You have managed to build a positive reputation, have created lots of great and relevant content and things seem to be going well. However, this is only the first step, and you would not like to lose all the hard work that you have done. If you do not strive to maintain your reputation, you may have a to start over and over again once you find out that something negative has been said about you. This could greatly affect your business, since nothing affects your productivity and sales like customer impression. You would not buy something, even if you really wanted it, if all you could find were bad reviews. Would you?

You have worked hard. Now it is time to start building up on the foundations that you set during the first step. Remember that you need to keep blogging and engaging with people on your social networking sites. Do so professionally and keep in mind that you are representing your brand at all times when speaking through these mediums. Never get pulled into a fight. It is normal sometimes to feel annoyed and emotional, but if you feel this way when addressing someone online, you may damage your reputation. If this seems to be the case, you should give yourself a little time before you reply to a complaint.

When you have to address a complaint, there are three things that you need to do. You need to acknowledge the customer, apologize for the mistake and assure that it will not happen again. Not addressing complaints, especially on social media, looks bad for your company. You can lose business or face a lawsuit. You also want to ensure that the image that people have about your company is one in which you care about your customers and you will not be doing that unless you take time out of your day to deal with online complaints. Even if you think the mistake that your company made is huge, an acknowledgement of an error and a genuine desire to make it better are easy ways to give your company good publicity and establish a relationship with the person who is complaining.
You do not need to have an explanation when you are addressing this person. In fact, you do not need to explain yourself at all. Get to the point and do not make people read a lengthy explanation of something that may just be chalked up to mistake. Remember, everyone makes mistakes, and people know this. Trying to correct them is an act of caring and compassion, but trying to justify them may end up putting your company in a difficult position. Even if you are not trying to justify a mistake, it make comes across that way. Skip the explanation – only you need to know the why and only you need to address it, internally, without your customers knowing.
Your reply to a complaint needs to be straight to the point and no longer than a few sentences.

For instance, say you get this comment on your Facebook profile:

XY company sucks! I bought my product ages ago, they said they would send a tracking number and it never got here. I tried to speak to someone for ages but it was like I didn’t exist. Thanks for nothing, XY company!

You can see how angry the customer is here. You might find this insulting or unsettling. It is actually easy to address and it can make your customers happy. It is important that you work with everyone in the company when it comes to addressing these sorts of complaints. Keep in mind that you may need to coordinate with the IT department and the shipping department at the same time just to get it done. The first thing to do is to ask for the customer’s information. Once you have it, your reply should be something like this:

Dear Annie,

Thank you for your prompt reply and your details. We are sorry to hear that you are not satisfied with our level of customer service.

We have sent you a brand new product and have refunded your money. You should see it in your account in 1-3 working days. Your new order number comes with a tracking number so that you can check where your package is at all times. Thank you so much for reaching out and giving us the opportunity to serve you better.

You may choose to post this on your blog with a quick rundown of the issue, or you may choose to do so on social media as a reply to the customer’s original comment. Keep in mind these are different mediums from e-mails and that you need to protect your customer’s privacy, so an indication that you have sent them an e-mail with the order number is a good way to keep the customer’s privacy while giving yourself a little bit of good publicity. In the example above, you are doing everything right – you are acknowledging that you have made a mistake and that you are aware of it, you are apologizing it for it and through your actions and words, you are assuring her that it will not happen again.

The complaint above is valid, but there may be times when you feel like some complaints are hyperbolic and unfair. If your company is quite small, you may feel like they are an attack on you personally and it may be difficult to take a level-headed approach to the entire thing. It could be that you are right and the customer is wrong, but even then you need to address the complaint in a calm and level-headed manner. Do not fight with the customer – just explain your point as politely and carefully as you can.

It might seem stressful, but this is a great way to keep in touch with the rest of your customers, too. If people see that you are trying to do the right thing, they are more likely to give you another chance, even if the original comment that was posted was scathing. Remember that everyone is much more likely to forgive you and move on if it at least looks like you are trying to do something about it. In fact, you may find that the conversation becomes entirely about how thoughtful and caring your company is when you make a mistake, but this will only happen if you play your cards right and you are consistent in the way you address any issues that pop up.