3 Steps for Great Customer Service

Your business is making waves in all the right ways. Reviews are coming in and most of them are raving about how great of an experience the customer had. Sprinkled among those good reviews is the odd negative review that points out ways in which your business can improve. These reviews should not be ignored and should be addressed thoughtfully.

As you scroll through your reviews, take a breath. Every company receives the odd piece of negative feedback, even those that have overwhelmingly positive reviews. But how can you turn “Never buying anything from here ever again!” into “They solved my issue and I am now buying the whole catalog!”? Below are three steps for tackling and responding to these reviews.

1. Read

The best place to start is to read the reviews carefully. This may sound obvious, but it is a first step that some rush through. Each review is a customer handing you advice, even if it is in between a few exclamation points.

2. Investigate

Second, investigate the issue on your end first. The issue might be a simple fix that you overlooked, or it could be piled high with drama. Having the factual background will help you for the next step.

3. Solve

Third, have a game plan for a resolution. This step is the hardest especially in those sticky situations. Stay positive and focus on solving the problem at hand.

One company getting it right with customer satisfaction: Article

Article, an original modern furniture brand, takes a customer-centric approach and is a great example of how remarkably better customer service can be delivered online. By using ResellerRatings Consumer Care, Article’s team has the ability to easily read, respond, and manage their reviews.

Article’s team is vigilant about dealing with any reviews that include feedback or issues that need to be addressed. In the rare event that one of these pops up, Article’s team knows that empathy and owning your mistakes is a crucial part of the road to resolution. Check out their response to a customer who had an issue with their purchase:

When the issue arose, Article’s customer service team reached out to Ashley directly to work on a resolution. Meanwhile, Article posted a reply to the original review and was transparent about the issue, giving Ashley reassurance that the issue is being resolved. The next day, they followed up once more:

This customer service led Ashley to update her review from a negative one to a positive one: 

But the customer service does not stop there. Article closed the interaction with something we all learned early on, by saying ‘thank you’.

With this customer-centric commitment and tireless work to address and resolve issues, Article has consistently maintained a near perfect score with customers. Today, they have a rating of over 9.7/10, with ratings from more than a thousand satisfied customers.

Take some advice from the Article team and be brave. Follow the three steps – read, investigate and form a game plan for success – before responding to your customers’ issues. Learn how Article and other merchants use ResellerRatings Consumer Care to manage reviews and gain customer trust.