sends an email x days after purchase and puts these verified reviews on your website for you. I use it, but one issue with that is that some people give a one star if a cable doesn't work (an accessory that comes with the main phone we sell), instead of emailing us for a free replacement.

Also, most customers don't take the time to do that. Remember they are bombarded with surveys etc daily so they probably ask "what's in it for me?"
 

DennisD

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I already use Yotpo which sort of does that for me.

Reach out to these people individually, and ask them yourself using real human words. The good reviews is worth your time.
People don't have time for Yotpo or automated surveys, they will MAKE time for real people.

A short example in the power of polite copy/positioning: I did an @reply twitter campaign which basically spammed my kickstarter to people. I did two versions of my tweet copy:
  1. "Since you backed exploding kittens, you'll LOVE this game: LINK."
  2. "Would you please consider taking a look at my kickstarter? LINK."
Tweet #1 had people ignoring me or saying "I'm reporting you".
Tweet #2 had people saying "Of course! It looks great, thanks!"
10% of my funding came from the direct tweets to message #2.

Don't underestimate the power of real human contact, being nice, and being a real person.
I went from basically "F*ck you" to "thank you" by rewording my copy from being super automated to at least LOOKING natural.

some people give a one star if a cable doesn't work (an accessory that comes with the main phone we sell), instead of emailing us for a free replacement.

Nobody wants to wait for a free replacement. Hell, even if I got the free replacement I'd still leave a 1 star review for my inconvenience. I don't want to wait MORE time to use the things I already bought. I expect to get what I pay for without having to complain via email about it.

Is testing your components by hand viable? Batching out quality assurance and making sure they're not getting duds will eliminate the problem altogether.

Also, most customers don't take the time to do that. Remember they are bombarded with surveys etc daily so they probably ask "what's in it for me?"

"Probably" is wrong. They don't ask that question unless you teach them to ask it.
Putting a $ value on leaving a review trains them not to help you unless you give them something.
Coupons and discounts in general train them not to buy from you unless they're getting a discount.
It's an all-around bad direction to travel and you'd be setting up negative reinforcement for their future dealings with you.
 
G

GuestUser140

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Reach out to these people individually, and ask them yourself using real human words. The good reviews is worth your time.
People don't have time for Yotpo or automated surveys, they will MAKE time for real people.

A short example in the power of polite copy/positioning: I did an @reply twitter campaign which basically spammed my kickstarter to people. I did two versions of my tweet copy:
  1. "Since you backed exploding kittens, you'll LOVE this game: LINK."
  2. "Would you please consider taking a look at my kickstarter? LINK."
Tweet #1 had people ignoring me or saying "I'm reporting you".
Tweet #2 had people saying "Of course! It looks great, thanks!"
10% of my funding came from the direct tweets to message #2.

Don't underestimate the power of real human contact, being nice, and being a real person.
I went from basically "F*ck you" to "thank you" by rewording my copy from being super automated to at least LOOKING natural.



Nobody wants to wait for a free replacement. Hell, even if I got the free replacement I'd still leave a 1 star review for my inconvenience. I don't want to wait MORE time to use the things I already bought. I expect to get what I pay for without having to complain via email about it.

Is testing your components by hand viable? Batching out quality assurance and making sure they're not getting duds will eliminate the problem altogether.



"Probably" is wrong. They don't ask that question unless you teach them to ask it.
Putting a $ value on leaving a review trains them not to help you unless you give them something.
Coupons and discounts in general train them not to buy from you unless they're getting a discount.
It's an all-around bad direction to travel and you'd be setting up negative reinforcement for their future dealings with you.

This is some valuable input, appreciate it.

I am going to ask personally for a review à la "it would be nice and would really help us if you..". No coupons for now. See how that goes. Where do I put these reviews though? Would you recommend a "verified" external website, or just take all (both pos. & neg) reviews via email and pasting them into one page on the website?
Having both good and bad will probably stop people from thinking you just wrote them yourself - which I will not do.

Also, about the cable thing. Me personally, if I do business with someone and not everything is perfect right away, but they have the right attitude and are helpful in solving it, that's all that matters for me. If I'm happy about their product or service, I'll recommend them to anyone who could benefit from what they offer. We're all just people trying to live our lives at the end of the day, not robots expecting 100% accuracy all the time, right?
I even have customers who had to come back twice for warranty in one year, which doesn't happen often at all, yet they keep buying and referring their friends.
 
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DennisD

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Would you recommend a "verified" external website, or just take all (both pos. & neg) reviews via email and pasting them into one page on the website?

