Chris Simmons and Stephen Coleman, senior client managers, ResponseTek
All too often, companies learn the hard way that a single voice can be a loud one, and loud voices can quickly be joined by others to become a mob.
Articles from earlier issues have touched on the impact that even a few customers can have on a brand’s reputation and advocacy scores. And networking tools like Facebook are making it even easier for consumers to tell their friends how they feel about the organizations they patronize.
However there are some steps you can take to show your customers that you’re willing to listen (and more importantly act) on their frustration or fascination with your company.
First, some background. Social networking is becoming more and more popular. A quick web search yields over 116 social networking websites dedicated to everything from specific geographical locations to occupations and hobbies. Sites such as Facebook, MySpace etc. enable users to create and invite their friends to join groups. Nothing prevents a user from setting up a fan or fiend page about your company or product.
Which is why, if you search “love Starbucks” in the Facebook search engine, you get over 500 groups devoted to or mentioning the company, and over 350 that “hate Starbucks”. These pages exist for nearly every consumer brand, and many products, in part because they are so simple to create.
Consumers that are even more passionate create websites that are available worldwide, not just social networkers. Again using Starbucks as the example, if you search the company name in Google, the ninth result is www.ihatestarbucks.com. This visually basic site was created by a single, disgruntled person, but has generated so much traffic that it is one of the top ten results for the search term. This is only one example of such sites. You can find them for nearly any consumer facing brand, from airlines to computer manufacturers.
These sites and pages go a long way to shape other consumers’ attitudes about the brands they feature. Nearly 60% of consumers research important life decisions online, and nearly 80% of internet users consider customer recommendations the most credible form of advertising.
So, we’d like to offer you some tips on listening to those single, but loud voices.
First, and this is particularly true for hate sites, the easiest way to further annoy these customers is to try and rebut them publicly without approaching them first. Instead, asking the site owner for permission to respond goes a long way to earning credibility with them. It shows that you respect the leadership position they’ve created for themselves.
Approaching these customers with respect, even if they are happy, is the key to managing your relationship with them. Ask the happy ones if they will link to your feedback page or if they are willing to share their suggestions with you. Offering to listen to them helps keep them happy, and as with disgruntled customers, acknowledging their influence and ability to access large numbers of other customers is important.
If your customers have created a high number of Facebook groups, approaching individual owners might be a time-consuming process, but you will earn a lot of good-will by doing so. Alternatively, advertising on Facebook is a low-cost way to promote your feedback page, and pointing customers there rather than to your homepage sends a signal that you are aware that they are unhappy and that you are willing to listen to them. A word of caution: creating a Facebook page about your company, though simple, rings hollow unless you are prepared to engage in conversations with customers.
Most importantly, be sincere when approaching any customers. This may seem obvious, but too often direct customer communication is conducted through a fog of marketing or legal language, blurring the actual customer service and recovery process. Customers see through manufactured messages and that pushes them further away from being advocates.
As you set up your CEM program, ResponseTek can help you identify different ways to engage your customers, especially the vocal ones. The goal is to turn what on the surface appears to be a problem into an asset, and to turn your detractors into advocates over time.
For more information, email us with Vocal Customers in the subject line.
