Particularly on the internet, where it will be visible to anyone who visits your social media channels.
Worse yet, negative feedback about your company online could damage its reputation and cost you customers.
In a way, that’s true.
Negative feedback on social media can be detrimental to business if not handled properly.
However, with the proper response, you can turn the tide on the criticism and avoid a social media crisis. As a matter of fact, you can use crisis to increase revenue.
That’s right; today we’ll show you three surefire ways to turn the tide on negative social media feedback and boost sales.
But before we get to that, let’s quickly go over why it’s so important to monitor and respond to complaints posted about your brand online.
Managing negative feedback on social media is essential because of why?
Managing negative comments on social media is crucial because more of them will inevitably appear.
The majority of customer service inquiries now come from customers venting on social media.
In fact, 47% of customers prefer to air their grievances about a company’s products or service on a social media platform rather than via email or phone.
Is there a way to turn the tide on social media trolls and boost business?
Negative feedback on social media can actually be used to boost sales by increasing your brand’s authenticity, which is something that consumers value highly in a product or service.
As a result, a whopping 86% of consumers say they place a premium on genuineness when deciding which brands to support. If you’re interested in a generational breakdown, consider that 90% of millennials say they value authenticity when researching brands.
Here are three strategies for turning online criticism into sales success.
One: Address criticism as soon as you can.
The first and easiest guideline to follow is to quickly reply to any negative feedback you receive. This will help you retain more customers and win back those who have expressed dissatisfaction with your business.
Do not dismiss response time as inconsequential. Time is of the essence.
If a customer complains on Twitter and receives a response within five minutes, they are more likely to make a future purchase, and they are willing to pay nearly $20 more.
42% of customers expect a response within an hour, and 32% expect to hear from you within half an hour, so aim for responding to them as quickly as possible, preferably within five minutes.
Be the first to reply to each negative comment, just as 78% of customers buy from the first person who responds to a lead inquiry.
Social media management tools, especially those with a social inbox, can save you the cost of hiring a social media manager by helping you respond to social media messages in a timely manner.
Second, provide evidence of your excellent service to the customer
Negative comments on social media can be used to your advantage by turning them into opportunities to demonstrate your stellar customer service and ultimately drive more sales.
In case you’re wondering how potent this is, the answer is very. You should make sure your brand gets a great public response to social comments because 89% of brands compete with each other through the customer experience they deliver.
Just how can you prove that you provide high-quality service to your clients?
Apologize for your response if nothing else
About half of those who publicly shame a brand online do so in the hopes of receiving an apology; these customers should be appeased.
Third, make your response unique
Finally, one more way to respond to negative social media feedback for increasing sales is to make the response personal.
Using a person’s first name, as inconspicuous as it may be, is a powerful form of personalization. Sixty-three percent of customers will stop buying from a brand if they receive subpar personalization services.
In addition, positive brand perception is correlated with the presence of personally relevant content, as reported by 87% of consumers.
Make it a point to sign off with your (or a team member’s) first name and to address the disgruntled commenter by name.
It’s time to start converting your online rants into sales.
In the coming months and years, you can expect to receive negative comments on social media if you are an entrepreneur selling an online course or a business offering a SAAS product.
Not to worry, though; they can be leveraged to increase profits. In fact, there are three approaches.
In conclusion
Address criticisms made on social media immediately. As soon as possible is optimal for transforming customer complaints into purchases.
Responding with an apology, expressions of empathy, and a tailored approach to the commenter’s complaint persona are all great ways to demonstrate your superior level of customer service.
Make the dissatisfied commenter feel special by tailoring your responses to address their specific concerns.