Social Networks
This is what working as customer support on Twitter taught me about negative comments
A brief manual on how to deal with negative comments (and commenters)
If you think writing viral articles on Medium and have to deal with hateful commenters is unpleasant, try working as customer support via Twitter for the huge telecom provider.
For almost three years, I was on the frontline, handling unsatisfied customers. Most of them were angry, almost none of them was polite, and everyone had an urgent problem–from their point of view, at least. To survive, I had to develop a coping mechanism, something that will allow me to do my job properly, without losing my mind.
What I came with is a simple, three-step list:
1. Understand.
2. Relate.
3. Don’t take it personally.
Let me break this list shortly:
Understand.
What the negative comment is about? Read it carefully and with understanding several times. What is the root of the comment? Unsatisfied reader? A jealous colleague writer? An internet troll?
Relate.
This was a true epiphany for me. Why? Because we all have been in the same or similar situation numerous times: paid for some service or product, and that service/product starts to malfunction almost immediately, or at a very inconvenient time. Like there’s a convenient time for a malfunctioning, anyway.
We all tend to overreact in those situations.
And, yes, sometimes we are unsatisfied readers, or trolls, or jealous colleague writers. Not all of us will leave a comment, that’s for sure, but hey–you moved a person so much that s/he will take their precious time and write something back to you. Sure, it’s negative feedback, but even negative feedback is better than no feedback at all.
Don’t take it personally.
Someone over there has a problem (whatever that problem might be), and it’s angry because of it. Understand. Relate. And don’t take it personally.
Customer support rules to handle negative comments
To act like a pro, look at what pros are doing:
- Make a screenshot
- Respond ASAP
- Apologize sincerely
- Move conversation to a private channel
Let’s break this list shortly:
Screenshots can come in handy for training others, for reports, follow-ups, etc. Better safe than sorry, as the saying goes.
Be sure to respond as soon as possible. How long is too long? Do not wait for more than two hours — ideally, you will address the comment within one hour. This is social networks we are talking about, everything is instant — and so should your reply be.
Whatever happened, someone has bad feelings. Understand and relate, remember?
Take the conversation out of the spotlight. Not because you have something to hide, but because you want to communicate 1-on-1, not you-vs-all the internet trolls ever.
How NOT to deal with negative comments
By all means, you should never, ever:
- Delete a comment
- Argue with customers/readers/users/(…)
- Give a generic reply
- Make excuses
- Make false promises
- Take it personally
There are two exclusions: First, if a comment is derogatory, racist, abusive, or goes against your commenting policy in any other way, delete it, but be sure to explain why you did it.
The second is about generic replies. When it comes to hateful comments on articles, there is one generic reply that always does its job: Thank you for taking the time to write a comment. This ad little to no space for further argument.
The crucial step when working as customer support is to have an action plan for difficult cases. This is your step ahead, and it will help you not to lose your grip.
And remember: whatever you do, don’t take it personally.
