Uh-oh people are reading this
Published May 11th, 2006 in E-PRWhen I started this website, I thought of it as more of a personal resource where I could track emerging trends and educate myself. The scary thing though is that I’ve built an audience. People at work are aware of this site, as are some clients and journalists. Funnier still, people I know stumble across the website from random Google searches.
It’s a bit scary in a way. For example, a photographer I used the other day said thanks for mentioning him on the site. I completely forgot about the post, but it suddenly dawned on me that all sorts of people stumble across this website. What happens if the photographer in question did a terrible job for me and I suddenly decided to berate him here and tell other Irish PR professionals not to use him?
It’s easy for people to say that Google is a great way for highlighting terrible products or service providers. Hey, I’ve done it before! Easy thing to say if you don’t know the people, but if you’re likely to run into them again, then it could just be a headache that will never go away.
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7 Responses to “Uh-oh people are reading this”
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Piaras, if you get bad service from a company or there is a fault with one of their products you do them a disservice by not letting them know. It is only if they are made aware of the issue that they can correct it.
If you fail to inform people of problems with their offerings because you are afraid “you’re likely to run into them again” you are perpetuating the poor product/service and ultimately harming them more then saying nothing at all.
I agree with Tom that letting people know about bad service is the only way to improve it, but there is a difference to having a chat with a service provider, be it photography, catering, design work or any other area, and publicly saying that they have done a bad job. There are two main reasons, in my opinion.
1: The bad service may have been an aberration, and by mentioning it publicly in a site viewed by potential clients, the damage to a providers reputation may be out of proportion to the service you received.
2: Criticism online makes it very difficult to improve a brand’s reputation. It is an archive of all comments, good and bad, and if a brand makes a genuine effort to improve services and quality, that may be undermined online by the searchable record. This is particularly true of smaller brands. For large ones, there will be sufficient conversation online about them to change the perception, but for small niche companies, or companies in a ‘non-sexy’ environment, the negative comments may be the only ones that are posted.
My own take would be to offer feedback privately, and if the situation doesn’t improve, or you don’t receive a sufficient response, then blog about that. I think this offers a chance for companies for whom the bad service was a one-off, or for companies who are keen to improve their offerings to begin a dialogue with you before criticism about their service becomes their public face online.
I can see what you are saying Tom but I have to say, I think an online record of the bad service actually can work out far better for the service provider if they view it as an opportunity to turn things around!
If the company responds and handles the complaint well online, then everyone can see just how quick and how well they responded when an issue that they had was highlighted.
This is far better for them in terms of pr than a paid ad, and it is free!
Plus studies show that a complaint, when handled well, generates a far more loyal customer than one who had no complaint at all.
D’oh!
I didn’t close the italics tag properly in the last comment. Only the first word in italics (if) was supposed to be italicised!
Sorry ’bout that!
Hey of course, you have a good audience, including people like me
You write great -short and informative! So yours is one blog among others that I have in my Bookmarks.
About the scary thing you are wrote about, I guess you have to continue writing honestly. What’s there should be what’s here.
Both valid points, Tom and Tom Raftery (Confusing conversation!)
I have to lean more towards Tom, not Tom Raftery, on this one.
How you go about you’re complaint says a lot about you, and that’s why I’d agree more with Tom. If you walked into a shop and started screaming for a refund, it reflects badly on you and gives the wrong impression to other customers. The thing about Google as Tom points out is that bad impression hangs around an awful lot longer.
I like the way Tom (Raftery) handled his recently hosting problems, unfortunately though I don’t think the majority of consumers would react in the same way though.
Piaras,
you are spot on when you say it depends on how you present the complaint - I think it is entirely possible to complain online without getting snarky (I don’t always do it but it is possible!), so if you can do that, I think it is the best course of action and it gives your complainant the opportunity to present themselves in a good light online too.