At least once every week, I manage to justify a visit to my favorite frozen yogurt shop across town. My last check-in here earned me the “Super User Badge” on Foursquare and although I’m nowhere near becoming mayor, I’m not giving up. I love this place and nearly everyone I talk to has to hear about my addiction to frozen yogurt and my favorite spot to get my fix. In the last few years, there are tons of frozen yogurt shops that have popped up across town. Some of these are franchised shops with huge corporate pocket books to back them up. This is a serious threat for my small local dessert shop and if they weren’t open change, there’s a good chance all their delicious yogurt would melt and they would be forced to close their doors for good. Lucky for me, and everyone else in my town, the business owners have stepped up their game.
The last time I went for my late night treat, I noticed a few things had changed. The first thing I noticed was the Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare decals on the front door and on the cash register that had never been there before. While this is a great way to remind people to keep in touch through social media, what really got me thinking was what the cashier said right as we were checking out. Just as I was about to dive in to my delicious concoction of frozen delight, the cashier thanked us for coming, pointed to the decals on the cash register and said, “Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check us out and if you get the chance, share your experience on one of our pages. We appreciate any and all feedback from our customers!”
Although I am not shy about my unwavering love for this frozen yogurt shop, it wasn’t until recently that I even thought about sharing my love for them online. I work in social media and I know how much a good review can help a business. I’ve written several reviews (both positive and negative) for companies before, but for some reason I’ve never done that for my favorite dessert shop. This little reminder was much needed. As soon as I got home (and finished my snack), I hopped online and 5 minutes later, I had publicly proclaimed my love for this business. So here’s a few things to take from this story:
Encourage Feedback.
Let your customers know you value their opinion. Be straight forward in your request for a review. Much like the cashier at the frozen yogurt shop, don’t beat around the bush. Take it to the next step and provide a call-to-action on your social media networks to remind your customers to share their feedback.
Make It Easy.
This is a recurring theme in social media marketing. Don’t overcomplicate anything for your customer. They are already going out of their way for you, so make things as easy as possible for them to find where they need to go to write their review. If you see a negative review of your company online, respond quickly and do your best to make amends. This will renew the customer’s faith in your business and show potential new customers that your company cares about their satisfaction.
Be Prepared.
You’re putting yourself out there to receive criticism as well as praise. Be ready to handle complaints and issues you didn’t realize existed. Have someone that is trained in responding to these complaints in an eloquent and thoughtful manner. Anything less than professional and understanding is social media suicide. If something negative is posted, reply with something that may make up for the bad experience. Remember, your goal is to keep your customers coming back. Once something negative is posted online, it’s there forever, but so is your response.
The Launch Box Media team is trained in social media monitoring and reputation management and is happy to help you with any and all of your social media needs. We have a track record of success and whether you need training or simply want someone to handle it from top to bottom, we’re here to help. To get started, check out these websites where customers write online reviews and see if your company is already there:
The post Encourage Customer Feedback on Social Media appeared first on Launch Box Media.