Week 3A: Business & Consumer
Back in June of 2016, I had gone to a concert at the Observatory in Orange County. Unfortunately, it was cancelled about 20 mins into the show. Due to excessive smoking of illegal substances inside the venue, everyone got kicked out. It was very unfair, and I never got my money back. I experienced a great amount of difficulty with contacting the offices online and through the phone. After waiting about 45 mins for someone on the other line to get in touch with me. They told me that they would email me back to continue with a refund process and the email never came. I had called multiple times and the long waits over the phone completely got to me and I just gave up. I lost $60 that night!
Social media does have its benefits in getting yourself noticed in order to solve a problem. But it can also be a barrier. I personally have asked questions on social media pages and have never got them answered and I believe its because some businesses may think its an unprofessional way of approaching them. Although, scrolling through Instagram, I do notice that a lot of pages and businesses do answer question to their following through comments, direct messages, videos etc. Maybe I'm just unlucky.
I have never had a positive experience communicating with a business on social media as I have mentioned before.
If I have a business on social media, I would definitely commit myself to having a day/time to involve myself with my costumers. This would be replying to their messages and comments. For positive comments, I would always thank them for choosing my business and show appreciation by giving them a coupon code so they could get a discount on more product. For negative comments, I would apologize for the inconvenience and make it an ultimate goal to satisfy their needs, whether it be with a free product, and exchange, a coupon code or even a refund.
That's the first time I've heard of everyone getting booted out of a concert because of illegal smoking. How disappointing that you lost $60. The ways that you would handle potential negative comments if you had a business on social media seem perfect; apologizing and then doing something positive so that the customer ends up with something concrete they can use to become satisfied. Well done.
ReplyDeleteI like that you bring up that some businesses do not reply to social media engagement. Many business owners that I have spoken with sometimes get to a point where they do not have enough time to answer all of the messages and emails coming in. They are at that point where they are doing well enough that operating the business takes all of their time but not well enough to hire more people. These are small business owners btw. When I come across big businesses that do not respond to social media comments, I can't help but think that their priorities are not completely on their customers or that they don't think it affects the bottom line.
ReplyDeleteI think the commitment to providing customers with better customer service via Social Media speaks volumes about your character as a business owner. No one likes to feel snubbed! I like that you also would respond to negative responses in a way to help "save the sale" to a customer who may feel slighted or dissatisfied with the outcome. I love that perspective!
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