The comments section is considered the heart of your customers’ sentiments, and this is where you hear your customers’ thoughts, engage with them, acknowledge their comments, read reviews, gain trust, and spark conversations. It offers great insight into your customers and an opportunity to connect with them and build trust and relationships.
But responding to comments takes a whole chunk of a community manager’s time as it requires patience and effort in going through hundreds of them and creating the perfect response. Here’s a framework that we’ve created to help you craft a great comment:
HEAR WHAT THEY’RE ASKING FOR
Imagine asking for help to fix your internet and getting a voucher instead of an actual solution. This could be a very frustrating experience for your customer.
Before responding to a comment, you have to listen and really understand first what the customer is asking. By doing this, you get to better understand the situation and formulate the right solution and response for the customer.
ENGAGE WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS
Once you get a clear understanding of what your customers need, you can now engage on a deeper level with them. When you do, get to the point right away and do add a personal touch to your response.
Customers don’t appreciate speaking to a bot. When they reach out to us, they’re expecting a conversational and human approach exchange. According to Accenture’s 2018 Personalization Pulse Check, 91% of consumers are more likely to shop with brands that recognise them by name, remember their preferences, and provide them with relevant offers and recommendations.
If it’s a question they’ve commented on, you don’t have to beat around the bush— they would appreciate it if you provide the information right away. If it’s a compliment or positive feedback, thank them and let them know that you appreciate them and the positive feedback. If it’s a negative comment you’ll be responding to, you have to do more than just simply engage.
ACKNOWLEDGE COMPLAINTS
Customers want to feel heard and seen by your brand — it’s the most important step in community management. They want to know that you understand and you care. They appreciate and are more likely to support brands that listen to them, understand them, and pay attention to their needs.
If it’s a complaint you’re responding to, you need to acknowledge their concern and their point of view through empathy. Make them feel that there’s someone on the other end of the screen that cares, is willing to help, and would stop at nothing to resolve their concern.
“This must be incredibly frustrating, I would hate it if this happened to me. Here’s our response..”, this is an example of acknowledging customer complaints. Sometimes, a simple act of listening and acknowledging can be enough to resolve a problem.
RESPOND WITH THE RIGHT SOLUTION
You need to partner empathy with a resolution. After listening and acknowledging the customer’s concern, you can now offer the next steps and what your company will do to resolve the concern. Answer their query, fix their product, or check on their shipping status, provide them with the right resolution and do everything necessary to completely resolve the issue.
BUILD TRUST
If the response successfully answers the customer’s query or resolves the concern, that is going to build trust. It creates a positive customer experience for the customer which results in customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Building trust, especially in this day and age, is a huge thing. It is key to driving loyalty and business success. Gartner research shows that 81% of customers refuse to do business with or buy from a brand that they don’t trust.
SPARK CONVERSATION
If we succeed in creating a great comment, it creates an opportunity to spark meaningful and fun conversations— this is one of our favourite parts of community management.
Here’s a great example of where a great comment will lead you in your customer’s exchange:
If you need more tips on how to write an effective comment and receive poems from your customers, we’d love to help. Get in touch with our community managers today.