Turning complaints into customers

Negative reviews are a fact of life. Here are 4 reasons why brands should welcome online criticism:

• 68% of consumers trust reviews more when they see both positive and negative feedback
• Shoppers who go out of their way to read negative reviews convert 67% more than the average consumer
• 30% of consumers suspect foul play when they don’t see anything negative at all
• 95% of unhappy customers return if an issue is resolved quickly and efficiently

I read these stats in a recent report on how brands can turn complaints into customers, and it got me thinking about something that happened to me a few weeks back. I wrote a negative review on TripAdvisor after having a couple of disappointing meals at my local eaterie. Up until then, I was a real fan, liking their page on Facebook, signing up to their emails and recommending the place to friends. It felt like the usual story – a place opens up, builds up a loyal following, gets complacent and standards start to drop. At least that’s how I saw it. It seems I was wrong!

Within a few days of my complaint, the restaurant owner wrote me a lengthy email addressing each of my gripes in detail. Although I didn’t agree with some of his points about the meal eg ‘it wasn’t to my taste’, I did appreciate the time he took to respond and deal with my complaint personally and promptly.

He also reminded me of how much I’d enjoyed meals there in the past – I had my birthday drinks there earlier in the year and regular brunches – and made a direct reference to the poor review I gave on TripAdvisor.

This made it feel like a real, honest conversation, rather than a standard reply that someone had copied and pasted from somewhere. Oh and I was offered a free meal for two as compensation. What impressed me from a customer service and marketing perspective was that he told me he would be responding to me on TripAdvisor – which gave me the chance to object if I wanted to – and showed anyone reading my review that my complaint had been dealt with.

I still haven’t taken them up on their offer of a free meal, but if all goes well, I’ll definitely be back. I guess that makes me one of the 95%.

Smarayda Christoforou, Copywriter, DMA