Don't take them my email. People will feel pressured to say something nice and that pressure will act as a deterrent from doing anything at all. The more anonymous you can make it, the better.
 

Durete

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Wrong.

A customer who doesn't pay is a customer whose business you don't get.
A customer who loves to bitch is 50+ customers whose business you don't get.
A customer who takes the time to complain shows you what their problem is, so you can rectify it.

I usually get MORE business out of a guest/customer that complaints than guests/customers that are just silent and walk away. But that comes down to your offer, salesmanship and customer service.

Also if someone writes a bad review, and you contact them, resolve the issue and then post as a reply to that bad review how it's solved..you're more likely to get MORE customers than less.
 

Formless

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A customer who takes the time to complain shows you what their problem is, so you can rectify it.

I usually get MORE business out of a guest/customer that complaints than guests/customers that are just silent and walk away. But that comes down to your offer, salesmanship and customer service.

Also if someone writes a bad review, and you contact them, resolve the issue and then post as a reply to that bad review how it's solved..you're more likely to get MORE customers than less.

Actually, those are some good points.
 
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Nicoknowsbest

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Hey Michael!

But, I know, there's something to learn from each and every situation to make sure it never happens again.
Don't worry. Each stage of business brings new challenges. In this case, you will learn a few crucial things that will help you take your business to 10.000 customers and more.

The good ones quietly refer others which is lovely. The 1 in 1000 bad ones invest their limited time in writing bad reviews.
While I do agree that a customer writing a bad review can mean 50+ customers whose business you won't get, it looks really weird to me if I learn about a new e-commerce website/Ebay storefront and it has ONLY positive reviews of 5 stars. For me, a few bad ones here and there make it more credible, because I know that you will never be able to please each and everyone.

Well it's not like the bad ones are continuously posting, but the fact is I'm running an ecomm store that doesn't have a ton of reviews, and when there only a few bad ones out there, it makes a huge impression on future buyers.
So the actual problem here is not necessarily a bad review but the lack of enough positive reviews to back that up.

Don't underestimate the power of real human contact, being nice, and being a real person.
I went from basically "F*ck you" to "thank you" by rewording my copy from being super automated to at least LOOKING natural.
I can only talk from my own personal experience. I like giving some time to improve what a company I buy from has to offer, because it benefits myself too. So when looking back and reviewing when and why I filled out a questionnaire about a new product or gave a review etc, I see a pattern:

When I get an email that tells me I can win XYZ if I write a review or rate something, I couldn't care less. A friend of mine published an app two weeks ago and he launched the following competition: the one that writes the most creative review will get $ 100. He shared that one FB, sent countless emails etc. You know how many reviews he got? 3. One of them was from me, since he is a friend and I wanted to do him a favor. But I didn't care about the money.

So what does make me leave a review then?
The one thing I will always help with is when a company sends out an email that approaches me personally and asks me to help them. No bribing, no competitions, nothing to win, just a simple quest. When I like the company and had a good experience buying, I will always help them with what they need. Mostly the email goes as follows: Hey Nico, [...blablabla...] we are trying to make more people aware of our offer [...blablabla...] so in case you are happy with us and feel that others would benefit from our offer too, please take 30 seconds and do XYZ. That means a lot and would help us improve our offer [...blablabla...]. So why do I answer to this, although it's an automated message? For the reason @DennisDuty had success with his Twitter campaign. It at least looks natural and I want the company to offer something even better, since there are so many companies with shitty offers.

It even got so far that when I surprisingly get an above average, respectful service, I ask the company to tell me where I can help them with my review. This is a little extreme but I know how important the matter is, and this is why I want to help. So I think why not write a quick email asking and take 5 minutes to give them what they need?

I am going to ask personally for a review à la "it would be nice and would really help us if you..". No coupons for now. See how that goes. Where do I put these reviews though? Would you recommend a "verified" external website, or just take all (both pos. & neg) reviews via email and pasting them into one page on the website?
Having both good and bad will probably stop people from thinking you just wrote them yourself - which I will not do.
I would focus on one verified external source that is trusted in your region. Where I live we do have something like this, and it is not FB. Then I'd place them on your website - but so that is obvious that it is coming from outside and is not written yourself. Furthermore, I'd invite some customers to become the face of your company. Start a "Give Company XYZ Your Face". While most of the people want to write reviews anonymously, some of them might be such big fans that they want to be testimonials on your website. Give them a platform the express what they feel.

