Unconventional Marketing: Turn Public Complaints Into Gold And Boost Your Sales Up To 40%
By Jaakko Timonen, No No No
Are you one of the marketers who is constantly asking how to create authentic content that would build stronger emotional connections with customers that go beyond a transactional relationship?
The answer to that question might be counterintuitive. Have you ever considered what would happen if you published resolved complaints on your web site?
The impact of doing that might surprise you. But first, let’s look at the current consumer trends.
According to Forbes, consumer expectations are shifting from items to experiences. A study found that 67% of Americans feel purpose-driven companies care more about them and their families than traditional brands.
The number of social media users continues to grow and consumers increasingly use social channels to interact with brands. About 40% of complaints happen in public online.
You may have experienced how problems spread across social media. Unfortunately, resolutions don’t, and one-star reviews tend to stick even after you resolve a complaint.
However, there is hope. Kevin O'Leary — one of the sharks on the ABC TV show Shark Tank — explained why it is important to respond to negative reviews in a recent video that went viral. “Everybody online sees the digital audit trail of you trying to fix the problem. People are not stupid, they see that you care.”
Build A Customer-Centric Culture By Responding To Reviews
I recently interviewed a chief digital officer of a large insurance company. He revealed they had created a customer-centric culture by accident.
Deciding to incorporate reviews on their web site to increase conversions and sales was nothing new. However, the key decision was to run an experiment during which they responded to every single review.
What happened was that they created what they called “a sense of urgency.” Whenever customer care agents had to respond to the same problem multiple times, they spontaneously started to go to their colleagues who had ownership of the problem and ask them to fix the issue.
What started as a small experiment that made customers care agents publicly accountable kept snowballing, and led to a transformation where the entire organization felt publicly accountable to their customers.
ROI Of Responding
According to Dimensional Research, 52% of consumers stop buying from a company after a bad experience. That’s why it is important to take action when you see an unhappy customer complaining online. Focus on winning her back.
The payoff is huge. According to Bain & Company, customers who engage with companies over social media spend 20% to 40% more money with those companies than other customers.
Studies show that customers are willing to stick with — and even pay more — to brands that aim to resolve issues publicly. According to Harvard Business Review, customers who received any kind of response to their tweet were willing to pay almost $9 more for an airline ticket and $8 more for a wireless carrier’s monthly plan.
Surprising your customer with a response is easy. Only 42% of consumers complaining online expect a reply.
How To Stand Out
Every brand claims they offer great customer service. It is easy to say but hard to do. And even harder to prove.
Many brands use reviews to tackle this issue. However, the problem with regular reviews is that you don’t stand out since almost all brands have reviews on their web sites. They don’t make much of a story.
However, let’s look at the components of a resolved complaint.
- There is a character who wants something;
- She encounters a problem before she can get that thing;
- At the peak of her despair, a guide steps into her life;
- The guide takes action;
- That action helps the character to avoid failure; and
- That action ends in success.
The narrative creates a story where your customer is the hero and your brand is the guide that offers empathy and a path forward.
Resolved complaints allow your customers to become a source of authentic content. Resolved complaints make your brand stand out as vulnerable, human and trustworthy.
Can you build meaningful relationships if you don’t make yourself vulnerable?
Jaakko Timonen is the Founder and CEO of No No No, a platform that brings together consumers and businesses to resolve complaints. What makes No No No different is that they offer businesses a fair opportunity to respond. Consumers are only able to rate and review the outcome of the resolution, unlike in any other platform.