I used to work in hospitality, and I can say from personal experience that diffusing a situation is often the best customer service strategy. It’s a crucial first step toward reconciliation; even if you feel like your customer is an enemy at that moment, do everything you can to help.
The feedback might relate to an ongoing issue, and if so, you should ask the customer for specifics that can help with their request. For example, you might need them to provide a customer reference number (CRN) to examine issues impacting their specific plan.
You can also ask them to provide further details, such as the specifics of their issue. Doing this will make it much easier to give more accurate assistance.
Provide Transparent Updates Throughout
Many businesses, including hosting resellers, make the mistake of forgetting about their customer after they sign up. Having dealt with some really bad customer support teams, this can also occur when you’ve asked for help.
Some issues might take longer than others to resolve, especially if they’re highly technical. During this time, you must keep the customer who left negative feedback in the loop. You don’t need to go over the top, but a simple daily acknowledgment will go a long way.
Negative feedback is an opportunity to make someone change their mind, and they might even adjust the contents of their review. Trust will play a significant role in determining whether the individual starts looking for another hosting reseller, so take it seriously.
Ask Your Customer for Specific Suggestions on What They Would Improve
Customers who’ve had a particularly bad experience (or are just in a bad mood) may not be willing to cooperate after leaving negative emails or messages. But at its heart, most people who complain do so because they want a solution. What’s even better is if they know exactly how they would fix a problem.
Whether the issue has something to do with them having two domains pointing to the same website but one isn’t working or something else, customers often know your products and services best. I’ve always found it helpful when companies have asked me to leave suggestions, and doing the same with your customers can help ensure that you don’t encounter the same problems in six months’ time.
You will need to do this in a non-confrontational way. Asking for feedback once a customer request has been completed is one way; you can also specifically ask them something like “is there any specific product or service you’d improve, and if so, what would you add?”.
Hire a Customer Support Team to Deal With These Issues
As the owner of your business, you will naturally be more emotionally attached than others. One reason why I said you should hire a customer support team is for this exact reason. A high-quality support team will not only have the required technical expertise; because they’re less emotionally invested, they can make more logical decisions.
Another reason to hire a customer support team is that you probably started a rehosting business to focus on other elements. You should 100% listen to your customers and consider implementing feedback, but you also need time for proactivity to develop your products and services. Hiring a customer support team will free up valuable time to focus on moving the needle forward.
Show What You’ve Done to Rectify the Problem
Whether you manage to win back a customer or not, showing that you at least take negative reviews seriously will show that you care about the quality of your service. Once you’ve solved the issue, you should say what you did to fix it (and how you plan to minimize the chances of it happening again).
You don’t need to go into too much detail here; a simple email outlining the steps you’ve taken will suffice. Alternatively, you can reach out to them if they contacted you via another channel (e.g., Instagram). Doing this will go a long way in ensuring successful business management.
