How to fire back at an angry customer on Dutch Social Media

15 October 2014

Dutch social media is a wonderful and remarkably useful tool for promoting your business and building your brand in Holland. When it comes to angry complaints, however, it can turn into a vile, unrelenting beast that tears your company down. Fortunately, understanding how to deal with angry customers on Dutch social media is actually quite easy.

First, in case you need convincing that social-media complaints need to be addressed, consider a Dutch social media marketing study by Dimensional Research in 2013, which showed that "an overwhelming 86 percent of respondents indicated that their buying decisions were influenced by negative online reviews."

Clearly, dealing with customer complaints on Dutch social media is important, but more important is how you respond. For many entrepreneurs, a complaint is often taken personally, so the inclination might be to fire back an equally angry or passive-aggressive retort, or to delete the unwelcome message altogether.

This will only make angry customers angrier and more likely to take the “fight” to other platforms.

Before you delete or send off a response, here are a few things to consider first when you are using Dutch social media:

Seek to understand. First, determine whether the complaint is valid. If it comes from a customer or client, then it is important that you respond. Intentionally hurtful or vile attacks, however, require a completely different strategy.

Act fast, but not too fast. It is incredibly important, especially with the lightning-fast speed at which messages can propagate through social media, to respond promptly. If responding quickly means not taking your time to fully understand the situation, however, your response may reflect the unpreparedness.

Take it offline. When possible, take the problem out of the public view of social media. If the complaint is a legitimate customer or client, and you have contact information, pick up the phone and deal with it directly. Nobody needs to see your “dirty laundry” spread all over social media.

If the problem or complaint on your social-media channel cannot be taken offline, the inclination might be to delete it. This, like a poor response, can just add fuel to the complaint. Instead, leverage the complaint on social media to demonstrate your business's ability to calmly and collectively handle the issue.

Before you draft the response, consider these tips:

1. Dutch Social Media: Validate their concern. Empathize with the complaint, even if you are not in the wrong. Most people will fire off a complaint in the heat of the moment, when all they want to do is be heard and understood.

“Thank you for your comments. We are very sorry to hear that you had a poor experience and would like to do what is necessary to help you make it a better one.”

2. Dutch Social Media: Take accountability. We all admire companies that take responsibility, even if the problem is not fully or even partly its fault. Address and take responsibility for the concern.

“We take the feedback from our customers very seriously. We will look into your concern and, if necessary, do what needs to be done to remedy it.”

3. Dutch Social Media: Give a directive. Others will be reading the complaint on social media, so provide directions in response to the complaint that others can use to find more information.

Responding to social-media complaints is absolutely critical for a business. Just make sure you put much more effort into your response than the individual who posted the complaint.

Social media marketing is a big opportunity for companies to reach their targetgroup. Are you interested in Dutch social media professionals in Holland? And would you like to start a Dutch Facebook compaign in Holland? We can make your Dutch social media marketing go viral. Leave your contactinformation today in order to call you back about Dutch social media marketing in Holland. Realimpact is an online marketing agency in Holland.