How did this happen, ColourPop?!
Based in the U.S., ColourPop Cosmetics has gained a cult following of more than 10 million followers on Instagram and 2.2 million followers on Facebook, thanks to their high-quality products that don’t break the bank. With the brand churning out new products and collaborations faster than I could draw my eyeliner, fans in the make-up community were constantly drawn to the brand.
Being a make-up enthusiast, ColourPop has contributed heaps to my growing make-up collection since my younger days! In fact, I was looking for a particular swatch shade in one of their new launches when I came across the bad reviews and ratings on Facebook, which was really surprising to me, considering that I rarely had any issues with their customer service.
Interestingly, the brand seems to be doing really well on Instagram, with the make-up community being highly supportive and constantly engaging with the brand on their posts.
Yet, the positive engagement isn’t mirrored onto Facebook. Being a community manager, I had to dig deeper to find out why they were performing so badly on that particular platform. It turns out that the majority of the customers had a bad customer service experience and the thing is… the brand rarely responded.
When they did respond, the brand asked customers to check their DMs (which is always a good tactic to handle complaints by moving them to private conversations), however, that seemed to backfire as well.
In fact, the customer experience was so horrible that customers started their own Facebook community group to share their bad experiences.
While the group ‘CANCEL COLOURPOP’ only has 34 members, it is public, which means anyone can see these negative experiences customers are having with the brand. Despite having popping eyeshadow palettes and lipsticks that shine brighter than diamonds, that is never going to be a good look for any brand.
Research also shows that the more complaints you have on the page, the more likely other customers are encouraged to leave a complaint, which turns the platform into a complaint arena.
What can ColourPop do about this? For starters, doing regular checks on your community and responding to comments timely would show that you are listening to your customers’ issues and that you actually care.
We love these 10 brands in Australia who are nailing the community management game, simply because they engage with their customers regularly and respond to their questions. And we can tell their fans do, too!
ColourPop, we don’t know if you’d get a chance to read this but in case you do, we just want to let you know, we are always here to help.