You're Too Worried About Customer Complaints...But...

Some thrive on the back-and-forth interaction. Others use it as a fear tactic to get their senior executives behind investments into customer service and CRM. Either way, the idea of customer complaints, particularly online and in social media, is a necessary concern for customer management leaders, albeit one that is frequently overblown.

How overblown? Even in the world of online discussion, which is considered a haven for disgruntled customers, US customers prefer to praise brands than complain about them in nearly every industry. The idea that social media is serving no purpose than to provide loud-mouthed, hard-to-please critics a broader audience is simply untrue.

The latest TNS Digital Life study reveals that of the 32% of American customers who actively comment about products and brands online, 18% do so to praise the brand. Only 12%, meanwhile, use online media as a forum for complaining.

The aggregate preference for praise holds across almost all industries; only the finance industry is subject to more complaints than praise, though the 14:13 ratio is hardly worthy of a freak out.

When complaints do go viral, customers are not always willing to take them at face value. According to the study, only 41% trust strangers’ online comments about brands. Even when specifically looking at comments from friends, the trust level only rises to 61%--complaints are not a surefire way to murder a brand.

No matter how one slices it, and no matter how exaggerated isolated experiences appear in the minds of concerned customer management professionals, complaining about brands is simply not a favorite pastime of most Americans.

But before companies and customer management leaders get excited about the findings, they should restate them in simple terms: only a small portion of the small portion of customers who regularly comment online due so with ill-will. Focusing on the "ill-will" part of the sentence will justifiably produce glee. Focusing on the other part of the sentence will reveal the extent to which companies need to shake their preconceived notions about online customer interaction.

As Call Center IQ wrote regarding companies’ flawed reactions to the launch of Google Plus Pages, far too many corporate strategists adhere to an "If you build it, they will come" strategy. For them, no social presence is too extensive, and they work tirelessly to assure they are accessible from as many online realms as possible. If a new website or social network gains traction, the brand’s message had better be there!

But the actual findings show that customer involvement in social media and online discussion is limited and purposeful—broad, overblown branding messages are not likely to reach as many people as companies desire and even less likely to speak to customers in a language that is relevant. As noted, only 32% of customers actively comment about products; the Digital Life study adds that 60% of American customers absolutely do NOT want to engage with brands online and 61% of those who do are driven by self-interest like discounts and promotions (TOLDJA!)

Those companies who feel their Facebook and Twitter pages will provide limitless platforms for building relationships with customers will likely be disappointed; many customers do want to comment on their product experiences online, but they can also be selective and targeted with how they engage. Similarly, those who feel a social media presence is a ticket to an endless sea of product-bashing and aggressive, anti-brand discourse are also over-blowing the situation—millions are not going to suddenly complain simply because the company is now on social. More, in fact, are inclined to praise brands, and most are neither driven by wholly-good nor wholly-bad intentions.

Within the small but active window of online commenters, only 30%, on average, focus specifically on praise or criticism. The remaining 70% of discourse is dedicated offering help about using products or to those who wish to share experiences.

That means that most customers will focus on the total experience when they share their sentiments online. And, for companies, it means that a customer experience management strategy cannot be reduced to retroactive "complaint management" or "praise amplification." Companies cannot think only of how to manage the perception of the brand online, because by the time most users discuss the brand online, they have already determined what experiences they want to share and how best to help existing and potential customers.

So, instead of wondering what will happen if customers skewer mean call center agents on Twitter, companies need to think about how their initial marketing, product quality and service offering will resonate with end-users.

Even though only a small portion of customers actively comment online, many do not wish to engage with brands and many are skeptical about peer-to-peer comments, 54% of customers still do look to social media to learn about products.

With user-dictated content driving a lot of that discourse, companies need to assure their audiences feel empowered and compelled to share their positive experiences—regardless of how those customers desire to actually engage with the brand online.

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