Everybody loves acknowledgement and appreciation for the work they have done; even brands. When everything goes right, there will be praises. But when things do not go well, then negative feedback is also bound to happen. And this is something that is tough to handle irrespective of the industry, profession, or business that you are engaged in.
For a business, customer sentiments are a key metric to identify the acceptability of their operational model, products, or services. In today’s highly connected world, any feedback has the potential to reach millions of other customers in a matter of minutes thanks to the power of social media and the internet. And brands will want this viral feedback to be positive to ensure they do not suffer any backlash. But unfortunately, negative feedback from customers also makes it into the queue and is often more propagated than positive ones.
Rather than being bogged down, here are 4 tips to manage negative feedback in a positive way:
Be open about clarifications
Accepting negative feedback is an important step in dealing with customer sentiments. After an initial message or communication about accepting the feedback, the next step is to collect more details or evidence from the critics to understand the negative feedback better or to identify the root cause of the issue. It should be noted that such questions or clarifications should never be aimed at intimidating critics or questioning their motives.
Classify the Feedback
Identify whether the feedback is constructive or destructive in nature. If it is constructive feedback, use it to learn from your mistakes. If the person made destructive feedback, with no clarification, then he or she might have ulterior motives and the best thing to do is ignore the feedback.
Do not be biased
While analyzing negative feedback, always put yourself in the shoes of the customer who gave the feedback. Then you will understand the perspective of the situation and how they were challenged by your business’s service or product and ultimately forced them to provide negative feedback. It will help in focusing on the core issue to be solved rather than trying to cope with the negative emotional narrative.
Keep Communication Active
Once a careful and unbiased analysis of collected evidence and facts surrounding the negative feedback is made, you can find out if the feedback was true or just aimed at tarnishing your brand. If the feedback was false, you have every right to defend yourself and put out a communication exposing the false attack on your brand. If the feedback was found to be true, then an immediate corrective course of action needs to be planned and announced to ensure customers that your business is open to feedback and is willing to change based on customer concerns which ultimately improves brand perception in a positive way.
Negative feedback should never be seen as a demotivator for individual or business performance. It is important to analyze it and find out what went wrong and take measures to ensure that the next experience you provide doesn’t invite the same feedback. Consider it as one of the best ways to improve your quality as an individual or a business, and always take negative feedback in a positive way.
If you are looking for an online reputation management company that can proactively manage your review and feedback, just drop us a line.
