Negative Feedback Can Actually Be a Good Thing

Negative Feedback Can Actually Be a Good Thing

Posted 01/21/10

In the era of social media, brands need to be very conscientious about what is being said about them. Whether it’s the public commenting on advertisements that they dislike, unhappy customers tweeting about negative experiences with a company, employees posting inappropriate video clips, or customers posting product video reviews, the brands reputation is at stake and openly listening and responding to customers is crucial. Not only does it give you some valuable marketing research, but it helps personify your brand, build trust, and prevent lost customers.

With continued growth of YouTube, over the past few years more companies have had their brand reputation damaged due to employees posting videos on YouTube. Dominos, Cathay Pacific, and KFC are only to name a few.

Dominos Pizza, a 50 year old company had to tackle its brand’s reputation after videos of two dim-witted employees tampering with customers’ food became viral in a matter of days. Millions of people watched the video through different social media platforms and the company struggled to react. Domino’s opened a Twitter account to converse with customers and later posted an apology video.

Later, Dominos launched a “Pizza Turnaround” campaign based on re-inventing their product: pizza. It created a lot of controversy because they openly shared criticism from their customers and admitted that they have made a bad product for the past 5 decades. A very risky move for a company but at least they are listening to their customers.

Whether your company is receiving feedback or not, you need to listen to what people are saying about you and be prepared to connect with your customers.

Believe it or not, bad reviews can actually increase sales if you welcome feedback from your customers. Think about it, 90% of products are researched online before making a purchase because there is a lot of information available online and consumers lower their level of perceived risk by hearing what others say about a brand.

A continuing trend on the web is users posting and watching video product reviews. Many users are adding product reviews on YouTube. Last September, YouTube created a feature where many video reviews are added to Google Product Search. ProductVid and Expotv are other destinations where people can upload and view product video clips and share them across various social media platforms.

The main lesson is every company must accept the fact that technology has opened Pandora’s Box to the notion of buyer power where feedback can spread immensely across social media platforms. It’s important to listen and have a conversation with pleased or dissatisfied customers to build stronger connections with them.

Posted by Tai Kolenko