Real conversations can get negative, and so can conversational marketing. Underscore's president tells us about what AccuQuote did when it happened to them.
One of the biggest barriers to implementing a conversational marketing program is the notion of how to address negative comments left on a blog or online forum. It's a big barrier to a lot of large companies that aren't used to dealing with direct conversation with the market. In fact, it's often the number one objection that clients have to setting up a program in the first place.
Client companies often don't have a structure in place to address feedback in a way that's consistent with the expectations of online customers-- that problems submitted through online channels are to be addressed immediately. Before launching a conversational marketing program, the first behind-the-scenes step is committing to the conversation and to addressing feedback, whether negative or positive, within 24 to 48 hours for all submissions.
When your client reacts poorly to negative feedback
Even with that commitment in place, companies often react poorly to the idea that a negative comment could linger on their website, or the idea that someone who has a negative opinion of the company could sour the experience for other folks seeking information. What we do in these cases is try to get the company to think of negative feedback as an opportunity to change minds.
Contrary to popular opinion, very few commenters leave negative feedback that is completely without discussion value. Yes, you will get the occasional hater who engages in drive-by posting on your site, leaving nothing more than "Company X sucks." What many companies don't realize is that the people who leave these valueless comments are quickly ostracized by online communities if the company is truly committed to the conversation. If you set up a channel in which you're listening and responding meaningfully, the people who get value from that will shout down the haters quickly. More often than you'll hear from the haters, you'll get people posting details of interactions they've had with your company. You will hear from people about why they had a bad experience.
Therein lies the opportunity.
AccuQuote
Take for instance, the case of AccuQuote, an insurance company Underscore has worked with on conversational marketing initiatives. AccuQuote actually invited existing customers to come to their blog and give them constructive feedback about their customer service. The result was a mixed bag of feedback ranging from praise to harsh criticism.
You can see from the comments left in this thread that AccuQuote looked to constructive criticism as an opportunity. Three people, including the company's CEO, responded to comments and conducted rigorous follow-up based on what was submitted across three threads on their blog. Not only did they reach out to commenters, but they also posted specific details of how they were using the feedback to change customer service policies and practices.
The result was incremental business that, had AccuQuote not committed to the conversation, would have slipped through the cracks. Over 100 incremental policies were written, representing over $75,000 in additional revenue, all from three discussion threads on a blog. The ongoing impact on customer loyalty is immeasurable.
What the FAQ?
Speaking of ongoing impact, one of the important differences between conversational marketing and online customer service is what I call the "FAQ effect." That is, once a company helps to solve a problem within a blog or online forum, the comments within the thread serve as a guidepost for people having similar problems in the future. Comments left in online forums stick around, and they have a wonderful penchant for being picked up by other blogs as well as search engines.
If a company solves a problem on their blog, someone with the same problem searching for a solution via Google, Yahoo!, Technorati or another search engine will often find that solution on the company's blog. Customers are learning that they're often not the first person to have a specific problem, so when they do run into difficulty, they search the web looking for solutions. Given the text-heaviness of a blog post and the ability for people having similar problems to link to a post that offers help, solving a problem on your blog can re-solve or pre-solve that problem many times over for other customers or prospects once it gets indexed by search engines.
Yes, negative feedback can be scary. One of the things we need to do as modern marketers is to conquer our fear of negative feedback and look at it opportunistically. People often welcome the opportunity to tell you how they think you can improve, and in a customer-controlled world, you need to listen and respond appropriately.
Additional Resources:
AccuQuote's Sean Cheyney on how blogs can boost business
Tom Hespos is the president of Underscore Marketing and blogs at Hespos.com. Read full bio.