Should You Engage With Online Complaints and Negative Comments?
by Tony Jaques PhD, Director of Issue Outcomes Pty Ltd, for people who work in issue and crisis management, author of Crisis Counsel: Navigating Legal and Communication Conflict.
Conventional wisdom proposes organisations should respond to online complaints swiftly, openly and with empathy. But new research suggests companies which responded publicly to negative tweets experienced a drop in stock price and a reduction in perceived brand image.
The report in Harvard Business Review concluded publicly engaging with unhappy customers can have serious adverse repercussions, especially on social media platforms where content-sorting algorithms are likely to promote complaints more heavily if brands respond to them. The researchers said that as a result, such engagement can end up excessively amplifying negative voices, encouraging other unhappy customers to chime in and ultimately reducing the brand’s value in the eyes of both customers and investors.
Their large-scale analysis of Twitter traffic for S&P 500 companies showed the negative effects of “complaint publicization” consistently outweighed any positive impact of signaling care for customers.
While the research may be valid, and the findings are likely sound, recent cases show it’s not so easy in real life.
Other considerations for responding to online complaints and negative comments on Social Media
Consider how London North Eastern Railways responded last month after a non-binary employee complained online when a conductor welcomed passengers on board with “Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls.” LNER chose to apologise publicly, which resulted in widespread hostile reaction and predictable outrage from some quarters about “woke management.”
Or consider what happened in New Zealand last week when an employee of hardware chain Mitre 10 made offensive comments about the cycling community, including a mention of Mitre 10, on their personal Facebook page. In response to a few public complaints, the company apologised and got the employee to apologise and remove the offending posts. Mitre 10’s action was praised by some commentators, but the company’s own Facebook explanation attracted over 3,000 comments, many of them objecting to the company taking action over an employee’s personal page or claiming infringement of free comment.
As company spokesperson Anna Campbell said in response to the social media backlash: “You’re damned if you do, and you’re damned if you don’t.”
While it’s not so easy to decide what is the right thing to do, it’s a lot easier to recognise what is not. Like earlier this month when furniture and electronic giant Harvey Norman came under attack for anti-worker policies and refusing to repay millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded employee subsidies during COVID lockdown while at the same time reporting record profits.
In the face of sustained criticism on social media, the company chose to mock and then block critics. And when the PR firestorm began to rage out of control, they simply closed down their Twitter account, offering no comment or explanation. Hardly best practice crisis management by any measure.
How to engage with online complaints and negative comments while protecting your brand’s reputation
So, what might be the right approach? Clearly, public engagement with unhappy customers isn’t always the right move. Nor is the answer just to ignore complaints.
The HBR researchers said the most successful companies in their sample generally responded to complaints with a public message inviting the customer to continue the conversation using a private channel — that is, a closed response strategy, in contrast to an open strategy which inundates a firm’s page with lengthy, often unhelpful, exchanges.
While every case and every organisation is different I suggest:
- Take the conversation offline as quickly as possible.
- Don’t delete critical comments – no matter how much you are tempted.
- Be positive. Don’t take it personally.
- Correct factual inaccuracies – firmly but politely.
- Distinguish between genuine complaints and attention-seeking trolls.
- Apologise only if you have something to apologise for.
- Have an escalation process if “Plan A” isn’t working.
- And, most importantly, remember – the world is watching!
A Parting Thought
Most people, faced with two difficult choices, prefer not to choose at all.
– Kenneth Eade in Predatory Kill
Learn more about Reputation Risk and how to deal with online complaints and negative comments in Tony Jaques’ new book, Crisis Counsel: Navigating Legal and Communication Conflict.
“Crisis Counsel confirms Tony Jacques position as one of the industry’s foremost experts on issues and crisis management. In addressing the complex interactions between legal and communication crisis responses Dr Jacques provides riveting case studies and practical advice. It highlights the financial and reputational risks of not effectively integrating communications and legal counsel. It should be on every communications practitioner’s reading list and companies should insist their in house and external legal counsellors read it.” – Noel Turnbull, Former Chair of Turnbull Porter Novelli, Adjunct Professor, RMIT University.
“Senior managers who find themselves in the C-suite for the first time, Crisis Counsel should be mandatory reading. Such specific legal and communications provocations are not covered in university management courses, and the introduction is replete with illuminating case studies and key takeaways. The author provides sage advice for Chief Executives who must ultimately make a decision based upon what they think is the right thing to do; often under pressure. Crisis team leaders and team members will find this book equally of value, as the more you know about it, the better you and the team will be.” – Jim Truscott, Director, Jim Truscott & Associates Pty Ltd, Perth, Australia
“For far too long, the role of lawyers in crisis management has been neglected. If discussed at all, it is often in negative terms. Tony Jaques adjusts this picture in masterly, yet eminently readable terms. His comprehensive discussion of apology in crisis management is likely to be a go-to source for years to come. This is a welcome book for anyone interested in how crisis-confronted corporations (and other organizations, too) can navigate the tricky legal waters of communicating under fire. For university teachers like me, it’s a rich source of well-researched case studies. A gem!” – Chris Galloway, PhD, Head of Pubic Relations, Massey University of New Zealand