Also if someone writes a bad review, and you contact them, resolve the issue and then post as a reply to that bad review how it's solved..you're more likely to get MORE customers than less.
I really liked this idea. So you have someone bitching about you. Call him, give him what he wants, collect all the data on the side and make a real campaign out of it. Give it a twist and present it in a way that even the few that are not happy will be taken seriously and given what they want, a la Avis and its slogan of "We try harder."

A customer who takes the time to complain shows you what their problem is, so you can rectify it.

I usually get MORE business out of a guest/customer that complaints than guests/customers that are just silent and walk away. But that comes down to your offer, salesmanship and customer service.
Also very good advice. If people name you a specific problem, you might be able to capitalize on it and please many more the same way, that remained quiet.

Hope that helps!
Let us know how you approach the matter :)
 
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jon.a

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What if you told the truth? Explaining to your good customers that a few bad apples were jeopardizing your business and if more happy customers like themselves would leave honest reviews you will be able to stay in business. Or something similar.
 

Nicoknowsbest

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What if you told the truth? Explaining to your good customers that a few bad apples were jeopardizing your business and if more happy customers like themselves would leave honest reviews you will be able to stay in business. Or something similar.
Basically what I was trying to bring across, only in 3 sentences :)
 
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G

GuestUser140

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What if you told the truth? Explaining to your good customers that a few bad apples were jeopardizing your business and if more happy customers like themselves would leave honest reviews you will be able to stay in business. Or something similar.

I'd like to focus on positivity, so I'll ask for real reviews, but won't mention the jeopardising and the bad apples straight away.
 
G

GuestUser140

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A customer who takes the time to complain shows you what their problem is, so you can rectify it.

I usually get MORE business out of a guest/customer that complaints than guests/customers that are just silent and walk away. But that comes down to your offer, salesmanship and customer service.

Also if someone writes a bad review, and you contact them, resolve the issue and then post as a reply to that bad review how it's solved..you're more likely to get MORE customers than less.

The first two points I am already using.

The third one's good, but not air tight. I could email the guy and politely ask for his input on how we can satisfy him after all. This one seems full of hate though, regardless of what's said or done. We've even wondered if he's related to a competitor because of the sheer hate he displays.

One thing though: in this particular case, the guy started to move away from the issue: slow service on a refund and only a partial refund because of items missing, and started to jabber about general items:

"these corporations trying to make big easy money" and basically arguing with:
- the price he paid not being low enough compared to new devices (we sell gently used at $150-200 off retail on a $600 product.).
- the fact that he could not reclaim VAT as a business (he bought it privately, our website mentions the non-reclaimable VAT on every page, it's a non-issue for private customers)
- the fact that he had to visit the store to return merchandise (lost time) - while we usually only accept returns via mail, but this customers didn't want to have anything to do with mail.

I guess some people are just.. to be forgotten quickly. I'd rather flood the place with positivity than waste another minute dealing with this guy. Updating my Facebook daily now with industry related news + news about our new store and asking our customers for a FB review a week after their purchase. I just wrote a very personal and all-around positive message to email them. As they post on FB, their reviews will spread like wildfire because it shows on their profiles.

I'll report back in a week or two.
 

healthstatus

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I have an app that within the app has two buttons, one says "I love this app", the other "I hate this app", push the I love this button and you go to the app page where you can leave a review, click the hate this app button and go to a short questionnaire on how the app failed to meet expectations, asking what did you expect, how could we improve it and so on. Gives the haters an opportunity to vent (privately), the lovers a chance to review (publicly). I don't know your model, but if you have a follow-up opportunity this might be something to consider.
 
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JCott

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I think it means that you as a business should try to address the loud customer to the best of your ability, and if it fails, well, then you've done all you could and you should just take it as it is. No matter how good you are you will never be able to satisfy everyone.
 
G

GuestA4319

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I know this kind of guys. Whatever you do, they seem full of hate, even if you try to solve the issue. What I saw that works, besides trying to solve their issue, is to be humble and explain that problems happen all the time and you would give a refund, no questions asked.

If the review is public and you can reply to it, it's 10x better, because than you can show others that you are trying to solve the problem, that you care about your customers, that it's an exception, etc. Even if he is not right, don't try to argue with the client, EVER, where others can see.

Another idea is to look what other big companies with great support are doing. Zappos I think has the best customer service. Look how they do their customer service, here's a good article https://hbr.org/2010/07/how-i-did-it-zapposs-ceo-on-going-to-extremes-for-customers
 

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